Art in Public
Politics, Economics, and a Democratic Culture

This book presents a vigorous case for the arts, arguing for their crucial political, cultural and economic contributions to civil society.

Lambert Zuidervaart (Author)

9780521112741, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 November 2010

354 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.56 kg

'The central aim of Lambert Zuidervaart's Art in Public can be stated in a phrase: to defend direct state subsidies for non-profit arts organizations … That art is currently in the stage of wholesale global institutionalization makes Zuidervaart's account of its relation to justice and democracy invaluable.' Philosophy in Review

This book examines fundamental questions about funding for the arts: why should governments provide funding for the arts? What do the arts contribute to daily life? Do artists and their publics have a social responsibility? Challenging questionable assumptions about the state, the arts and a democratic society, Lambert Zuidervaart presents a vigorous case for government funding, based on crucial contributions the arts make to civil society. He argues that the arts contribute to democratic communication and a social economy, fostering the critical and creative dialogue that a democratic society needs. Informed by the author's experience leading a non-profit arts organisation as well as his expertise in the arts, humanities and social sciences, this book proposes an entirely new conception of the public role of art with wide-ranging implications for education, politics and cultural policy.

Part I. Double Deficit: 1. Culture wars
2. What good is art?
3. Just art?
Part II. Civil Society: 4. Public sphere
5. Civic sector
6. Countervailing forces
Part III. Modernism Remixed: 7. Relational autonomy
8. Authenticity and responsibility
9. Democratic culture
10. Transforming cultural policy.

Subject Areas: Social & political philosophy [HPS], The arts: general issues [AB]