• Defund Culture

    Author(s):
    Gary Hall (see profile)
    Date:
    2022
    Group(s):
    Advocating for the Humanities, Cultural Studies, Open Access Books Network, Political Philosophy & Theory, Public Humanities
    Subject(s):
    Philosophy, Continental, Culture--Study and teaching, Education, Arts, Social classes
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    police, covid, culture wars, Continental philosophy, Cultural studies, Theory, Class
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/0ng6-3876
    Abstract:
    The spread of the Omicron variant this winter was met with renewed calls for the UK Government to fund the arts and culture through the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic and beyond. ‘We are in crisis mode’, Nicolas Hytner, former artistic director of the National Theatre, told the BBC’s Newsnight programme. ‘We need to see short-term finance, we need to see loans, we need to see VAT looked at again, we need to see business rates looked at again’. Meanwhile, both the BBC and Guardian have been running major series, titled Rethink and Reconstruction After Covid respectively, to explore how society should change in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. In the first part of 'Defund Culture' I cast a fresh eye on how the ‘culture wars’ can help to explain the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the current Conservative administration when it comes to supporting the arts. In part 2 I then argue that, if we really want to rethink the future of society post-pandemic with a view to building back better with a new antiracist, anticlassist, antiheteropatriarchal normal, rather than defending existing models of state funding of the arts, the way in which we should respond to the crisis in the creative industries is actually by defunding culture and many of its major institutions.
    Notes:
    An 'author's cut' of 'Defund Culture' is available here: http://garyhall.squarespace.com/journal/2022/5/23/the-culture-war-and-attack-on-the-arts.html
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/
    Publisher:
    Radical Philosophy Group
    Pub. Date:
    Spring
    Journal:
    Radical Philosophy
    Volume:
    2
    Issue:
    12
    Page Range:
    62 - 68
    ISSN:
    0300-211X
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    12 months ago
    License:
    Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
    Share this:

    Downloads

    Item Name: pdf rp212_hall.pdf
      Download View in browser
    Activity: Downloads: 111

    Back to Deposits