The art of the possible

This article suggests that in making its case for public investment and support the arts sector in the UK has tended to argue that the scale of instrumental benefits flowing from the arts depends entirely on the scale of intrinsic benefits. Against this conflation of the intrinsic and the instrument...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:RSA journal 2011-03, Vol.157 (5545), p.35-36
Main Author: Knell, John
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This article suggests that in making its case for public investment and support the arts sector in the UK has tended to argue that the scale of instrumental benefits flowing from the arts depends entirely on the scale of intrinsic benefits. Against this conflation of the intrinsic and the instrumental, the author advocates an alternative approach, whereby a strong instrumental case is advanced in terms that recognise what is special about artistic participation and artistic appreciation. These two rationales should be distinguished, and the funding argument founded on artistic instrumentalism focusing on raising artistic standards and promoting understanding of the value of artistic experience and on public-good instrumentalism, focusing on the range of positive social and economic outcomes effected by the arts, and developing coherent accounts of the role the arts do and could play in helping us to imagine and create more fulfilling lives in a better society. (Quotes from original text)
ISSN:0958-0433