Synopses & Reviews
Since the late 1980s privatization has been a feature in the field of culture in Europe. However, the cultural political debate on this issue has been hampered by speculations and prejudices. Many connect the term only with selling public institutions to private firms, and with governments passing on their responsibilities for the arts and culture to the market. Privatization and Culture is a pioneering venture, confronting fables with facts. It focuses on European experiences in the performing arts (theatre and opera), heritage (museums and built heritage) and cultural industries (film and television broadcasting and the book industry). The result is an up-to-date insight into privatization in the cultural sector and its consequences for cultural policy and development in Europe. The contributors are academics, practitioners and policy-makers, working in different cultural fields and in different countries. They offer a rich spectrum of concepts, experiences and perspectives.
Synopsis
CARlA BODO Board Member of the Cultural Information and Research Centres liaison in Europe (CIRCLE) and Director of the Observatory for the Performing Arts at the Department of the Performing Arts of the Italian Prime Minister's Office, Roma The relation between the public and the private sector in the field of culture, the central theme of this publication, was thoroughly debated during the 1997 CIRCLE Round Table in Amsterdam. It was not the first time CIRCLE addressed this issue. In 1988 CIRCLE'S Bureau was invited to participate in a seminar in Budapest on The State, the Market and Culture. I will never forget the emotional impact of Sacha Rubinstein's demonization of state sup- port and his apotheosis of the role of the market in the cultural field in Russia. So, in ad- vance of actual events, we suddenly had a premonition of what was going to happen, ofthe turmoil which was about to radically change the socio-political scene of Central and East- ern Europe. Six years later, in 1994, we met again in Budapest for a Conference on The Distribu- tion of Roles between Government and Arts Councils, Associations and Foundations.
Table of Contents
Focusing the Cultural Political Debate in Europe; P.B. Boorsma. 1. Foreword. 2. An Analytical Introduction. 3. Approaches to Privatization and Culture. 4. Case Studies. 5. Conclusions.