RT Article
T1 Deconstructing U.S. Arts Policy: A Dialectical Exposition of the Excellence-Access Debate
JF Social justice
VO 33
IS 2
SP 45
OP 62
A1 McNeely, Connie L.
A1 Shockley, Gordon E.
A2 Shockley, Gordon E.
LA English
YR 2006
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1747157554
AB 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.
K1 Ideology
K1 Political opposition
K1 Excellence
K1 Social Sciences
K1 Campaign debates
K1 Debate
K1 Rhetoric
K1 Art & state
K1 Art & politics