Analysis of the Impacts of Tate Modern’s Economic Prosperity
ABSTRACT
Tate Modern is a leading museum in UK. Since its inception in the year 2000, the museum has faced a major regeneration phase. In addition to that, the museum has attracted millions of people within its confines. It has also grown massively affecting the community around it. This analysis aims at looking at what has been the impact of Tate’s prosperity .At this point, it’s worth noting that due to lack of capital resources, most museums undergo little or no progress. However, this is not the case with Tate Modern which has largely grown in size and rebranded its entire community
The Stage recently reported (Merrifield, 2012) that local councils in the UK have reduced funding for arts organizations by 40% over the last year. Under ‘related posts’ on the website, there are links to a July article warning of a 90% cut in local authority expenditure on the arts by the year 2020 (Smith, 2012); one reporting a 40% cut since 2008 (Smith, 2011); one reporting the withdrawal of funding by London councils (Woolman, 2011); and one reporting a rather flaccid warning against such cuts, issued by the Arts Council of England in 2010 (Woolman, 2010).
Clearly the present economic climate is not favourable for arts and cultural activities in the UK, or elsewhere in the developed world, where the effects of the 2008 global banking crisis continue to be deeply felt. The stories published by The Stage suggest that, at a local level, public authorities do not regard such activities as a priority to be defended at all costs. Nevertheless, in recent years, arts organizations have become more effective in arguing the economic case for continued commitment to public investment in cultural activity. The Edinburgh Festivals Impact Study published in 2011 (Choughley, U. et al., 2011) builds on previous studies (AEA Consulting, 2006); (SQW Ltd and TNS Travel & Tourism, 2005) to create a coherent narrative in support of sustained engagement and investment by public and corporate funding bodies.
It is an open question, however, whether the cultural sector is a leader in generating economic prosperity, or whether its relative health at any given time is rather an indicator of the economic climate against which it is measured. One prominent theorist, Richard Florida, has argued that planners should assiduously cultivate the creative sector in their locale. He draws his definition widely, incorporating innovative production across a range of business and educational activities as well as the traditionally recognized cultural indicators (Florida, 2002). If creative professionals are happy with their locale, then corporations will seek to locate nearby in order to capitalize on their talent. This argument contradicts the notion that instead workers will migrate to the location where a given corporation is offering employment.
As John Frow points out in a critical review (Frow, 2004), Florida’s analysis is USA-centric, and one crucial element in his calculus is not generally available in other countries, namely venture capital. One might argue that arts councils provide the same service to the narrowly defined arts sector in most developed countries. One question that might be asked, then, is whether administrators on the ground see their role in this way, and whether practitioners seeking funding find the analogy helpful.
An element missing from this funders/funded framework concerns the representation of prosperity. In other words, how do we know that cultural activity is taking place and either thriving or struggling? The simple answer is ‘through the media’, but much output in the so-called new media is self-funded. In other words, where traditional newspapers and journals paid critics to report on cultural activity, the trend is towards online resources whose contributors typically receive tickets or invitations, but no payment.
Theoretical background
To address these questions: what is prosperity, and how do we evaluate the contribution to prosperity (or the perception of it) by the cultural sector, a good starting point is the analysis of Pierre Bourdieu in Distinction (Bourdieu, 1984), cited by Frow in his review, and supplemented by his own work alongside Tony Bennett and Michael Emmison in Accounting for Tastes (Bennett, Emmison, & Frow, 1999). Bourdieu argues for a concept of ‘cultural capital’, which he believes is analogous to economic capital and is disposable in analogous ways. Someone with high economic capital has a choice of ways to dispense that wealth; someone with high cultural capital has richer choice over life events (and a richer vocabulary in which to express these choices) than someone whose cultural capital is impoverished.
Methodology
The proposed methodology is to identify small groups of individuals in the three categories outlined above: people responsible for distributing funds or authorizing investment; people directly engaged in performing artistic endeavours; and people engaged in the mediation of these endeavours. The plan is to gather each group for a one-hour-long discussion, to be recorded using a portable digital recorder (such as a Zoom H2) and later transcribed. Whether there will be separate groups for the three, or a single one, will be determined as the practicalities are evaluated in the course of setting them up. The live focus group session will be preceded by e-mail contact during which the participants will be invited to complete a simple questionnaire devised to indicate directions in which to lead the discussion.
Bibliography
AEA Consulting. (2006, May). Thundering Hooves: Maintaining the global competitive edge of Edinburgh’s Festivals. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from Festivals Edinburgh: http://www.festivalsedinburgh.com/sites/default/files/Thundering%20Hooves%20Report.pdf
Bennett, T., Emmison, M., & Frow, J. (1999). Accounting for Tastes: Australian Everyday Cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul [1979].
Choughley, U. et al. (2011, May). Edinburgh Festivals Impact Study 2010. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from FestivalsEdinburgh: http://www.festivalsedinburgh.com/sites/default/files/Edinburgh%20festivals%202010%20Impact%20Study%20Report.pdf
Florida, R. (2002). The Rise of the Creative Class. New York: Basic Books.
Frow, J. (2004, August). The Rise of the Creative Class. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from Australian Public Intellectual Network: http://www.api-network.com/main/index.php?apply=reviews&webpage=api_reviews&flexedit=&flex_password=&menu_label=&menuID=homely&menubox=&Review=5183
Merrifield, N. (2012, October 30). Local councils’ regular funding for arts down by 40%, says survey. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from The Stage: http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2012/10/local-councils-regular-funding-for-arts-down-by-40-says-survey/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=local-councils-regular-funding-for-arts-down-by-40-says-survey
Smith, A. (2011, June 9). Local authority arts funding plummets. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from The Stage: http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2011/06/local-authority-arts-funding-plummets/
Smith, A. (2012, July 19). ‘Local funding for arts to be cut by 90% by 2020′ – report. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from The Stage: http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2012/07/local-funding-for-arts-to-be-cut-by-90-by-2020-report/
SQW Ltd and TNS Travel & Tourism. (2005, September). Edinburgh’s Year Round Festivals 2004-2005: Economic Impact Study. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from Festivals Edinburgh: http://www.festivalsedinburgh.com/sites/default/files/Economic%20impact%20of%20Edinburgh%20festivals.pdf
Woolman, N. (2010, April 7). ACE warns local councils against cutting arts spend. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from The Stage: http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2010/04/ace-warns-local-councils-against-cutting-arts-spend/
Woolman, N. (2011, May 20). London Councils withdraws all funding to arts organisations. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from The Stage: http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2011/05/london-councils-withdraws-all-funding-to-arts-organisations/