It’s not rare to hear about the risks posed to the cultural industries, whether due to facilities issues, lack of interest from younger generations, or primarily funding concerns. But what if the problems begin before even these concerns, as far back as reducing culture to an industry?
Culture is not an Industry focused on the commercialisation and commodification of creative arts and other media in recent decades, by corporations, politicians and public figures seeking to define arts primarily through an economic lens, rather than primarily for their cultural value. Led by professor of cultural economy at the University of South Australia Justin O’Connor, he discussed the issues facing cultural communities in the U.K. and around the world and his book of the same name, before taking questions as to what these issues mean for our cultural heritage, and what could be done about it.
I really enjoyed how informative this session was. The speaker clearly knew what he was talking about, has a wealth of knowledge in these areas and left me with lots to think about following the session. Upon a quick reflection, it’s clear to see how often culture is relegated to an economic machine, with many conversations about the arts descending quickly into a game of money, whilst ignoring its implicit value and the effect it has on people. However, I also found the session confusing at times. Some of the concepts discussed were entirely new to me, and there were several occasions where links to explainer articles were put into the chat for us to look over by the moderator, which made parts of the presentation slightly inaccessible and confusing.
Culture is not an Industry was an engaging analysis on the perception of the arts and culture communities of our country and the world, which was informative, detailed but also confusing and inaccessible at times. Given the aforementioned articles before the event may have cleared up several of the concepts discussed, and made this session even more informative.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Culture is not an Industry was published in 2024. Other Festival of Debate events can be found here
