Greening cultural policy |
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Authors: | Richard Maxwell Toby Miller |
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Institution: | 1. Media Studies, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, NY, USArichard.maxwell@qc.cuny.edu;3. University of California, Riverside, CA, USA;4. Cultural Policy Studies, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia;5. Escuela de Comunicación Social, Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia;6. Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University/Prifysgol Caerdydd, Cardiff, UK;7. Institute for Media and Creative Industries, Loughborough University London, UK |
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Abstract: | AbstractThis article focuses on greening cultural policy within a sustainable development context. We examine shortcomings of major public-policy responses to the ecological crisis, linking this to the ambivalent philosophical heritage of anthropocentric worldviews that underpin ideas about the relation of culture to non-human nature. This ambivalence is reflected by weak environmentalism in the cultural policy arena, exemplified by surprisingly non-green cultural platforms espoused by green political parties. Green thinking is further hampered by the widespread adoption of digitisation within cultural organizations, which we contextualise in the broader political economy of digital capitalism and the attendant myth that high-tech culture is a low emissions business. Green cultural policy necessitates intensive self-examination of cultural institutions’ environmental impact, at the same time these institutions deploy art, education, entertainment, sports, and news to raise awareness of ecological crisis and alternative models of economic activity. We cite the efforts of activist artists’ resistance against fossil fuel corporations’ sponsorship of arts and cultural organizations as a welcome provocation for greening cultural policy within cultural organizations and green political parties alike. |
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Keywords: | Culture ecological crisis Green Party environment policy activism |
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