Art in Public

Politics, Economics, and a Democratic Culture

Lambert Zuidervaart author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:22nd Nov '10

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Art in Public cover

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

This book presents a vigorous case for government funding of the arts, arguing for their crucial political, cultural and economic contributions to civil society. Lambert Zuidervaart proposes an entirely new conception of the public role of art with wide-ranging implications for education, politics and cultural policy.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.

'[Zuidervaart] succinctly summarizes most major arguments in support of cultural goods or public art in economics and criticizes mundane economic arguments through thought-provoking philosophical contemplation.' Byung-Hee Soh, Journal of Cultural Economics
'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

ISBN: 9780521112741

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 21mm

Weight: 560g

354 pages