AREFS taide ja kulttuuri ry
AREFS art and culture association



  • Savon Radan ryhmä organizes activities along the historical Savo line






This page contents information about the vision on RURAL ART VILLAGES as a possibility to develop rural regions into creative centers, which contribute to the economic grow. It is also the place where information about creative industry, culture and art support will be shared.

All publications listed above are selected on their relevance with this issue. It is very important to be keen on the idea that culture and art are not important for the development and preservation of the society. It is a great misunderstanding to have the opinion that reducing the budget in the field of culture and art will be effective.

Culture is what people have in common.

"Creativity is the key to economic recovery. Public investment in the arts and heritage helps to generate the cultural capital that feeds the creative industries with knowledge, practical experience and inspiration." quote from the report Cultural Capital - A Manifesto for the Future from Arts Council England page 7. This report continues with: "Every artist is an entrepreneur, cultural organisations and educational institutions nourish the people and ideas that make money for this country through design, fashion, advertising, computer games, music, film and television. A creative industry depends on its cultural resources: during a decade of investments in public sector arts and heritage, the creative and cultural industries have grown faster than the rest of the economy, and account for 6.2% of Gross Value Added."

EFFECTS OF CULTURE

Different researchers and organization are reporting and informing about the EFFECTS OF CULTURE and Creative Industry on the society and economy. In the list on top of this page some papers can be downloaded.

* Culture increases individual pleasure, happiness and wellness.
The presence of culture adds a positive image to a town or neighborhood and creates more satisfaction with environment.
* Culture unites the society. Cultural institutes, like community centers and schools, in which people from a neighborhood active participate stimulate the social cohesion in that area.
Participation in cultural activities leads to more self awareness, more social contacts, and more safety feelings.
Young people which participate in cultural activities are less criminal.
* Culture benefits the economy.
A region with high cultural standard is more attractive for a high educated, creative population to settle, this influences the grow of employment.
Cultural facilities, services and activities are bringing more economic benefit by employment in cultural institutes, attracting tourists and creative industry.

CONCLUSION

It is not "if" the government will embed culture in their policy, but "when" and "how".
A government that develops a strong strategy for culture development and support will get the most benefit out of it. That means a growing population with high qualified education and a growing economy.

Saksalanharju is a rural neighborhood in East Finland situated on the biggest monolith of Europe. This area can be developed into a rural art village by local strategy. Some ideas are published in Rural Art Village Saksalanharju.
Read and follow the development of Saksalanharju on the website.

You can bank on culture say leaders of Britain's cultural organisations

An interesting conclusion published in the report Cultural Capital: A Manifesto for the Future from the Arts Council England.
The Press release about A Manifesto for the Future is also available as a PDF file.

Performing arts and the city : Dutch municipal cultural policy in the brave new world of evidence-based policy
(2010) Hoogen, Quirijn Lennert van den

This research aims to ameliorate the evaluation of Dutch municipal cultural policies. It is prompted by the rise of evidence-based policy, a tendency to provide (scientific) proof of the effects of public policies. In the first part of the research, the goals of public performing arts policies are researched by studying Dutch cultural policy documents published between 1992 and 2005. Intrinsic and extrinsic goals are distinguished. The second – theoretical – part of the research confronts these goals with views on the functioning of the arts in society from arts philosophy and sociology of the arts. The policy legitimizations are broken down to the values of the experience of performing arts and the subsequent functions they can give rise to on personal and societal level. This part closes by presenting a model to describe the functioning of the performing arts in urban society. The model describes how participation in the performing arts generates intrinsic and extrinsic values and functions in urban societies. In the third part of the research, the model is used to analyze the current evaluation efforts of eight Dutch municipalities. Current evaluation practices can be ameliorated by researching the values of the performing arts for the attendees and the subsequent values these can give rise to on societal level. In this thesis, proposals are formulated to develop current evaluation practices in stages. A combination of quantitative and qualitative audience research and general-population research is necessary. However, Dutch municipalities currently focus on developing intricate instruments to follow the performing of subsidized performing-arts organizations, which from the perspective taken in this research should be qualified as a secondary form of policy evaluation.

Read the whole dissertation on the website of the Rijksuniversiteit of Groningen.

 

©2009 AREFS taide ja kulttuuri ry, Finland. All rights reserved.
No reproduction by any means or in any language without prior permission of the author.