MLLSM01

EVENTS POLICY

LECTURE 4

Events and cultural capital

Theorising Cultural Capital

The term made famous by the French sociologist/philosopher, Pierre Bourdieu (1984)

He believed people acquire cultural capital through exposure to the educational system, which has the capacity to: confer capital, particularly cultural capital, upon its participants…certain forms of

knowledge, such as those associated with formal learning, are conferred with much more cultural capital than those forms of learning associated with practical activities…because the cultural capital of knowledge is inequitably distributed, tending to favour those who occupy positions and dispositions that provide access to these socially legitimated and valued ways of knowing, knowledge becomes a marker of distinction and social privilege (Webb et al, 2001: 109)

Bourdieu (1984) argued that the accumulation of cultural capital helps to differentiate particular social groups

Various cultural ‘fields’ (e.g. art, television, sport & events?) provide a rich tapestry from which to explore the consumption patterns of various class groupings (Lee, 1993)

Individuals possess cultural capital but this is always produced alongside durable structuring processes (e.g. habitus)

Cultural capital and cultural economy

Bourdieu’s conceptualisation helps us think about how events and festivals might work to reproduce social inequalities by including only certain groups:

Culture-led regeneration (Bianchini, 1991; Myerscough, 1990; McGuigan, 2007; Crespi-Vallbona & Richards, 2007) many cities have invested in the arts and, more recently, events and festivals as a means of revitalising and regenerating their economies

Governments have established strategic events agencies (public-private collaborations) to maximise exposure to their other cultural offerings and to exploit culture economically

There is a possibility that the forms of cultural expression chosen to lead this regeneration do not reflect the cultural experiences of the host audience and are overly instrumentalist (and economic) in intention

The way cities are marketed and promoted ‘operates as a form of socialisation which is intended to convince local people that the commodification of the city is entirely positive’ (Miles & Miles, 2004) – pacifying the population

Cultural festivals and events

These events have taken a greater economic, social and political importance in recent years – some view this as part of the ‘cultural turn’

In policy terms, the public sector (often in partnership with private equity) has invested heavily in cultural regeneration strategies to deal with a declining manufacturing base (e.g. Bilbao, Glasgow, Manchester). Culture: “is central to promoting the continued renaissance of the city…

culture creates jobs, attracts investment and enriches the lives of people who live and work in and visit the city” (Ali-Knight and Robertson, 2004: 6)

Crespi-Vallbona & Richards (2007) argue that cultural festivals are ubiquitous, working to sustain cultural groups, assuring the acceptance of a cultural discourse and as a means of “generating local pride, identity and income” (p103): Producing a halo effect (Hall, 1992) or a feel-good effect (Allen et al 2002)

It is the economic discourse that is now synonymous with events-led cultural policy in the developed (and increasingly the developing) world (McGuigan, 2007)

Events and festival tourism

Culture is now increasingly viewed as a product open to commercial exploitation (commodification) rather than as a process or way of life: Place promotion, image enhancement, economic salvation (De Bres and

Davies, 2004) Growth of cultural tourism (or festival and event tourism) and the

investment of the public sector in facilities, institutions and projects related to the production of an events and festival calendar (Foley and McPherson, 2007)

Attempt by policy makers to reduce the reliance on high season visits by ‘manufacturing’ new festivals and events and conferring them with some historical or ‘local’ significance - authenticity and uniqueness

Danger associated with manufactured events is a perceived lack of authenticity – producing alienating effects and outcomes (Crespi-Vallbona & Richards, 2007)

Hallmark cultural projects are promoted and resourced, to the detriment of the grassroots of cultural production (Garcia, 2004)

A problem is that only those products that can be manufactured to perform at such events receive recognition and local cultural forms lose out.

Cultural Events and public culture

Zukin (1995) is concerned at the loss of public space and public culture (Roche, 2000) which has affected US and European cities in recent decades

Alongside the proponents of the culture economy thesis (Du Gay & Pryke, 2000), it is suggested that culture is itself increasingly the “business of cities”, fuelling the symbolic economy (of images, signs and spaces): Relates to emergence of symbolic (Zukin, 1995) and experience economy (Pine and Gilmore,

1999)

Whilst events and festivals do permit the creation of collective identity forms – these are mediated by the relationship between cultural symbols and entrepreneurial capital

Culture colonises, marks spaces and defines who belongs – as private capital is accepted (and welcomed) by civic authorities so the cultures of cities are contested and become sites of conflict

Whilst ‘public’ cultural events exist, often these are under ‘private control’ and are in tension with public accountability: who is targeted, how they are financed (or not) and who is disbarred (culturally and socially, if not economically)

Visual and vibrant Zukin (1995) argues that “visual display matters in American and

European cities today, because the identities of places are established by sites of delectation” (p9). Culture attracts attention – a valued commodity

The proliferation of cultural festivity can be associated with similar trends towards a ‘cosmopolitan ethic’ which defines a neighbourhood or city as vibrant. In ‘created’ or ‘manufactured’ events, the cultural message is carefully choreographed.

Festivals and events are the vehicle with which to animate static cultural forms and promote them to new markets through the pervasive media-tourism complex (Nauright, 2004): they spectacularise fixed structures (Richards & Wilson, 2004)

Festivals and events provide civic governments with a relatively inexpensive means of securing a plethora of suitable vibrant, colourful and multicultural images to circulate around the globe: Sydney Mardi Gras, Rio Carnival and London Notting Hill

Carnival The process often involves recreating a historical narrative, one

that the governing agencies can swallow and which is exploitable as a tourism resource and is easier than hosting large scale sporting events.

Contested cultural space

Critics argue that cultural events and festivities often colonise civic space and then proceed to make this space like a gated community: Barriers are erected, security guards are employed and CCTV cameras are

ubiquitous.

Regulatory control over licenses, traffic management, environmental pollution,ensure that the civic authorities manage the cultural offering. It leaves the impression of a public culture controlled and contained – not spontaneous and negotiated, but managed and directed Edinburgh’s hogmanay rather than Barcelona’s La Merca Festival

Flexible, interactive and creative cultural forms can give life to fixed capital, however, these cultural strategies are aimed at the educated middle classes (the new service classes), those with knowledge and understanding of different forms of cultural expression. This has led to claims of rather exclusionary forms of gentrification

References Bourdieu, P (1984)Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste

Crespi-Vallbona, M & Richards, G (2007) ‘The meaning of cultural festivals, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 13 (1): 103-122

Evans, G. (2001) Cultural Planning: An Urban Renaissance.  London: Routledge. Chapter 8.

De Bres, K and Davis, J (2001) Celebrating group and place identity: a case study of a new regional festival Tourism Geographies 3 (3)

Du Gay & Pryke, (2000) Cultural Economy: Cultural Analysis and Commercial Life Sage London

Foley, M and McPherson, G (2007) Glasgow’s Winter Festival: can cultural leadership serve the common good Managing Leisure 22(2)

Garcia, B (2004) ‘Urban Regeneration, Arts Programming and Major Events, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 10 (1): 103-118

Gray, C (2007) ‘Commodification and Instrumentality in Cultural Policy’, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 13 (2): 203-215

Lee (1993) Consumer Culture Reborn: The Cultural Politics of Consumption Routledge, London and New York

McGuigan, J (2005) ‘Neo-liberalism, culture and policy, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 11 (3): 229-241

Refs. continued

Nauright, J. (2004) 'Global games: Culture, political economy and sport in the globalised

world of the 21st century', Third World Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 7, pp. 1325–1336. Quinn, B (2005) Arts Festivals and the City, Urban Studies, 42 (5/6): 927-943 Richards, G & Wilson, J (2004) The Impact of Cultural Events on City Image: Rotterdam,

Cultural Capital of Europe 2001, Urban Studies, 41 (10): 1931-1951 Roche, M (2000) Mega events and Modernity: Olympics and Expos in the Growth of

Global Culture Routledge Waterman, S. (1998) Carnivals for Elites?  The Cultural Politics of Arts Festivals. 

Progress in Human Geography, Vol 22 (1), pp 54-74. Webb et al, (2001) Understanding Bourdieu, Zukin, S (1995) The Cultures of Cities, Blackwell