Overlaps, Intersections and Conflicts: An Introduction to Art and Culture

"Art is emblematic of culture, its purest expression". Using this statement as a launching point, Arlene Goldbard explores the relationship of culture to arts in the community. She starts with a brief exploration of the concept of culture and its contested aspects, then finishes with some of the challenges and opportunities it suggests for community arts.

Goldbard begins by arguing that culture is what we - all of us - make "of the raw ingredients of life." Culture development is always in process, Goldbarb argues, whether we realise it or not. "[M]erely by participating", she says, "exchanging words, observing customs, involving oneself in communal celebration and grief and the milestones of community life" we create and disseminate culture. She notes that, at least in the United States, cultures overlap, so it is hard to nail down what makes a particular culture distinctive. However, she does identify, critically examine, and provide Internet links related to the following three main components of "culture":

• "Family values" - religious fundamentalists, she says, "propose as superior cultural values heterosexuality, chastity and obedience to their chosen moral authority. They have made a large splash (and lots of contributed income) condemning artists who posit choice and diversity..."
• "Cultural democracy" - community artists tend to advocate pluralism, participation, and equity in cultural life and cultural policy.
• "Globalization" - "The cultural downside is the penetration of Western commercial cultural industries into all societies, overwhelming heritage cultures with mass-produced commercial cultural products"

Community artists and arts organisations, she argues, play vital roles in cultural development. She provides short descriptions and links to a number of United-States-based projects. She points out that, beyond the United States, artists are working with other community members to respond to the accelerating side-effects of globalisation, which include the replacement of traditional forms of cultural transmission and expression with centralised, mass-produced commercial forms. Also provided are examples of, and links to, community-arts-based programmes in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Click here for the full article on the Reading Room page of the Community Arts site.