Deconstructing U.S. Arts Policy: A Dialectical Exposition of the Excellence-Access Debate

Part of a special issue on art, power, and social change. The writer considers the excellence-access debate that forms a large part of the discussion about arts policy in the U.S. At the heart of this debate is the simple, yet not so simple, fact that art is a social construct. It is socially constr...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Authors: McNeely, Connie L. (Author) ; Shockley, Gordon E. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2006
In: Social justice
Year: 2006, Volume: 33, Issue: 2, Pages: 45-62
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Ideology
Political opposition
Excellence
Social Sciences
Campaign debates
Debate
Rhetoric
Art & state
Art & politics
Description
Summary:Part of a special issue on art, power, and social change. The writer considers the excellence-access debate that forms a large part of the discussion about arts policy in the U.S. At the heart of this debate is the simple, yet not so simple, fact that art is a social construct. It is socially constructed as a specialized cultural expression, viewed as being fundamentally dependent on the inherent skills and natural talent of the artist. Moreover, it is precisely the social character of art and its interpretation relative to social value, significance, and power that positions it as a political issue and turns into a topic to be debated. The influence of society on the arts and the function and influence of the arts in society are the key issues of the debate, especially as they relate to the way in which the arts are created, evaluated, used, and distributed within society.