COMMUNITY ARTS, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND THE “IMPOSSIBILITY” AND “NECESSITY” OF CULTURAL DEMOCRACY

This chapter considers the ʼnecessity’ and ‘impossibility’ (see St Louis, 2009) of cultural democracy as a foundational principle for community arts activities. A commitment to cultural democracy recognises that dominant understandings of the ‘culture’ and the ‘arts’ are themselves shaped by and reflective of social hierarchies and inequalities. Against this, community arts are viewed as having the potential to support participatory and collectivised processes of cultural consumption, production and distribution and some examples of such practice from Ireland are considered. However, the chapter also argues that community arts practices are not inherently democratic. As with other forms of community development, they may struggle to move beyond a deficits or rehabilitative model of engagement, where arts practices or cultural expression are constructed as ‘interventions’ that serve ameliorative and therapeutic functions. The ‘impossibility’ of cultural democracy also relates to the contemporary political-economy of cultural production, which is shaped by the processes and discourses of globalised neoliberalism, and the structural constraints impacting on community arts practice. Paying particular attention to the Irish context, the chapter will explore; arts sector ambivalences regarding the purposes and value of participatory arts; public policy’s tendency to functionalise culture; and wider trends in urban regeneration which responsibilise artists and communities to engage in competitive forms of creativity and place-making. Rosie R. Meade, [email protected].