Introduction

In days gone by, when cultural policy was concerned primarily or solely with the creative arts, a definition of its scope was straightforward. The goods and services produced and consumed were easily recognisable – works of art and literature, music compositions, theatre performances, and so on – and the individuals and organisations that might be targets for cultural policy occupied an identifiable corner of the economic and social landscape – artists, performing companies, music ensembles, etc., on the supply side, and the ‘arts audience’ on the receiving end. The value of what was being done in the name of art was taken for granted as the motivation for cultural policies designed to nourish and improve society. Responsibility for cultural policy within government rested quite naturally in a ministry for the arts or culture or in an arts funding agency of some sort.

The expansion in the reach of cultural policy that we discussed in the previous chapter has changed all that.