I have a piece in the latest issue of the Tafter Journal, an Italian online journal dealing with cultural policy, heritage, architecture, urban planning, and the use of new technologies in the cultural policy field. My article, “Is Cultural Diversity Good or Bad for the Arts and Creative Economies?” began as an examination of the intersections of cultural diversity, democracy and cultural policy. In reviewing the relevant academic and policy literature, one of my conclusions is that the more culturally diverse a society is, the more difficult it is to assign cultural (aesthetic) value to a work of art. In a climate of limited public funding (which affects many parts of Europe more than it does the US, due to their robust public support of the arts–see the news about the UK Arts Council cutting 21% of its workforce this week), the absence of clearly defined cultural value leads to attempts to define the value of the arts in more quantifiable social or economic terms.
There is much about art that’s lost when it’s defined in such a way for the purposes of public funding. But I suspect that some of these new avenues of research opened by arts managers’ responses to the current financial crisis can also be put to use assessing cultural diplomacy’s outcomes. Evaluating the social benefits and economic impact of cultural diplomacy efforts would better communicate the value of these programs to stakeholders at home and abroad.
That’s why part of my next major research project (as well as the upcoming round of Arts Diplomacy Network interviews) will be dedicated to evaluating impact and outcomes of arts-based cultural diplomacy programs. Stay tuned…
Reblogged this on Halina's Blog.