NEO‐LIBERALISM,CULTURE AND POLICY

This article looks at the hegemonic process of neo‐liberal globalisation and its implications for culture in general and cultural policy in particular from a critical perspective. A consideration of its ideological features is a necessary supplement to the economic analysis of neo‐liberal globalisation. Ideology mediates economics and culture. As it is used here, the concept of “ideology” refers to how dominant power relations and inequalities are legitimised by distorted representations of reality at various levels. While these include abstract theory and professional expertise, it is argued that everyday language and “common sense” exemplify the operations of ideology most profoundly in securing consent to prevailing and otherwise questionable arrangements. Culture is now saturated with a market‐oriented mentality that closes out alternative ways of thinking and imagining. The general argument is illustrated with several examples drawn from across the range of lived experience and institutionalised structures, especially in the arts and broadcasting. The logic of the annual European Capital of Culture competition is also discussed with reference to the neo‐liberal framework for urban regeneration. Specifically, the experience of Glasgow 1990 and the plans for Liverpool 2008 are addressed in this regard.     

‘Artists are a tool for gentrification’: maintaining artists and creative production in arts districts

This study investigates the relationship between arts-themed development and the strategies used by neighborhood stakeholders, including artists and other marginalized populations, to maintain their place in gentrifying arts and cultural districts. Using a case study of a state-sanctioned Arts & Entertainment District in Baltimore, MD (U.S.A.), I find that the organizations that are ‘thoughtful’ in their development actively seek to maintain the production of arts and the residency of artists in the neighborhood into perpetuity. At the same time, the influx of arts-themed development helps raise property values and spurs re-colonization of the neighborhood’s large industrial buildings, making it difficult for artists to find legal, affordable live/work spaces in the district. As illegal DIY artists’ spaces are increasingly scrutinized by city inspectors, artists and other marginalized populations lose territory in the district and feel that they are being used for capital interests. This paper evaluates arts-themed development and public–private partnerships as a strategy for maintaining artists in revitalizing neighborhoods and considers the possibilities for a more inclusive arts district through political and community engagement.