Fortnight Publications Ltd.

Cultural CapitalAuthor(s): Mark RobinsonSource: Fortnight, No. 349 (Apr., 1996), p. 31Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25558839 .

Accessed: 25/06/2014 09:54

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Fortnight Publications Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Fortnight.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.40 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 09:54:54 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

-lm l. 3m-m

Mg

As

Cultural caipital

The longawaitedpublication ofJohnMyerscough's research monograph, TheArts and theNorthern Ireland Economy, caries on the repositioning of the cultural sector within the economic mainstream begun by Clive Priestley's Structures and ArrangementsforFund ing the Arts (1992) and given pragmatic fonn in the

Arts Council's To the Millennium (1995). These core, public works could also be said to be supported by studies such as Comedia's enquiry into the commu nity arts, Within Reach (1995), and the round of appraisals and feasibility studies commissioned by local authorities and others.

The figures in this report largely date from 1993 94 and are, as Myerscough readily concedes, a little old. Crucially they relate to the pre-ceasefire envi ronment. In an introductory statement the report's sponsors, the Economic Council, quite reasonably suggest that "with the changed circumstances con sumption of the arts should increase", but also wisely argue that in any event the research findings can be seen as a benchmark of the way things were.

In general, amateur arts activity is not only more prevalent than the UK average but also, within the North, more evenly distributed and better attended than comparable professional events. Consumption of the arts in NI is well below UK levels; there is a "relative underexposure to the stimulus of interna tional exchange"; and, in comparison with Britain, "cultural institutions fare less well at attracting the poorer and young to cultural events and attrac tions", while enjoying an "above average subsidy".

Looking at the economic role of the arts, Myerscough finds that, in 1993-94, cultural events and attractions generated a turnover of ?42.8m and direct employment of 2,117. Myerscough, however, did not collect data on the quality of employment in the arts and it is left to the Economic Council to observe that "it is probable that a substantial propor tion of the people employed in the performing and creative arts in particular ... are sustained on rela tively low wages and in unstable working condi tions."

To this should be added a turnover of ?107m and 3,090jobs generated in the 'cultural industries' (the art trade, book publishing, the music industry, craft design, cinema, film and broadcasting - with craft design, cinema and broadcasting accounting for the bulk of the activity). The cultural industries (with the exception of UTV and the BBC) consist over

whelmingly of small firms with an average employ ment of 3.95. This is too small.

Myerscough makes an important point when he says, "There is no ideal placement for the cultural industries within public policy. ... The boundaries between cultural and commercial objectives are not clear in a mixed economy sector ... Interdepartmen tal working may be the best way to achieve the necessary broad perspective. With the implementa

tion agencies (eg LEDU, the Arts Council, Film Council, Craftworks etc.) simple arrangements seem difficult to achieve and the parallel dangers of dupli cated efforts or of mutual neglect are not entirely absent."

On the 1993-94 data for the cultural sector as a whole, the report concludes that it makes a similar relative contribution in Northern Ireland and the

Republic of Ireland, more in NI in terms ofvalue and less in terms ofjobs. Myerscough defines the opportunity for the cul

tural sector in terms of its current weakness. The market for professional cultural events and attrac tions in 1993-94 is assessed at 1.89m (compared to a cinema attendance of 3.5m). On these figures, the attendance base is well below the British average. In passing the report notes that the extra events and focused marketing surrounding Dublin's tenure as European City of Culture in 1991 increased that market by some 58%, and, later, suggests Belfast might look for that status around 2003 or 2004.

A market assessment commissioned for the study (from McCann Matthews Millman Ltd.) observes that "consurnption is related to provision; theatre going habits cannot be developed if both quantity and the quality of the provision is weaker than the optimum." Their conclusion is that "considerable scope exists for developing audiences for all forms."

Myerscough identifies four areas of opportunity for addressing the economic potential of the sector:

market development for events and attractions; a cultural tourism initiative; building the cultural in dustries; and, benefiting from positive images and location impacts. Of these, it is the first which begins to put flesh on the bones and which will cause flutters of excitement amongst arts managers and practitioners.

Improvements in programming come top of the list with particular reference to the role and timing of festivals and the development of international contacts and exchanges. Broadening the scope of programming, Myerscough continues, will call for improved and, in some cases, additional facilities, and perhaps the creation of a cultural quarter(s).

Myerscough himself recognises this in his conclu sion: "Whilst cultural and economic goals are broadly comparable, there are circumstances in which they diverge.... In practice, single criterion decisions are rare, even within the field of cultural policy itself, and the balancing of multiple objectives lies at the heart of policy judgement."

The Department of Education, which co-funded the study, is releasing its own summary paper and will be holding seminars with John Myerscough beginning in April.

MARK ROBINSON examines the Northern Ireland Economic

Council's analysis of the impact of the arts on the local economy

APRIL 1996 FO R T N I G H T 31

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.40 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 09:54:54 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions