Clements, P. (2003). The arts, culture and exclusion : with reference to New Labour cultural policy 1997-2002 this is a critical examination of the social function and evaluation of the arts in Britain and the extent to which they legitimate social difference or integrate the socially excluded. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City University London)
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Original citation: Clements, P. (2003). The arts, culture and exclusion : with reference to New Labour cultural policy 1997-2002 this is a critical examination of the social function and evaluation of the arts in Britain and the extent to which they legitimate social difference or integrate the socially excluded. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City University London)
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With reference to New Labour cultural policy 1997-2002,this Is a critical examination of the social function and evaluation of the arts In Britain, and the extent to which they legitimate social difference or integrate the socially excluded.
Paul Clcments
Doctoral Thesis
City University, Departmentof Arts Policy and Management,Autumn 2003 Declaration
I declarethat no part of the work referredto in this thesishas beensubmitted in support for an application of any otherdegree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. All quotationsand other sourceshave been duly acknowledgedin accordancewith appropriateacademic conventions:other than thesethe ideasand argumentspresented are my own.
Copying Authorisation
I grant powersto the University Librarian or his/her duly authorisedrepresentative to allow this thesisto be
copiedin whole or in part without further referenceto me. '17hispermission covers only single copies for
studypurposes, subject to normal conditionsof acknowledgement. Table of Contents
Acknowledgments P11
Preface p12
Abstract p13
Chapter I Introduction p14
PART I- Social Exclusion P19
Chapter 2. Social Exclusion p2l
2.1 Derivation and History of the Term 'Social Exclusion'
2.2 Poverty and Social Exclusion
2.3 Social Exclusion, Employment or Engagement.
2.4 A Critique of Social Exclusion and Poverty
2.5 An Excluded Youth Underclass
2.6 An Exclusive Society and the Breakdown of Consensus
2.7 Individual Choice and Deviancy
2.8 Inclusion
2.9 Wider Parametersof Inclusion/Exclusion
2.10 Summary
Chapter 3. Cultural Policy: Art and Social Exclusion p34
3.1 Introduction
32 Social Exclusion Unit
3.3 Policy Action Team 10
3.3.1 Art and NeighbourhoodRenewal: Key Findings and Principles
3.3.2 The Evaluation of Impact on NeighbourhoodRenewal
3.3.3 Recommendations
2 3.3.4 A Critique of Key Principles
3.3.5 Building on PAT 10
3.3.6 Misinformation
3.4 The Quality, Efficiency and StandardsTeam (QUEST)
3.5 Arts Council Response
3.6 A Critical Overview of New Labour's Policy on the Arts and Social Exclusion
3.7 Summary
PART 11 - Evaluation p52
Chapter 4. Evaluation Methodology p55
4.1 Introduction
42 Ifistory of Evaluation
4.3 Evaluation Methodology
4.3.1 An Overview
4.32 The Positions
4.4 Formative and SummativeEvaluation Design
4.5 Evaluation in Terms of Social or Aesthetic Impacts
4.5.1 A Critique of the Behavioural Approach
4.5 2A Critique of Art Criticism
4.6 Politics and IndependentEvaluation
4.7 A Constructivist Model of Evaluation
4.7.1 Fourth GenerationEvaluation
4.7.2 A Critique of Fourth GenerationEvaluation
4.8 A Pluralistic Evaluation of Inclusion
4.9 Empowerment,Critical Evaluation and Practical Hermeneutics
49.1 EmpowermentEvaluation
4.9 2 Critical Evaluation
4.93 Evaluation as Practical Hermeneutics I
3 4.10 StakeholderParticipation in Evaluation
4.11 Summary
Chapter 5. A Critique of Comedia's Research into Evaluating the Social Impact of the Arts p74
5.1 Introduction
5.2 The Community
5.3 Fitting the Arts into an EstablishedFramework of Positive Social Impacts
5.4 Cultural Inclusivity
5.5 Evaluation Methodology
5.5.1 Indicators to MeasureSocial Impacts
5.5.2 Social Auditing
5.5.3 StakeholderControl
5.5.4 Evidence and Advocacy
5.5.5 Languageof Evaluation
5.5.6 A PrescriptiveEvaluation
5.5.7 Negative Outcomes
5.5.8 Lack of StandardisedEvidence
5.6 Do the Ends Justify the Means?
5.6.1 Welfare Implications: Artistic Enterpriseor Social Purpose
5.6.2 Cultural Rights
5.6.3 Informed Consent
5.7 Poverty and Cost
5.7.1 Lack of Financial Comparability
5.72 Financial Responsibility
5.7.3 Poverty
5.8 Educational Impacts
5.8.1 A Learning Society
5.8.2 Developing a Critical Attitude and Active Citizens
4 59 RelevantSocial Impacts
5.10 Cultural PerformanceIndicators
5.11 Counter Argument
5.11.1 The Expert Evaluator
5.112 Appropriation: Evaluation as Pragmatismor Ideology
5.12 Evaluation, Putting it all together
5.13 Summary
Chapter 6. Evaluation Reports p107
6.1 Introduction
62 The London Arts Regional ChallengeProgramme Report: The Arts and Inclusion
6.3 Scottish Arts Council Report: Not Just A Treat: Arts and Social Inclusion
6.4 Departmentfor Culture Media and Sport Report- Count Me In
6.5 Summary
Chapter 7. Evaluation Case Study p117
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Back-groundConsiderations
7.2.1 Methodological Position of the Researcher
72.2 The CaseStudy Method
7.2.3 The Context
73 Evaluating 'Connecting Lines' Programme C,the 7.3.1 The Brief
7.3.2 Back-groundto Inside Arts Trust and ProgrammeObjectives
733 UseofArtforms -
7.3.4 Applied Theatre -Cognitive B ehavioural Change. 7.4 Practical Operation
7.4.1 A Method of Evaluation
5 7A2 Contradictionsin Position
7.4.3 Preparationfor On-Site Evaluation
7.4.4 Observation:Evaluation in Practice
7.5 The Written Notes
7.6 'Sleepers' at HMP Wolds, Humberside(Oct 1999)
7.6.1 AM - Visits Room
7.6.2 PM - Chapel
7.6.3 Triangulation of opinion
7.6.4 Overall Impressions '
7.7 'North/South' at Portland YOI, Dorset (Oct 2000)
7.7.1 AM - Industrial Cleaning Workshop
Cleaning Workshop 7.7.2 PM - Industrial
7.7.3 Triangulation of Opinion
7.7A Overall Impressions
7.8 'Sleepers' at Portland YOI, Dorset (May 2001)
7.8.1 AM - Industrial Cleaning Workshop
7.82 PM -Industrial Cleaning Workshop
7.8.3 Triangulation of Opinion
7.8.4 Overall Impressions
7.9 The Report Writing and Outcome
7.10 Conclusion
7.11 Summary
PART III - Cultural Exclusion p158
Chapter 8. Taste p 161
8.1 Introduction
82 Culture
8.3 Cultural Capital
6 8.4 The Arts as Distinction
83 A Critique of Bourdieu
8.6 CaseStudy: Outsider Art
8.6.1 Foucault: Art as Disempowerment
8.6.2 A Social Aesthetic
8.6.3 Parody.The Visible Spectacleas Deterrent
8.6.4 Art Brut and Accessto the Mainstream
8.6.5 A Welfare Model of Outsiders:Art Works in Mental Health
8.6.6 The Conundrum
8.6.7 Insider, Outsidersand the Power of Society
8.6.8 Conclusion
8.7 Summary
Chapter 9. Cultural Democracy p179
9.1 Introduction
9.2 The Cultural Industries
9.2.1 As a Driver for DemocratisingCulture
9.2.2 As a Threat to High Culture
9.3 A Grounded Aesthetic
9.3.1 Art as Exclusion, Culture as Inclusion
9.3.2 The Common Culture
9.3.3 Real and Simulated Culture
9.4 The Community Arts Movement
9.4.1 History of Antagonism
9A. 2 Problemswith the Community Arts Movement
9.4.3 The Arts as Excellence, Entertainment or Reflection of Community
9.4A Education into High Culture or Cultural Democracy,A Political Framework
9.4.5 Cultural Diversity
7 9.4.6 The RelevanceToday
9.5 CaseStudy- The Theatreof the Oppressed
9.5.1 Historical Precedent
9.52 Boal's Political Position
9.5.3 Three Formatsof the Theatreof the Oppressed
9.5.4 The Rainbow of Desire
9.5.5 Social Role of Theatre
9.5.6 Orature
9.5.7 Participation and Language
9.5.8 Oppressionand Social Exclusion
9.59 Conclusion
9.6 Summary
Chapter 10. Popular Culture: Politics, Participation and Identity p2ll
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Politics of Popular Culture
10.3 Participation
10.4 Multiculturalism and Identity
10.5 CaseStudy- ReggaeMusic
10.5.1 History of Reggae
10.5.2 Rastafarians
10.5.3 The Music
10.5.4 The Effect of Reggaeand Racial Inclusivity
10.5.5 Musical Participation
10.5.6 Reggae/Rastafarianismas a Subculture
10.5.7 Adolescent Rite of Passageand Incorporation
10.5.8 A Feminist Perspective
10.5.9 A Virtual World
8 10.5.10 Conclusion
10.6 Sununary
PART IV - The Arts: Individual Need and Social Function p230
Chapter 11. Empowerment, Transformation and Need p233
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Transformation of the Excluded
11.2.1 Empowerment and Emancipation
11.2.2 Self-Regulatory Power and Disempowerment
11.2.3 Learning About the Self as an Agent of Social Change
11.2.4 Education for Personal Transformation
112.5 Transformation Theory
11.2.6 Fear of Freedom and Spontaneity
11.3 Needs
11.3.1 Theory of Human Needs
11.3.2 Critique of Human Needs Theory
11.4 Case Study: Arts Education in Prison
11.4.1 History of Penal Education
11.4.2 Prison Education Models, Shifting Paradigms
11.4.3 Critique of Prison Education and the Cognitive Model
11.4.4 Lack of Research
11.4.5 Aims and Purpose of Arts Education in Prison
11.4.6 Conclusion
11-5 Summary
Chapter 12. The Social Location of the Arts p257 12.1 Introduction
12.2 The Relationship and Future of Work and Leisure
9 k
12.3 Overwork and the Leisure Deficit
12.4 Capitalism, Autonomy and Social Inclusion
12.5 Social Intervention and InstrumentalReason
12.6 The Play Ethic
12.7 Abnormal Leisure
12.8 A Counterculture
12.9 EngagedFreedom
12.10 Summary
Chapter 13 Analysis and Conclusion p277
Appendix 1 Francois Matarasso's50 Social Impacts (1997) p295
Appendix 2 History of Insight Arts Trust, Promotional Literature (1995) p297
Appendix 3 Final Evaluation Report for the ConnectingLines Programme (2001) p298
Appendix 4 Cuts to Arts Activities in Prisons,Unit for the Arts and Offenders (2001) p309
References and Bibliography p314
10 Acknowledgments
The extentto which the ideasdiscussed in this thesiscan be claimed as original, is impossiblefor me to truthfully assess.That they were encouragedand developedwas dependentto a large extent on some seminalmodem thinkers and the help of studentsand staff from the Departmentof Arts Policy and
Managementat City University. Theseinclude Juliet Steyn and Michael Quine, but in particular my tutor
Vicky Woollard whoseperception and supporthas been invaluable.Thanks also to Insight Arts Trust and its former Director Tom O'Mara, as well as all the other staff with whom I worked as an evaluator.
Similarly, all the studentsand tutors I have beeninvolved with as a tutor at Birkbeck College, University of
London, Departmentof Arts Management.Teaching has helped deepen my understandingof many relevant conceptsand values.I must also mention the help from Karen Drezgic from the ResearchDepartment of the Arts Council, PaulineGladstone from the Unit for Art andOffenders and ChristineHamilton from the
DepartmentUrban Studiesat GlasgowUniversity.
On a more personalnote I must thank my partner for her toleranceand my children for sharingthe computers.
11 Preface
Thereis a paradoxrelated to my motives for undertakingthis research.Primarily, my interestwas steeped in disinterestedlearning. Study for study's sake.But I soonrealised that suchlearning hashelped improve my thinking and ability to write and teach,from which I have benefitedfinancially, henceit is not disinterestedanymore.
12 Abstract
With specific referenceto the cultural policy set out by New Labour, this researchexplores the individual and social function of the arts and the extent to which they are agentsof inclusion. 'Me arts, an important aspecteven driver of culture can be perceivedas exclusivewith tastereflecting socio-economicconcerns which contradictsthis function. Sucha paradoxrequires an investigationinto the complex and sometimes contradictoryrelationship between cultural and social inclusion and exclusion, as well as the methodsused of evaluatingimpact.
The thesisis divided into four sections.Part One setsout definitions of social exclusion and relevant governmentcultural policy. Part Two investigatesevaluation methodology and techniquesof evaluatingthe social impact of the arts programmesin particular.This includesan analysisof relevantreports. Part Three then investigatescultural exclusion.A trilateral approachis taken that assessestaste, cultural democracy andpopular culture. Part Four relatesspecifically to causalfactors of inclusion and how the arts enable emancipation,empowerment and satisfy personalneed. It also exploresthe wider social function and ideal location of the arts, especiallywith regardsto a leisure framework.
Throughout,the researchquestions the extent to which the social role of the arts and policy is one of accommodationor more concernedwith reflecting individual needsand a wider counterculture.It concludesthat an engagedfreedom is the more natural agendaof the arts,which contrastswith an instrumentalNew Labour governmentpolicy that treatssocial inclusion asprimarily related to employment and training issuesin order to increaseindividual social capital.
13 Chapter 1. Introduction
The satirical and surrealIrish novelist Flann O'Brien in his dark comedyThe nird Policeman,used he exaggeration in order to parody function in art. One of the policemen, MacCruiskeen, created what called his supremeart:
a brown chestlike thoseowned by seafaring lascarsfrom Singapore diminutive in men or .....
a very perfect way as if you were looldng at a full-size one through the wrong end of a spy-glass.It
was about a foot in height, perfect in its proportionsand without fault in worlananship.There were
indentsand carving and fanciful excoriationsand designson every side of it and there was a bend on
the lid that gave the article greatdistinction. At every corner therewas a shiny brasscomer-piece
and on the lid there were brasscomer-pieces beautifully wrought and curved impeccablyagainst the
wood. The whole thing had the dignity and the satisfying quality of true art. (O'Brien 1993:72)
Ibis chesttook the policemantwo yearsto create.But when he had completedit, he did not know what
function it should serve,as nothing he possessedwas considered importantenough to be put inside the
chest.
The only thing which he deemedto befit the spirit of the chest,was anotherchest, but smaller so it would
f it inside the original. This of coursehad to be as perfect asthe first, and took MacCruiskeentwo more
yearsto create.But then he had to tackle the sameconundrum with the new chest.So, as with Russian
dolls, he produced29 cheststo fit inside eachother, until the smallest,'looked like a bug or a tiny piece of
dirt'. The policemanthen createdtwo more, 'the smallestof all being nearly half a size smaller than
ordinary invisibility. Thesechests were his lifework, ashe spentall his spareleisure time and energyon
them.He went to further extremes:
Nobody has ever seenthe last five I madebecause no glassis strongenough to make them big
enoughto be regardedtruly as the smallestthings ever made.Nobody can seeme maldng them
14 is becausemy little tools are invisible into the samebargain. The one I am making now nearly as small as nothing. (O'Brien 1993:76)
Sucha fictional scenarioreveals a lot aboutthe function of art in a modem westernsociety. Firstly, the immensevalue of the artwork to its creator,and its talismanicand magical property. Secondly,as an escape valve for an extremeand obsessivenature. Tbirdly, the pride the artist takesin showinghis or her creations to others,although sometimes wanting to hide them from view. Here art acts as a communicator.Lastly, the tensionbetween practical utility and an intrinsic aesthetic.On the one hand MacCruiskeenwanted to use the drawersof the chest,but on the other therewas nothing deemedworthy of being placed inside these beautiful creations.Even more confusingly,he hid the fruits of his labour in the drawers,as though they were too preciousfor the world and not to be utilised for their obvious functional purposeof storing materials.That he was maniacallydriven by his creativity helps explain the personalvalue of art. It also showsthe extent to which its perceivedmystical value or magicalpower (a function in itself), may be demeanedand opposedby instrumentality.Both intention and instrumentalityare important strandsto this research.Furthermore, this creativity gavebalance to his routine working day as a policeman,worthwhile and engagingleisure that gave meaningto his life. Another crucial consideration.
Alternatively, O'Brien was pillorying the high art establishmentfor its excessivenature, remoteness and exclusivity, and it is this lampooningthat reflects a very different function, that of social criticism in this instanceand a shot acrossthe bows of 'high' art inaccessibility.Hence thereis a multi-layered and contradictoryconcept of function.
This brief sketchof MacCruiskeenexemplifies the tensionsbetween personal utility and the wider social value of art, which is embeddedin and embedsperspectives of identity and tastepreferences. The arts are involved in that personaljourney or hermeneutic,whether in termsof national or ethnic tradition, youth subcultureor biography. StuartHall expandedon this themeof identity in terms of his own Afro-Caribbean background:
Cultural identities come from somewhere,have histories.But like everythingwhich is historical,
15 they undergoconstant transformation. Far from being eternally fixed in someessentialist past, they
are subjectto the continuous'play' of history, culture and power. Far from being groundedin a mere
'recovery' of the past,which is waiting to be found, and which, when found, will secureour senseof
ourselvesinto eternity, identities are the nameswe give to the different ways we arepositioned by,
and position ourselveswithin, the narrativesof the past. (Ha]11990:225)
The arts can be a conduit for expressingand representingsuch cultures,and the mechanismby which they are transformed.Hence the importanceof cultural accessand inclusion.
Considerationalso needsto be given to collective concerns.The classicalfunctionalist theoriesin sociology and social anthropology,treated society as an organism,a systemof inter-relatedand self-regulatingparts
(Durkheim 1938; Radcliffe-Brown 1952).The Durkheimianperspective on functionalismwas that it encourageda healthy society, asall the parts were in harmony,whereas a dysfunctional society lacked such balance.But this holistic and ideal theoreticalposition, failed to accommodatedifference and change.Such a broad social perspectiveis in conflict with a conceptof function predicatedon the individual needsand aspirationsoutlined above.That the individual maybe pitted againstthe collective also undermines simplistic conceptsof social inclusion. The arts as currently definedcan be perceivedas the pinnacle of individualism and the apotheosisof social accommodation.But this has to be consideredagainst the extent to which visual and aural cultural symbolscan affect vast audiences,and embodycollective identities. Such is the plasticity and mutability of the arts.
How the arts are appropriatedfor suchdifferent functionsis itself a highly political arena.During the last
Conservativegovernment (1979-97), the artsbecame instrumental in terms of basic fiscal function. John
Myerscough,illustrated the economiccontribution of the arts in the UIC,reflecting the New Right thinking.
He concludedthat their value was, 'as a meansof cutting the unemployedcount' (Myerscough1988: 8), and as, 'an important tool for economicdevelopment, as well as a potentmeans of environmental improvement' (1988: 156), regardingurban regenerationand renewal.The then governmentutilised such thinking in its attemptto kick start the economiesof run-down urban areas.
Ibere hasbeen a shift of functional emphasissince the election of the New Labour governmentin May
16 1997.The languageof economiccapital has been augmentedby that of social capital, which has encourageda wider understandingof economics.Accordingly, New Labour adopteda cultural policy concernedwith how the arts and sport could be utilised instrumentallyto help addresssocial exclusion,and specifically in terms of renewingrun-down neighbourhoods.Chris Smith, then Secretaryof Statefor
Culture,Media and Sport (DCMS) explainedhow,
art and sport can not only make a valuablecontribution to delivering key outcomesof lower long-term
unemployment,less crime, better health and better qualifications,but can also help to develop the
individual pride, community spirit and capacityfor responsibilitythat enablescommunities to run
regenerationprogrammesthemselves. (Cited in Policy Action Team 10 1999:2)
Thereforethis researchinvestigates the complex conceptsof social inclusion and exclusion as well as the evaluationframeworks and processesthat are ableto show the successof arts programmesto realise these positive social outcomes.But, as the researchquestion posits, the arts alreadyserve a social function as validator of difference.They are the conduit of tastepreferences that reflect and supportwider socio- economicand political concernsof, for instance,class, ethnicity and education.Hence the conundrurn,as the arts are now perceivedby New Labour asa tool to help resolveproblems of social exclusion,which must thereforebe consideredagainst the wider causesand hidden backdropof cultural exclusion.
But conceptsof social inclusion and exclusionare difficult to define, and thoseof cultural inclusion and exclusionare of an even more convolutednature. The complex relationshipsbetween these variables are exploredto better comprehendthe debatesurrounding the use of the arts to addresssocial exclusion.
The breadthof this domain is enormous,therefore certain areashave beenomitted from this research.For examplethe wider effects of globalisationon exclusion,the explorationof the intrinsic magical quality of the arts that helps engenderinclusion and the discoursesurrounding citizenship.
This thesisinvestigates the capacityof the arts to transformindividuals and communities,based on the underlyingprinciple of social justice. But crucially, it seeksto portray how thoseexcluded themselves can be in control of this process,how best they can, either individually or collectively, help themselvesand
17 sharethe benefitsof society. It aims to contribute to arts and cultural policy, and to determinean evaluative templatefor social impacts to be realisedthrough artsprogrammes.
The obsessivenessof MacCruiskeencrafting his chests,can be recognisedas abnormalbehaviour or
creativeenthusiasm, which introducesconcepts of social normality and abnormalleisure practices.
Notwithstanding,active creativity and the expressionof the whole characterof a personcan be the positive
benefitsof the arts and riposte to exclusion and passivecultural consumption.This is the author'sposition
having worked in a cultural capacitywith the socially excludedfor over twenty years.But becausesuch
propertiestend to be countercultural and leisure-orientated,they fail to be fully appreciated.Such concerns
will be clarified in the text.
Methodologically, the researchcombines an eclecticphenomenological and existential methodusing case
studiessteeped in personalexperience to a greateror lesserdegree, alongside a more theoretical
epistemologicaldiscourse. This hermeneudcapproach, questions the veracity of objective truth and
quantitativemethods of verification. Hencea mainly qualitative, critical and experientialanalysis is
undertaken,within a pluralistic framework that acceptsthe utility of quantitativedata where appropriate.
The methodologyfails to adhereto any specific schoolof thought,but is influencedby a range of modern
thinkersincluding; Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucau14Paolo Freire and Max Weber.The researchblends
theory and practice,using a Marxist analysisamongst others, in as much as its concentrationon human
agency,and issuesof power and its democratisation,are major themes.
The evidenceused throughout, is collected from a rangeof fields and sources.These incorporate
anthropology,arts and cultural policy, cultural and leisure studies,education, evaluation research, history
of the arts,philosophy, politics, psychologyand sociology. Sourcesinclude correspondence,exhibitions,
lectures,observation, formal and informal interview, book and Internetsites, aswell as unpublishedtheses.
Becauseof the value-drivenand contestednature of much of this investigation,which impacts on
methodologicalconsiderations, there is no absoluteevidence to prove or disprovethe researchhypothesis.
The thesisis thereforea specific interpretationor 'take' of availableevidence, experiential knowledge and
theoreticalideas, and is thereforemore a narrativethan a prescriptivestatement.
18 PART I- Social Exclusion
The arts and cultural industriesare key elementsin creatingjobs, attracting inward investment and
[they] expenditure.... can also play a part in helping a New Labour governmentdeliver its social agenda
in rebuilding our senseof community which has been underminedin recent years
(LabourParty 1997)
The first challengeis to demonstratevery clearly how art and artistic activity can transform the lives and hopesof those who are socially excludedor marginalized. And then make it happen,on the widest
Take, for Look Ahead hostel in Aldgate in the East End London, possible scale.... example,the of
which I visited a couple of weeks ago. Home to 160 homelessmen and women. It was a byword for
hopelessness But instead despairing, Look Ahead lived its had .... of the organization up to name and
the imagination to bring in two people to start using art and dramaand artistic activity to transform the
hostel. It is now an almost unrecognizableplace. It is coveredin art works and mosaicsmade by the
The Involvement in however residents.... atmospheresparkles .... art can give someone, marginalized they may be from society, a senseof self-worth, a self-confidence,something to live for and feel proud
about
(Smith 1999: 15)
19 (1997-2002). Part One reviews relevant literature on social exclusion and New Labour cultural policy It is The researchexplores the history of the term 'social exclusion' and its political manifestation. relational, processorientated, multi-dimensional and tricky to quantify. There are problems as to whether it refers to a lack of resourcesand opportunities, to areasor people, There is no stable definition of the term and the discourseexposes its contestednature. The investigation also questions whether addressingthe factors that causeexclusion actually createsa more inclusive society, as it has a deeperstructural foundation. It assesseswhat inclusion ideally appearsto be, and the individual drivers of this conception.The researchalso createsan order of exclusion that refers to people as againstplace.
New Labour cultural policy (1997-2002),concerned the instrumental use of the arts (and sport) to
addressissues of social exclusion and promote neighbourhoodrenewal, through participatory arts
programmes,within a wider framework of action. The governmentdefined social exclusion specifically
in terms of unemployment,lack of educationand skills, poor health and environment, and the effects of
crime. The researchshows how the policies set out by the government'sSocial Exclusion Unit (SEU)
and Policy Action Team (PAT) 10 (chairedby the DCMS to research1he social impact ofarts),
influenced the Arts Council (ACE) with a particular understandingand agenda.It had a mixed
receptionwith differing degreesof success.Much concernrevolved around the issue of how to prove
programmesuccess and a correspondingemphasis on methodsof evaluating social impact.
20 Chapter 2. Social Exclusion
2.1 Derivation and History of the Term 'Social Exclusion'
In order to begin this research,it is important that the history and definition of the conceptof social exclusion is examined.
The term 'social exclusion' which has a continental origin, has been in use for nearly thirty years.
Rene Lenoir, former French Secretaryof State for Social Action is attributed to have first coined the phrasein the 1974 publication Les Eclus: Un Francais sur Dix (cited in Collins et al 1999: 5). But it was the French Socialists, according to Janie Percy-Smith (2000: 1) who helped popularise the term in the 1980's. They used it to representand aid marginal groups gain accessto the systemof social insuranceas well as to emphasisethe need for social and economic cohesion.
GraharnRoom (1995: 1-4) traced the use of the expressionback to the work of the European
Comirdssionon Poverty. By the third programme(1990-4), the emphasisand languagehad changed from that of poverty, to a concernwith the integration of the least privileged. An 'Observatory' on policies to combat social exclusion was introduced.This constitutedan agglomerationof research
institutes dealing with social policies in relation to the family, the elderly and social security. The
programmewas called Poverty 3: 'By the time the programmewas launched,"social exclusion"
becamethe fashionableterminology. It is debatableas to how far theseshifts reflect any more than the
hostility of some governmentsto the languageof poverty, and the enthusiasmof others to use the
languageof social exclusion' (1995: 5).
Jos Berghn= (1995: 17-18) showedhow the languageof exclusion was a logical extensionof issues
of poverty. He scrutinised and distinguishedbetween direct poverty (living conditions and
consumption)and indirect poverty (income), explaining how researchersand expertshad confused the
two concepts.The measurementof poverty was highly relative (the differential between rich and poor
varied from country and locality), unlike the emphasison deprivation, which was the foundation for the
more comprehensiveand dynamic conceptof social exclusion.
Similarly, Room made the distinction betweenpoverty which is primarily an issueof the distribution of
resources,and social exclusion which focuseson relationai issueslike inadequateparticipation and lack
of social integration. He then framed each conceptin terms of different intellectual and cultural 21 British liberal society, basedon perspectives.Poverty, reflected an Anglo-Saxon and very conceptof to the marketplacein which individuals competedfor resources.Social exclusion referred a more in terms continental and particularly French tradition of social analysis,where society was seen of
statushierarchies, mutual rights and obligations. In this framework social rights were emphasized:
'Social exclusion can be analysedin terms of the denial (or non-realisation) of thesesocial rights: in
other words, in terms of the extent to which the individual is bound into membershipof this moral and
politicalcommunity' U 995:7).
Thesetwo frameworks reflect different traditions of analysis; British pragmatism and functionalism as
againstFrench structuralism. Interestingly, the third EuropeanCommission tried to integrate die two
traditions, by investigating social exclusion in both relational and distributional terms.
Chiara Saracenoexpanded these two traditions to three: 'French republican notions of solidarity,
Anglo-American liberal individualism and the Europeansocial democraticnotion of conflict basedon
hierarchical power relations' (Saraceno2002: 6). This trilateral strandcreated a discourseof competing
EU opinions and positions, rather than a specific stableconcept of the term: 'The discourseon social
exclusion has oscillated between thesedifferent "paradigms" over time, without-clearly choosing hand it among them. Thus, on the one hand it stressesthe social rights dimension .... on the other
privileges employment as the main route to inclusion' (2002: 8). But poverty and employment, present
with their focus on economic inclusion, a modernist framework of understanding,the idea of universal
progresstowards the eradication of poverty and more equitabledistribution of resources.Whereas It social exclusion, in terms of individual and collective rights, is multidimensional and more dynamic.
foundation. Here may refer to parenting or housing; educationor nutrition. It has a more postmodern
the holistic nature of the term can be seenin terms of its constituentand interconnectingparts. This
conceptof social exclusion incorporatesand affects a range of fields of knowledge, for instance
educational,political, cultural and economic. It is within this framework of understandingthat issuesof
culture becomeapparent. Saraceno was also aware of the contradictionsand conflict between
individual, community and national exclusion, and how an excluded individual could be included
within a specific community.
Overall, the conceptof social exclusion has a strong Europeangrounding. It c-,ui be seento be holistic,
multidimensional and highly elastic. But there are different traditions and contexts within which it is 22 embedded.These create a complex framework of understandingwhich is not without inherent contradictions.
2.2 Poverty and Social Exclusion
This distinction between poverty and social exclusion can be further elaborated. In terms of defining poverty, individuals and groups, Peter Townsend (1979: 31) assessed that people, 'can be said to be in poverty when they lack the resources to obtain the types of diet participate in die activities which are customary, or are at least widely encouraged or approved, in the societies in which they belong'.
Whereas Alan Walker (1997: 8) understood social exclusion as, 'a more comprehensive formulation which refers to the dynamic process of being shut out, fully or partially, from any of the social, economic, political and cultural systems which determine the social integration of a person in society'.
Berghman distinguished social exclusion and impoverishment, which denoted process, from concepts of poverty and deprivation, which denoted outcome. He highlighted the extent to which European programmes of research refocused around a curriculum of social exclusion rather than of poverty. He defined the term, 'as a breakdown or malfunctioning of the major societal systems that should guarantee full citizenship' (1995: 20). Therefore it concerned much more than just resources and consumption, being both comprehensive and dynamic in character. It considered civic, economic and social integration, as well as a lack of participation and power. This directly resulted in the denial or non-realisation of rights, hence its affinity with concepts of citizenship.
Therefore poverty can be seen as just one aspect of social exclusion. Consequently Room remarked
that, 'there appear to be no unique, formal definitions of social exclusion that would command general
consent' (1995: 235).
The European Commission's Poverty 3 put forward three leading principles of social exclusion:
multidimensionality, partnership and participation, emphasising the process element of the concept.
This has helped develop and improve a conceptual framework that goes beyond financial imperatives.
The irony in Britain was that in 2001, just when the language of social exclusion was being grasped
and utilised, the income gap between rich and poor was at its widest:
The UK income by the has decreased 1981 fresh shareof all received poor steadily since ....with a 23 Labour [in 1999-20001Ilie poorest fifth of householdshad fall under after a sevenyear plateau....
6% of national income after tax, while the shareheld by the top fifth has risen under Labour from
44%to45%. (Ward2001a)
Such uncomfortablereading for the govemment,adds a cynical twist to the changeof languagefrom poverty to social exclusion, and questionsan agendaof inclusion which seemsto help disguise the increasingly iniquitous economicreality. Furthermore,it disputes whether such a processorientated emphasiscan offer a more effective solution to the acute social problems rooted in poverty.
23 Social Exclusion, Employment or Engagement.
The multidimensional nature of the problems that contribute to social exclusion is hardly a confederacy of equally important factors. JamesMcCormick and Graham Leicester(1998) assessedthat, 'The
factor in from is both The clearest excluding people the mainstream poverty, absoluteand relative .... strongest is lack Low is a causeof poverty but in part a causeof exclusion of work .... pay not only symptom of low status'.
Exclusion concernsbasic economic and educationalfactors, hencethe INPART (Inclusion Through
Participation) researchproject funded by the EuropeanCommission, found that, 'most of the current inclusion in fact, increase policies.... are, employment policies, aiming to people's employability and stimulate their labour-market integration'. The aim was to decreasedependency on welfare benefits, which is not the sameas, 'promoting social inclusion in its wider sense' (INPART 2001).
It found problems with such a policy. Firstly, with whether the focus on employment was feasible or desirablefor all socially excluded people. Secondly,whether social inclusion should be restricted to
issuesof employment, as it neededto be understoodin terms of wider social participation. This it
called 'engagement',where the excludedhave their needsmatched in terms of participation. It argued
that social exclusion neededto be tack-ledthrough, 'bottom-up community basedinitiatives rooted in
people's own attempts to "make somethingof their lives... (INPART 200 1), reflecting a self-help
philosophy that promoted self-development.
This wider concept of social exclusion requiring engagementand participation, above and beyond
employmentmeasures, is a radical shift away from a conservativesocial policy agenda.Both require a 24 deeperanalysis and critique.
2.4 A Critique of Social Exclusion and Poverty
There is a political agendamanifest in the languageof exclusion. David B yrne (1999) perceived definitions of both poverty and social exclusion as steepedin the ideology of possessiveindividualism.
He comparedthis focus with Anglo-American conceptionsof citizenship which were inherently individualistic, a 'culture of poverty' where, 'the poor's own attitudes and values are identified as the
their in blaming for sourceof poverty a processof them their own condition - the contemporaryversion of Protestantism'sexcluded and morally deficient non-elect' (B yrne 1999: 21). He castigated policyinakers and economists,as it was their accountsof poverty which failed to recognise the morality embeddedin such a paradigm, and the judgement of those in poverty as unworthy, although possibly redeemable,sinners.
The problems were political and due to the failure of any real class-basedunderstanding. By concentratingon the individual, this denied a proper collective framework and awareness.B yrne conceivedthat the underlying paradox was, 'the inherent tension betweenan economic system founded on possessiveindividualism and ordered through free markets on the one hand, and democratic majority government,especially when informed by the principle of subsidiarity, on the other' (1999:
28). His controversial analysis mirrored the globalisednature of capitalism within anew post-industrial framework that re-confirmed the hegemonyof individualism and the work, ethic:
it is perfectly evident that the possessionof some combination of cultural and financial resourcesis
the basis of membershipof the superclass.In income terms this comprisesthe top 5 per cent of
income have We recipients.... who accumulatedmassive real wealth. should also note that this
superclassgenerally regardsitself, in atheistic terms, as a Calvinist elect. Its membershave
'achieved' through inherent worth and regard themselvesas fully entitled to their consequent
differentiating privileges. (1999: 129)
B yrne concluded that it was impossible to eliminate social exclusion through policy directed at the
excludedalone, as it was inequality, wealth and dominanceof the superclassand globalised capital that 25 influence. Localised coalitions perpetuatedthis situation, hencethe need to redistribute this wealth and this against such globalisation neededto be developedfor there to be any chanceof reversing situation. factor. Therefore poverty was not just inextricably linked to exclusion, it was the major causal
2.5 An Excluded Youth Underclass
One areaof exclusion that is of particular importance,concerns adolescents and young adults. Robert
MacDonald (1997) was concernedthat Western societieswere possibly witnessing the rise of an
underclassof 'dangerousyouth'. He related this youth underclassto the problematic processof
becoming adult, and to altered social, economic and political conditions. He compared this with ale
parentalgeneration's transition to adulthood.This reflected the transformedbut fractured consensusof
today, comparedwith that of the post-war years: 'Until the mid - 1970's, the clear majority of young
people could make what are regardednow as successful,secure and normal transitions to work, to
social independenceand to economic security in adulthood' (Macdonald 1997: 20). Today the position
of youth, particularly those disadvantagedby class,edinicity and lack of qualification, is highly
unstable: 'Thus middle-class youth can still, in main, trade on their cultural capital and carve out
relatively successfulpaths through education into middle-classjobs' (1997: 21). There are many who
reject the underclasstheory, for instanceKirk Mann (1994), who maintained that there was far more
diversity in terms of a black market of jobs, and undisclosedincomes.
2.6 An Exclusive Society and the Breakdown of Consensus
With referenceto the broader social perspective,exclusion reflects a break-downof the consensus.Jock
Young mappedout this golden age of post-war consensusand inclusivity and comparedit to the
exclusive society of today:
If the first moment in the 1960's and 1970's was that of the rise of individualism, the creation, if
you like, of zonesof personal exclusiveness,the unravelling of traditionalities of community and
family, then the secondlasting through the 1980's and 1990's, involved a processof social
exclusion. This is a two-part process,involving firstly the transformation and separationof the
labour marketsand a massiverise in structural unemployment,and secondly the exclusion arising 26 from attemptsto control the crime which arisesout of such changedcircumstances and the
excluding nature of anti-social behaviour itself. (Young 1999:6)
This Young understoodas the transition from modernity to late modernity, from inclusive to exclusive society. And accompanyingthis exclusivity was a widening inequality.
Accordingly, one result of this breakdown of consensus,has been the disproportionategrowth in the number and reconviction rates of criminals. There has been an increasein the number of prisoners in
England and Wales from 42,000 in 1992 to a record breaking 70,000 in March 2002 (Home Office
2002). This is a massive increaseof 67% in ten years.Furthermore, this is predicted to rise to between
91,400 and 109,600by 2009 (Travis 2002). More worryingly in 1998,72% of all young offenders and
58% of all prisonerswere reconvicted within two years(Social Exclusion Unit 2002: 5).
The direction of British society, has been moving towards increasingindividualism and exclusivity, with more and more individuals and communities excluded from participating in and mutually engagingwith it. This is a massiveproblem of engagementand social participation which goes beyond functional issuesof employment.
2.7 Individual Choice and Deviancy
This changein consensuscoupled with consumerpatterns, has given rise to more pluralistic lifestyles.
Young statedthat,
Ae dialectics of exclusion is in process,a deviancy amplification which progressively accentuates
marginality, a pyrrhic processinvolving both wider society and crucially, the actors themselves
which traps them, in at best, a seriesof deadendjobs and at worst, an underclassof idlenessand
desperation. (1999:13)
Ironically, the more individualised and pluralistic society has become,with increasingindividual
choice, the greater people's insecurity. Anthony Giddens (199 1) referred to this damageas affecting
people's 'ontological security' and creating 'existential anxiety'. This he saw as realised in terms of the
increasein usageof therapy and the need for self-actualisation.Choice had now become, 'a 27 1991: 80) has traditional fundamentalcomponent of day-to-day activity' (Giddens which undermined becomedisorientated by such a morass systemsof security and inclusivity. Beliefs and certaintieshad of relativism.
Young saw three areasand levels of exclusion. On economic terms as exclusion from work, a more have generalexclusion betweenpeople, and an encroachmentof private on public space.'Thus we a
privatization of public spacein terms of shopping malls, private parks, leisure facilities, railways,
airports, togetherwith the gating of private property. Thesenow commonplaceprecautions are backed
by strongeroutside fortification, security patrols and surveillance cameras' (1999: 18). Similarly an
expansivecriminal justice systemwas forcing ever more offenders into hidden and excluded spaces.
This 'exclusive dystopia' reflecting high modernism, has createda correspondingunderclass that has
too readily becomea scapegoatfor all societal problems.Exclusion, can thereforebe seenas endemic
within a modem individuated capitalist framework.
2S Inclusion
Addressing0 It is important to understandwhat social inclusion appearsto be and how it is achieved. the Gabriel factors that causeexclusion may not necessarilytransfer into creating a more inclusive society. is inclusive Chanan(2000), peeredbehind the political rhetoric and implication that there an society like, that from which certain people are excluded.He describedwhat inclusion would appear noting the
term involved an interaction betweenpeople and place:
largely in The first factor would be having a job - or having had one, and, consequence,possibly
having someproperty or assets;or living in a householdwhich has at least one person in
employment.This factor immediately indicates a different relationship to the locality from that
which applies to excluded people. Included people have maximum opportunity for local
community involvement but are not dependenton it....
The privileged person can engagewith his/tier locality to a variable, freely chosendegree. Well-off
localities are generally safer, people are more mobile, there are more and easierplaces to meet.
The ultimate sanction is that people have the option of not being there at all - they have a saleable
property, they have the meansto move elsewhere,their whole psychological orientation in relation 28 to the place is one of positive choice....
In poor localities the relationship of the individual with the locality is more obligatory and more
fraught More likely have 'structural' with the public services .... people.... are to a relationship -
whether as claimants, tenantsor social service clients, or all three. Peopleare likely to be more
pinned down to the locality by lack of the meansto be mobile, to commute, to have wide leisure
choices. (Chanan2000: 203-204)
Chanan,although he recognisedthe diversity and relativity of the term 'exclusion', tried to set baseline targetsto show that improved community activity and developmentcould be quantified. These revolved around the individual in terms of time spentin the locality, and community activity
(awarenessand involvement in local groups and organisations).His own fieldwork showed that 5 per cent of a sample taken from 230 householdswere highly active in community organisations(9 per cent moderately active). Thesepeople, who tendedto be over forty, with a long-term associationin the locality, white-collar workers or professionals,were the drivers of inclusiveness( 2000: 208-209).
Therefore, the excluded were dependanton specific people already included in the community.
Ruth Levitas (1996: 5) criticised the use of the term social exclusion, 'which is contrastednot with inclusion but integration, integration into job [as it] with construedas the market.... treats social divisions which are endemic to capitalism as resulting from an abnormalbreakdown in the social cohesionwhich should be maintained by the division of labour'. She understoodthis new Durkheimian hegemonyas failing to appreciateunpaid labour and confusing the inequalities between those in work.
Like Byme, she perceived a false morality, which resulted in blaming individuals for their situation when it was inherent to the economic system.Such a confusion of terminology further questionedwhat the condition of social inclusion really was and whether it was attainable.
Richard Sennett(1999: 27) went further to suggestthat work destroyedsocial inclusion: 'Social cohesionwas diminishing in the work-placelargely becausethe social honour that attachesto being an employeeis diminishing. Honourable work is now symbolisedby the entrepreneurrather than the
employee'. This excessiveindividualism, was undermining the mutual ties and responsibilities that
constituted inclusion.
Inclusion itself is a contestedsite. Firstly inclusive drivers are located in specific (already included) 29 characterswhich negatesself-management. Secondly it is conftised with integration. Thirdly, the work, ethic a large contributory factor of exclusion, is in contrast seenby the governmentas the key factor for addressingexclusion. This contradiction questionsits real intention and commitment to wider social participation.
2.9 Wider Parameters of Inclusion/El xcluslon
The dependant complex and relationship betweensocial inclusion and exclusion is analogousto Hall's double definition identity. The of cultural first was perceived in terms of a collective sharedexperience, history, mythology and the secondin terms of how such identity has been fractured, the difference expressedin 'what we have become', and the reality of the future. These two complimentary identities are,
'framed' by two axes or vectors, simultaneouslyoperative: die vector of similarity and continuity;
and the vector difference in, of and rupture.... the one gives us some grounding some continuity
with, the past. The secondreminds us that what we shareis precisely die experienceof a profound
discontinuity. (Hall 1990:226-7)
Hall was referring to his own perspectiveand the effects of the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora, history of slavery and colonial subjugation.
But there is also a mythical history associatedwith social inclusion. The post-war unanimity when social classeswere codified, adheredto with little social mobility, allowed such a consensus.Working classsolidarity was a counterweight to bourgeois hegemony,and everyoneknew their place. Such an idealisedand epic British tradition failed to recognisethe inequalities, racism and double standards which have since been acknowledged.The reality today and future vista is one of increasing exclusion, disharmony and conflict. The grand schemeof a ubiquitous inclusive society is a mere pipedream.The relative certainty and inclusivity of the 1950's and 1960's, which has morphed into the pluralism and exclusivity of society today, has been accompaniedby: an increasedwealth differential, the diversification of lifestyles, growing individualism, a greater ethnic and classsynthesis and closer integration of the world. These have all createda rampant insecurity and fractured consensus.Hence 30 the need to exclude others. There is somethingof Hall's two positions of cultural identity in the inclusion/exclusiondialectic, notjust in terms of reality, but also in terms of the mythology inherent in such perceptions.Therefore the conceptof an inclusive society is an ideal, whereasthe excluded version is a reality.
To define differing degreesof exclusion, predicatedon more individual tenns, there needsto be an
order in which to frame the term. Therefore the researchsuggests five orders, that are the symptomsof
exclusion, in order to disriminate betweenthe different types:
There is a first order exclusion; those who are physically removed from society. Here exclusion can
comprisea constituency that residesin prison, long-term psychiatric hospital and geriatric home. A
secondorder exclusion refers to those economically disadvantaged,who are homelessor live in the
most deprived neighbourhoods,lack jobs and the skills to do them. A third order of exclusion concerns
thosewhose exclusion is concernedwith poor communication.This can be due to disability or health,
or becausetheir first languageis not English (arguably thesepeople may well be included in their own
ethnic community). A fourth order comprisesthose who chooseexclusion (for religious, ecological or
personalreasons). Lastly there is a fifth order of virtual exclusion. It refers to the mythology of Hall's
vector of continuity, but more particularly to JeanBaudrillard's (1988) conceptof simulation.
Accordingly, the term 'exclusion' is used to conceal that society is exclusive and excluding in general.
Mark Ryan analysedthe terms of 'exclusion' and 'inclusion' as examplesof a political fantasy
language,vacuous buzz words that are used for spin purpose,signifiers that have another signification.
This, 'new language to ....rather than giving expression a world that already exists.... creates a world of
its own, a virtual world, related more to how people might want to view things than to how they really
-ire' (Ryan 2001:16).
Thesefive orders of social exclusion with referenceto people, reveal the heterogeneousnature and
complexity of the term. This is particularly important when understandingcultural exclusion, which,
refers moreso to individual and collective values, than place or lack of resources.
2.10 Sumtmry
This chapterconcerned social exclusion, which Room recognisedas originating in France and steeped
in a tradition of social analysis, with an understandingof social rights and obligations. He established 31 it process that there was no stable definition of the term, and unlike the term poverty was relational, it to a orientated,multi-dimensional and hard to quantify. There were problems as to whether referred lack of resourcesand opportunities, to areasor people. Berghmandistinguished the processof exclusion with the outcome of poverty, and how it had a close associationwith conceptsof citizenship.
Its definitional mutability also reflected the differing cultures from which it had originated. Saraceno createdseparate paradigms of understanding;with French notions of solidarity mixed with Anglo-
American liberal individualism and Europeansocial democratic conceptsof power hierarchies.B yrne's critique of traditional definitions of poverty and more recent onesof social exclusion, identified them within a framework of possessiveindividualism, reflecting a contemporaryversion of the Protestant work ethic, with associatedguilt and moral deficiency.
Room reasonedthat interest in social exclusion was due to a generalgovernmental dislike of the
poverty agenda,and measuresto combat social exclusion had in effect been concernedwith reducing
unemployment,as has been the casein Britain. But INPART arguedthat this denied tile wider
importanceof engagementand social participation. Chanan's fieldwork revealedthat the drivers in
community activity have tended to be white-collar, middle aged and already included, which
exacerbatesthe concern that such figures may further alienateexcluded youth in particular. Such a
constituencyMacdonald argued,are perceived to representa dangerousand unstableunderclass, whose
transition to adulthood is unfortunately more difficult than its parentalgeneration's before.
There Youngr> associatedthe rise of individualism as the major causal factor of exclusion. was a
mythological presumptionunderpinning notions of inclusivity, which looked backwardsto a
supposedlyinclusive and consensualBritish society of the 1950's and 1960's. Increasingly since then,
society had proceededto becomemuld-cultural and plural, with working class solidarity which was a
counterweightto bourgeois hegemony,becoming further fractured.The emphasison the individual and
a privatising of public space,had further erodednotions of inclusion.
Levitas cliticised the use of the term social exclusion, which was contrastednot with inclusion, but
integration into the labour market. As such social divisions were endemicto capitalism, there were
ethical considerationsregarding the promotion of inclusion as an ideal. Sennettsuggested that work
itself, and a correspondingemphasis on the individual entrepreneurwithin a malignant form of
capitalism, destroyedinclusion and the mutual ties and responsibilities underpinning the term. 32 Five orders of social exclusion were createdwhich related to the dimension of people, and showed die rangeand degreeof exclusion. But theseare mere symptoms,not causesof the problems.
33 Chapter 3. Cultural Policy
3.1 Introduction
In order to understandthe transfer and effect of the discoursesurrounding social exclusion from the
EuropeanUnion to a British perspective,and particularly with referenceto the arts, this thesis looks at the cultural policy of New Labour, which has concentratedon human capital as a meansof renewing run-down neighbourhoodsand communities. Accordingly, New Labour set up die SEU and PAT10 to researchthe impact of the arts on this agenda.The DCMS later establishedthe Quality, Efficiency and
StandardsTeam (QUEST) to investigateand addresscorresponding issues of performance.
Furthermore,PAT 10 embarkedon a dialogue with ACE, in order to influence its policy.
31'nie Social Exclusion Unit (SEU)
The repercussionsof the Europeandebate on social exclusion were felt in Britain, and the New Labour
Governmentmanifest theseconcepts by setting up the SEU in Dec 1997, only months after its election
victory. The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, askedthe SEU to report on, 'how to develop integrated and
sustainableapproaches to the problems of the worst housing estates,including crime, drugs,
unemployment,community breakdown and bad schoolsetc' (Blair cited in Policy Action Team 10
2000: 5). Such 'joined-up' thinking targetedfour key performanceindicators for successfullytackling
social exclusion, namely: 'more jobs, less crime, better health, and improved educationalattainment'
(Social Exclusion Unit 2000: 37). The SEU set up 18 Policy Action Teams (PAT's) which dealt with
the differing aspectsof social exclusion: 'The[se] teamswould not be made up exclusively of
Whitehall officials. Instead, they would bring in outside expertsand people working in deprived areas
to ensurethe recommendationswere evidence-basedand reality-tested' (Policy Action Team 10 2000:
5). Such findings would provide a reservoir of information for future governmentpolicy.
This included the acronym PAT 10, which investigatedthe impact of the arts and sport on
neighbourhoodrenewal. It reported on how best to use the arts, 'to engageparticularly those who may
feel most excluded, such as disaffected young people and people from ethnic minorities' (Shaw 1999:
3). This researchwas overseenby the DCMS which had also drawn up its own Social Inclusion Action
Plan embeddedin four key themesfor the arts: the promotion of accesswith regardsto audience,die 34 key the creative pursuit of artistic'exceHenceand innovation, to foster the arts as to the successof for Culture, Media industriesand finally, to use the arts to nurture educationalopportunity (Department and Sport 1998).
3.3 Policy Action Team (PAT) 10
PAT 10 was split into two areas,one researchedsport and social exclusion, the other arts and neighbourhoodrenewal.
3.3.1 Art and Neighbourhood Renewal: Key Findings and Principles
PAT 10 to discover 'best in [the] to in [and] set out the, practice using arts engagepeople poor areas.... how to maximise the impact on poor neighbourhoodsof governmentspending and policies on [ die]
arts' (Shaw 1999: 3). The initial intention was to concentrateon 'robustly' evaluatedarts initiatives and
projects.The report found few of these,but much evaluation.There were only three fruitful sources
cited. These included researchby the Irish Arts Council on poverty and art, and the Australian Council
for the Arts on the social effects of Community Arts projects. But it was die researchcompleted by I Comedia which the PAT team consideredexemplary, and in particular, Francois Matarasso's
methodology of evaluating the social impacts of the arts was perceivedas good practice. Not
surprisingly he becamea member of the PAT 10 team and chair of the Best Practice subgroup (Policy
Action Team 10 1999: 78).
PAT 10 placed a good deal of emphasison forthcoming initiatives, intentions and working schemes
(Shaw 1999:,21-4; Policy Action Team 10 1999: 22-35). It concludedthat the arts had to be far more a,
'part of the mainstreamplanning processat all levels of government! (1999: 28), and that longer term
planning and funding for programmeswas necessary,as well as an emphasison evaluation which had
to be built into them from the outset.
It listed nine key principles that brought out the potential of the arts in regeneratingcommunities:
valuing diversity, embedding local control, supporting local commitment, promoting equitable
partnership,defming common objectives in relation to actual needs,working flexibly with change,
Which with Williams' work for the Australian Council for the Arts is critiqued in ch 5 35 to ensureinitiatives are securingsustainability, pursuing quality, and connectingwith the mainstream not isolated. (Policy Action Team 10: 1999: 41-7)
But, as the report suggested,there was little evidenceto prove this in practice.
3.31 The Evaluation of Impact on Neighbourhood Renewal
PAT 10 noted that the dearth of good evaluation practice was deemed to be due to: die lack of pre-
specified outcomes and baseline starting data, the difficulty in measuring these outcomes which were
hard to determine and contentious, and the short-term nature of sponsorship which restricted finance
and time impacting on evaluation (Collins et al 1999: 13). It concluded that there was stronger
evaluatory evidence to support sport than the arts.
There were six reasons given for the lack of appropriate evaluations of the arts in terms of their social
Due impact: firstly, the motivation of art funders and organisations who measured the arts differently.
Secondly, to the financial determination of projects, evaluations tended to be devised to satisfy funders.
in confusion between evaluation in terms of aesthetic and social objectives, with evaluators versed one
felt being unable to utilise the other. Thirdly, that artists and art organisations uncomfortable about
being evaluated and were not used to this 'culture'. Fourthly, the prohibitive cost of employing an
funding evaluator. Fifthly, the lack of longitudinal evaluations due to the short-term nature and of
decisions invest in projects. Finally, because the arts funding system had not made any policy to these
(Shaw areas of social exclusion and non art funders had not made any policy decisions to utilise the arts
1999: 6-10).
There was a marked difference betweenresearch into art and sport. The latter looked at specific areas
and aspectsof exclusion: poverty, gender,youth and delinquency, sexuality, age, ethnicity, disability,
mental illness and learning difficulties, rural exclusion and urban exclusion (Collins et al 1999: 33-57).
But its overall conclusionswere similar. Although,
most programmesare now monitored.... evaluation is tentative, indicative and anecdotal,because
insufficient (human and financial) resourcesare given to it and insufficient intellectual attention
in most casesexpanded to identify outcomesand gather the necessaryevidence to demonstrate
them. (1999: 26) 36 One of the key problems was the methodology neededto evaluatethe successof art projects, and,
'potential tension between the fairly narrow, output-driven performanceIndicator (PI) approach.... and the more holistic measurementof outcomes' (Shaw 1999: 4), as set out by the New Economics 2. Foundation(NEF) Its agendawas realised in practice through the use of formative as against surnmativeevaluation techniques,and the use of social auditing as against 'hard' objective and scientific evidence.
PAT 10 looked to a more pluralistic version of formative evaluation, which was an amalgamof best It 3 practice. quoted Gerri Moriarty (anothermember of PAT 10's Best Practice subgroup), who concludedafter evaluating the impact of the Bolton City ChallengeCultural Activities Project in 1995, that it was, 'counter productive to adopt any one method of assessingimpact. It is more useful to use a casestudy approachusing a check-list to identify which methodsmay be most appropriate for each project' (Moriarty cited in Shaw 1999: 20). It also referred to John Harland's work (Harland et al 1995) on attitudes to the arts4,for the National Foundation for educationalresearch (NFER) and recommendedit as 'essentialreading' (Shaw 1999: 14).
3.3.3 Recommendations
PAT 10 made three substantivepolicy recommendations.(Policy Action Team 10 2000: 3940).
Firstly, that funding bodies should ensurethat an external evaluation and the finance to implement it,
becomesintegral to every arts programme,and that such bodies should develop an action plan to
promote accessto the arts for black minority ethnic and disabled citizens.
Secondly,that governmentdepartments should implement PAT 10 best practice principles and, 'avoid
imposing solutions on the communities they are intended to serve' Those departmentsinvolved with
crime, health and education should considerhow the arts can realise social inclusion impacts.
Thirdly, that the Arts Council, 'provide a positive responseto the report showing how [it] will: develop
strongerpartnerships with other agencies;consider novel funding arrangementsfor cornmunity groups;
2 socialauditing is morefully explainedin 5.52 3 alsoa Comediaresearcher who hadproblems with evaluationmethod see 5.5.4 & 5.5.5 4 Harlandet al's conceptof artisticparticipation and the effects of negativeattitude is setout in 10.3 37 and involve the voluntary sector'.
Such recommendationsand principles were both contentiousand difficult to implement.
3.3.4 A Critique of Key Principles
But PAT 10's nine key principles which supposedly realised the potential of the arts in regenerating communities, were critiqued by two community based arts organisations from the West Midlands,
UPLEX Jubilee and Arts, who applied these principles to artists' residencies. One of die contributors artist Danny Callaghan, observed that,
die focus is on the artist as liaison, communicatorand workshop leader,as well as someonewith
[which] has implications craft skills .... major regarding the cultural and socio-economicidentity of
the artists, and the skills neededto function effectively. The emphasiswould increasingly appearto
be placed on the need to inspire and translatethe ideasof a community; in effect to develop
collective intellectual capital, rather than simply product. (Patten &Callaghan2000: 41)
What Pattenand Callaghan were concernedwith, was the lacunaebetween theory and practice. PAT 10 was successfulat advocacy,but in reality such standardswere far more difficult if not impossible to
action.
For instance,'valuing diversity' in community basedparticipatory arts programmesshould be a two-
way process,sharing ideas and perceptions.Too often this turned out to be a form of cultural
colonisationby the artist of the participants. 'Embedding local control' had important considerations
and 'implications for those acting as intermediariesbetween the artist and host community' (2000: 43).
This referred in particular to evaluatory issuesconcerning project objectives and outcomes,and the
managementof the programme.Again such a processcould be short-circuited according to
managementneeds. Similarly, in order to ensurethat, 'equitable partnerships' were promoted, the
benefits and risks involved had to be made transparentto all parties involved, to ensurethe longevity
and proper evaluation of the project. Again may not be impossible to implement. Both, 'working
flexibly with change' and, 'embedding local control' reflected PAT 10's emphasison overcoming the
barrier of tailoring programmesto project criteria rather than community needs.Callaghan suggested 38 in defining that, 'the dominanceand influence of arts facilitators and funding structures residency flexibility models has increasedmassively over the last ten years' (2000: 46) and the success, and ideal, scopeof such projects had been duly manipulated. 'Securing sustainability' was also another as be programmeswere short-term, lacked integration, 'deal with symptomsrather than causesand tend to driven by the structure of existing Governmentmachinery rather than the needsof socially excluded individuals or communities' (2000: 46). As regardsto, 'pursuing quality acrossthe spectrum', PAT 10 perceivedthe importance of arts projects as, 'sustaining high quality, rather than as a distinct or opposedactivity, by the widening of opportunity and the broadening horizons [in of .... which case] notions of quality and benefit are easily and increasingly confused' (2000: 47).
It also claimed that programmes,'should not be conceivedin terms which stigmatiseor condescendto those in the neighbourhoodsconcerned. The aim is to give everyonethe opportunity to develop their talents and broaden their horizons and to strive for best practice in delivering servicesto enablepeople to develop their skills' (Policy Action Team 2000:39). Although this is theoretical, as PAT 10 was purely an investigative team, its use of languageis confusing. It is disingenuousand patronising to refer to the 'quality' of programmesalongside issues of condescension,particularly if the socially excludedare supposedlyparticipating on projects for their own benefit and maybe for the first time.
This is an exampleof the application of languageirrespective of context. It seemsthat without putting
the tag of 'excellence' and 'quality onto an arts programme,this symbolisesthat it lacks value.
Political correctnesstherefore dictates that the output has to be of 'quality' as funding is dependenton
this. Benefit is perceived to be integral to this 'quality', which is different from a position that accepts
that the excluded should be allowed to, 'develop their talents' and expresstheir creativity, irrespective
of 'quality'. Furthermore it is unclear who are the arbiters of 'quality' and determine whether the value
of any artistic input or output is undermined.Presumably not the participants.
Paul Monks director of Core Arts, an innovative multi-arts project for the mental health community in
Hackney, describedthe problems of, 'embedding local control' and, 'defining common objectives in
relation to actual need'. In 2002, the organisation dealt with 250 clients acrossfifteen 1,ondon
boroughs.Monks explained that, 'membersdid not want to sit down and discussale project ill terms of
direction. It took four to six years informally and eight to ten years formally before the membership
startedto own it' (Monks 2002). The mental health community as he suggestedwas a highly excluded 39 one. It was a very slow and difficult processto encouragestakeholder input and ownership, which questionswhether such objectives and outcomesare realistic for excluded communities, even if they can securesustainability.
PAT 10's key principles were idealised and difficult to actualisein practice, which is not unrelated to its promotion of a particular governmentalinclusive agenda.
3.3.5 Building on PAT 10
Two yearson from the initial PAT 10 reports, saw the publication of an interim report Building on PAT
10: 'This progressreport capturesthe extent to which culture and leisure have becomepart of die neighbourhoodsrenewal process' (Policy Action Team 10 2001: 5). The terms, 'art and sport', had now been replacedby the wider terms, 'culture, sport and leisure'. All the DCMS interestswere now shown to be involved in this agenda,including: libraries, museums,archives, the built and historic environment.
Accordingly, local authorities, following PAT 10 guidelines,had started to develop cultural strategies:
'In February 2001, the first BeaconCouncils which exemplify excellent-practicein social and economicregeneration through culture, sport and tourism were announced' (2001: 6). Action plans for promoting accessto the arts for both people from ethnic minorities and the disabled had been instigated with an emphasison partnerships.
The report boastedhow, 'sponsoredbodies have acceptedsocial inclusion as a genuineobjective for culture and sport' (2001: 5). But crucially, the languageof the report had changed,from 'exclusion' to
'inclusion'. This semanticmanagement had alreadybeen explained as a necessarypositive emphasis, ensuringthat policy documents,'should avoid reinforcing negative impressionsof a place or its residents/users'(Shaw 1999: 27).
The reporf s main focus concernedthe Arts Council's, 'strategy for promoting social inclusion through the arts' (Policy Action Tearn 10 2001: 5) and that there was widespreadacceptance that this was a legitimate objective of cultural policy. The report now listed five governmentalareas of impact for social inclusion: 'improved educationalachievement, increased employment prospects,improved health, reducedcrime and improved physical envirOnmenf (2001:7), the last being additional to the original list.
40 It stressedmulti-agency working, partnershipand that the arts alone could not tackle social exclusion.
It demonstratedpolicy changesin line with its own thinking, in a range of organisationsinvolved in the arts.
The DCMS had establishedQUEST, and evaluation was to be undertakenby Leeds Metropolitan
University's Centre of Leisure and Sport Researchon fourteen projects. The eventualreport was 5 Count Me In Their (in entitled . research strategy line with PAT 1O's recommendations) referred to the need for long-term five to sevenyear monitoring and evaluation exercises.
3.3.6 Misinformation
But this Building On PAT 10 reportwas also a cleverexercise in misinformation.The document concludedthat when PAT 10 was originally conunissionedin 1998 to researchinto the social impacts of art and sport:
it is fair to say that die regenerativepowers of culture and leisure were not widely seen,outside of
their own spheres,as significant contributors to neighbourhoodrenewal. Among commentators,and
in the sponsoredbodies and public bodies themselves,there were concernsthat spendingon deprived
communities would mean less for the highest quality in cultural life. Since then all have embarked
on a voyage of discovery. (2001: 98)
On analysis,this can be seento be tautological. PAT 10 admitted that evaluation researchwas on- going, but that there was very little robust evaluation to confirm that there was any link between neighbourhoodrenewal and the arts and this report containedno fresh non-anecdotalevidence.
Furthermore,such a claim as to 'the regenerativepowers of culture' is hardly surprising in light of the political direction and influence of New Labour and the DCMS on such public bodies to involve themselvesin this policy direction. But as there had been little new evaluative evidenceor proof, the argumentappears circular.
This report was overtly political, as it advocatedhow PAT 10 had developedinfluence over the two
5 reviewed in 6.4 41 it had been in persuadingespecially the years since its creation, and really only showedhow effective had been Arts Council. These supposedregenerative powers of culture to rehabilitate the excluded, Comedia's in the 1990's. assessedand expandedupon prior to PAT 10's creation, for instancein work
CharlesLandry and Lesley Greenesuggested that,
Arts and cultural activity have becomean increasingly important part of urban regenerationin
Britain [and] increasing interest is being in This of .... shown participatory arts programmes.... use
the arts coincides with a shift in emphasisin regenerationstrategies towards seeing local people as
the principal assetthrough which renewal can be achieved. (Landry& Greene 1996:1)
The Building On PAT 10 report showedhow political pressurehad been exerted to achieve
governmentalobjectives. But the obsessiveand continued emphasison the need for measurable'hard'
10 evidenceto prove project success,seemed contradictory, particularly as PAT had already advocated
the for the utility of the arts in this area,without any. It was a fait accompli that questioned need any
hard evidence,as spin and advocacyhad determinedthe agenda. New Labour. It The political dictat of addressingsocial exclusion has been the 'causecelebre' of was
an ideologically driven campaign,with a hidden double agenda.Firstly it took a particular position and 'armslength' by definition of social inclusion. Secondly, it successfullyshort-circuited the principle
directly influencing and controlling the policy of the (supposedly)independent Arts Councils.
Furthermorethis shift away from local democracyand governmentin the 1980's and 1990's under the
previous administration, had been re-enforcedby the New Labour government.
But There was little evidence to prove that the arts and culture addressedsocial exclusion. this seemed
to have becomeimmaterial, as the report concernedpolitical advocacyand 'spin' supporting a
governmentpolicy of social inclusion.
3.4 The Quality, Efflelency and Standards Team (QUEST)
In order to assessthe performanceand quality of publicly funded bodies with regardsto combating
social exclusion, the DCMS createdQUEST in 1999, which emphasisedthe importanceof planning
and strategy,suggesting three important areas.Firstly, clear objectives; secondly, to embed these 42 objectives into the core activity and thirdly; to createmeasures of performancethat reflect governmentaltargets of wider community development(Quality, Efficiency and StandardsTcarn 2002:
2). It wanted to createan analytical framework that firmly embeddedgovernment definitions (and targets)of social inclusion for organisationsinvolved in the arts and culture. Not unsurprisingly it advocatedthe collection of solid evidenceon which to basethis methodology, which included accurate evaluation,measurement and research.
It also distinguishedbetween the overlapping terms of cultural inclusion, accessand community development inclusion as social was, 'not about providing accessto existing servicesand [but] programmes.... about ensuring that those servicesand programmesreflect the needsand interests of both existing and potential audiencesand participants', (2002: 10). This culturally democratic sentimentrecognised the importanceof encouraging,'cultural and sporting organisationsto engage actively in debateabout cultural values,both internally and with key stakeholders'(2002: 16-17).
It maderecommendations on how outcome indicators might be developedfor future use. It stressed three possible avenues:'the developmentof quality of life indicators.... the concept of cultural 6.... capita, [and] the developmentof indicators of cultural deprivation' (2002: 20). By concentratingon and developing indicators of cultural deprivation and quality of life, this complementedsocial indicators of deprivation, which would help enableresources to be most effectively targeted7.QUEST
hitherto, had not perceivedperformance methodology as providing solid enoughevidence for the extent
of and contribution that culture had made to governmenttargets. Hence its understandingof
inclusion/exclusionwas specific, comparableand embeddedin a particular culture of measured
performance.But it is arguablewhether quality of life and cultural deprivation indicators are able to
truly reflect the subjective and value-orientatednature of thesefields.
3.5 Arts Council Response
The Arts Council replied to PAT 10's criticism, by acceptingthat there was a difference between
widening accessto the arts and addressingsocial exclusion. It insisted that, 'combating social exclusion
or poverty is not the primary aim of an arts funder and that to set out to use the arts for instrumental
6 Bourdieu's theory of capital is explained in 8.3 7 the measurementof cultural indicators is discussedin 5.10 43 have purposesonly is to undermine artists' work' (Tambling 2000: 2). But it acceptedthat the arts can a life-changing effect on people and identified five areasin which it could advocatePAT 10's agenda.
Theseincluded: profile-raising, examining the role of regularly-funded organisations[RFO's], evaluation,muld-agency working, and targeting resources'(2000: 1).
The Building On'PAT 10 report published the Arts Council's Social Inclusion Strategy,which proved its, 'firm commitment to diversity and inclusion', recognising that it had not previously funded certain communities. It 'that is difference also acknowledged, there a betweenwidening accessto die arts and (Policy Action addressingsocial exclusion' Team 10 2001: 18). This type of advocacy was seenas a departurefor new the Council. ACE createdthree priorities which were indicators of social inclusion.
Firstly, to increasethe number of attendancesat Regularly Funded Organisations(RFO's), secondly, to increaseby 500,000 the number of people experiencingthe arts and lastly, to increasethe number of touring performancesand exhibition days. (Quality Efficiency and StandardsTeam 2002: 29). All quantifiable statistical data.
8 Its own Gateway to Inclusion involving action research on evaluation entitled , eighteen projects selected by Regional Arts Boards (RAB's), was, 'to evaluate the strengths and limitations of three different models of working with socially excluded groups' (Bridgwood 2002: 5) and with die DCMS
Count Me In, evaluation would draw together a portfolio of good practice.
Not unsurprisingly, there seemedto be a lot of confusion surrounding this inclusion strategy, and governmentpolicy. Ann Bridgwood, head of research,admitted that PAT 10, 'emphasison participation rather than on presentationof work representsa challengefor some parts of the arts funding system' (2002: 6). She assertedthat the Arts Council agreedwith PAT 10 that the arts had a potential contribution to make towards neighbourboodrenewal and the SEU's indicators of social inclusion. But the Arts Council's dislike for such instrumentality was made apparent.Hence she attestedthat the attribution of causality required through the evaluation processwas a, 'laudable aim, but one which does not make the researcher'stask any easier.An arts intervention may only be one of a number of factors associatedwith particular outcomes' (2002: 11). In order to satisfy the need for robust evaluation, she recognisedthat this required PAT 10 to develop clear criteria of success.
8 this report was unavailable due to unforeseendelays, earliest possible publication at the end of 2003. 44 Helen Jermyn, in her literature review of the arts and social exclusion for ACE concludedthat too in often, 'The motivation for much of the formal monitoring and evaluation that takesplace the arts sectorhas been to comply with conditions of funding' (Jermyn 2001: 9). Approachesof measuringthe term were confusedand, 'For many, both inside and outside the arts sector, social exclusion is an elusive conceptand difficulties in defining and measuringit have led some commentatorsto question its usefulnessas a guide for policy' (2001: 4). She acknowledgedthat there was a dearth of long-term evaluations,which she attributed to the confusion surrounding the term, and questionedwhether this involved proving die social effects or showing that it was a tool for personallearning, and if these approacheswere compatible. Similarly, whether positivistic (quantitative) and naturalistic (qualitative) approachescould be mixed. Traditionally, artists had self-evaluated.But (lie central point was that evaluationhad always been deemedas secondaryto the main purposeof arts activity. Besides the lack of funding for it, such utility was also, 'overstatedat the expenseof less measurablebenefits' (2001: 9).
She also stressedthat there were a rangeof models of evaluating the arts, and concomitant methodological issues.
Michelle Reevescompiled a review measuringthe economic and social impact of the arts for ACE, which was intended to complementJermyn's research.Here models and methodsof social impacts were explained which offered a range of interpretation.Besides the researchby Peakerand Vincent
(1990) into the arts in prison, and by Senior and Croal (1993) into the arts in a healthcaresetting,
Reevesfocused on the researchundertaken by Comedia,which was supportedby the Arts Council. She concludedthat there was, 'scope for the developmentof a national framework for arts impact 9 research' (Reeves2002: 102).
But Bridgwood perceived that the researchin this particular areawould raise, 's6me interesting
questionsabout the nature of artistic practice and criteria of excellence.A new generationof artists is
making a careerin collaborative work with communities' (B ridgwood 2002: 13). WhereasJermyn was
'focus in unsurewhether the current, of policy ....on the value of the arts reaching non-arts social
inclusion goals such as health, should be consideredone of the dimensionsof social inclusion itsefir
(Jermyn 2001: 29). This focus on collaboration and instrumentality was carefully worded. But with
see5.10 45 regardsto the Council's traditional aim of promoting excellence,it failed to make explicit whether the
'quality' of the work affected the inclusive processand particularly whether poor 'quality' work was unlikely to achieve this. Jermyn discussedthe importance of art educationand, 'that developmentsin people's education,skills and attributes can increasetheir personalor collective effectiveness' (2001:
18), implying a link.
Although ACE professedto have put social exclusion at the heart of its policy, it was not its primary aim. Correspondingly, its understandingof the term seemedto differ from that of goverriment,with a dislike for instrumentality and focus moresoon increasingcultural capital through educational programmes.
3.6 A Critical Overview of New Labour's Policy on the Arts and Social Exclusion.
Firstly, the SEU (Social Exclusion Unit 2001b; 2002), was partial in its definition of 'social exclusion' and the prioritisation of specific groups. Accordingly, it aimed primarily at those 'inside' society,
(secondand third order of exclusion); not those fringe 'outside' membersalready excluded in institutions (first order exclusion). Someresearch emphasis has since been put on reducing re-offending by ex-prisonersbut primarily outside an arts agenda.Social inclusion was not initially targetedat re- integrating those who had literally been excluded from society (for instancein hospital or prison), although improving health and reducing crime were two of the four key performanceindicators.
Secondly,the arts were perceived to have a small role within the multi-disciplined joined-up approach of the PAT's. But this emphasison the holistic nature of social policy, which was the strength of the
SEU, could also be to the detriment of the arts. The danger for PATIO as intimated by ACE, was that
die concentrationon social objectives, could undermine artistic work, as die arts becomelost in their
instrumentality.
Thirdly, the concept that participating in art projects helped support and embedlocal control thereby
regeneratingcommunities, was idealistic. Callaghancomplained that realising die nine key principles
was impractical, due in main to tailoring programmesto project criteria not the needsof the
community. Moreover, in many metropolitan areas,there was only a vestigial concept of community or
'neighbourhood'. Communities were increasinglybeing determinedby interest or careerand unrelated
to location. Landry & Greene(1996) saw the problem of community basedon common interest, as a 46 be key problem for the creative city. If projects enfranchisedand empoweredindividuals, they would more mobile and able to move out of run-down neighbourhoods,leaving the excludedbehind.
Alternatively, such areasmay becomeripe for gentrification, which further squeezesout the excluded.
Fourthly, there was also a contradiction and friction betweentop-down control of the programmewith a prescriptive evaluative agendaof social impacts, and a bottom-up one which was a more local and democraticsystem in which stakeholdersdetermined the outcomes.in terms of methodology used for evaluation,PAT 10 also referred to the need for longer term 'robust' evaluation projects. But in reality it concededthat most art programmeswere short-term and rarely integrated.Therefore the whole debate about acquiring external evaluatorsand creating a more objective stancewith 'harder' facts was fanciful as short-termism was the norm.
Fifthly, the influence of PAT 10 on ACE, with its attempt to bring inclusion into the heart of its operations,seemed at odds with the Council's insistencethat combating social exclusion was not its primary aim, and that such a position underminedartists' work. In which caseACE was responding to a political edict and trying to accommodatethis new governmentaldirection. Moreover, there is an historical irony which refers to disagreementswith the Community Arts Movement. This ambivalence towards the excluded and cultural democracy,impinged on the central tenet of its philosophy, that of 10 excellencewithin a specific artistic canon .
But there were wider considerations.Tambling ( 2000: 6-7), referred to, 'the developmentof cultural performanceindicators' and the need 'to develop a manageablenumber of meaningful and consistent indicators'. Performanceindicators showed the hand of governmentand was a wider attempt at implementing an even more bureaucraticculture onto the Council that could be measuredby auditors.
Notwithstanding, Gerry Robinson (2000: 6), the Chairman of ACE, talked of combating a, 'Kafkaesque bureaucracypermeating throughout the whole system'. His evidencefor this was, 'data collection without purposeor outcome; [and] an absurdnumber of performanceindicators', which lie perceived as a, 'sort of madness'.He stated that he wanted, 'to createa new relationship with the arts community, one basedon trust and respectbetween funder and recipient, and one stripped of pointless
answerability'. But most tellingly, he wanted to give 'artists spaceto do what they are here to do - to
10 the relationship between the Arts Council and Community Arts Movement is explored in 9.4 47 be heavily monitored, guided and make are. In which case,if work with the socially excluded was to perceivedas art. punctuatedwith performanceindicators, it was an admission that such work was not from This is another exampleof how confusing and contradictory the rhetoric and reports emanating
ACE have been.
Sixthly, there was no emphasisplaced on creative and positive leisure, its importanceand relationship to work. The DCMS utilised the term in its action plan to ameliorate social exclusion, but key governmentalperformance criteria of tackling unemployment and increasingjob skills were more concernedwith the work ethic. The criteria of reducing crime, increasing health and improving the
environment,would have benefited from a re-assessmentof the importance of leisure, as could have 1 the work ethic itsel?
Seventhly,it could be argued that the hidden agendaof the SEU was to make arts organisationsmore
accountable.The Arts Council had been directly influenced by PAT 10, regarding social inclusion.
Such a governmentpolicy direction further stripped the Arts Council of autonomy and the 'annslength'
it neededfrom government to achieve this. But arguably, this hasbeen self-inflicted, due to an elitist
democracy12 heritageand continual failure to respondto a wider cultural .
Lastly, there were more general and wider concerns.The educationalistMarjorie Mayo critiqued
governmentemphasis on social exclusion and programmesto increasesocial capital:
social policies to strengthensocial capital may be comparedwith economicpolicies to extend but the holding of sharecapital; particular individuals and groups may indeed benefit, the underlying
Particular individuals structureof economic and social inequalities remains relatively undisturbed.
(Mayo 2000: 32) and groups may even come to experienceincreased social exclusion as a result.
The Such measuresfailed to changethe structuresand system that had createdthe exclusion initially.
SEU could be seenas being tokenistic, as its aims were gearedat tackling the consequencesnot the
causesof exclusion. To really addresssuch complex issuesand problems required greater political
intelligence, will, priority and resources.
11 seech 12 12As discussedin 9.4 48 Ravenscroftalbeit considering the previous Conservativeadministration, tied public leisure provision to political ideology and the creation of the 'good citizen'. Therefore, behind the benign interest of this governmentin utilising the arts and sport for socially inclusive purposes,there was a far less beneficent rationale: 'Public leisure provision in Britain, as in all market economies,is now a central featureof a deeply divisive processof constructing a new citizenship, one in which the politics of choice has been replacedby the politics of means' (Ravenscroft 1993: 42). New Labour has much ambition in this area.
Culture SecretaryTessa Jowell, spoke of the need to increaseeducational, social and cultural capital
to the in and referred utility of the arts enabling the poor, 'to becomeactive and rounded citizens....witli the tools to survive in tomorrow's workplace' (Jowell 2002).
The SEU and governmentagenda was economically driven, in order to engineera particular understandingof an inclusive society.
3.7 Summary
The cultural policy of the New Labour governmentwas the focus of this chapter. It created the SEU in order to embedsocial inclusion into its departmentsand society in general,and originally targeted four indicators,namely: more jobs, better educationalattainment, less crime and better health.
PAT 10 was consequentlyset up to researchspecifically into the impact of the arts and sport in helping to addressthese issues. It found that there was a dearthof evidenceto prove the effectivenessof the arts. This was due in main to the lack,of long-term arts projects and appropriateevaluations, caused in part by the short-term nature of funding. There was a confusion betweenevaluation basedon aesthetic or social objectives and the motivation of arts funders,who measuredvalue for money. It listed nine key principles that exploited the potential of the arts and a raft of recommendations.PAT 10's key principles were critiqued by membersof two community basedarts organisations:UPLEX and Jubilee
Arts. This concernedthe difference between theory and practical implementation,confusion between notions of quality and benefit, as well as tailoring programmesto project criteria not community needs.
Furthermore,Callaghan perceived that issuesof 'local control', 'equitable partnership' and 'valuing diversity', were difficult to realise due to the cultural don-driationof the artists over the programmes.
The latter Building on PAT 10 report becamea mere exercisein advocacy,with little evidencegiven to pupport the successof arts programmesto addresssocial exclusion. PAT 10 was critiqued for 49 promoting unrealistic and contradictory top-down objectives framed within a bureaucraticmanagement culture that did little to empower the programmestakeholders.
The researchthen focusedon QUEST, which was createdby the DCMS to report on the performance of publicly funded bodies. This concernedthe implementationand evaluation of socially inclusive impactsand outcomes.It recommendedhow outcome indicators might be developedand the importanceof access,cultural inclusion and community development.It emphasisedthe needsof audiencesand participants. Underlying die DCMS position, was governmentaltoncern for investment in culture and the arts, to realise delivery outcomesthat reflected social policy, although it recognised that thesemight not be the primary goal. Hence its concern, in line with the EuropeanCommission,
demonstrate was to the unique contribution of die arts, in terms of indicators that reflected quality of life and cultural deprivation. But it is arguablewhether it is possible to measuresuch a complex and subjectivearea, and satisfy the DCMS agendato createa comparableperformance culture,
The Arts Council, in turn rýspondedto PAT 10, in a confusing and contradictory manner. It created a policy that it claimed placed social exclusion at the heart of the organisation.This comprised an
emphasison best evaluatory practice, an equal opportunities policy and encouragingRFO's to work in
partnershipwith community organisations.It createdfive areasin which it could advocatePAT 10's
agendaand three priority targetsof social inclusion. But there were dissenting voices.
Tambling insisted that combating social exclusion was not its primary objective and that there was a
difference betweenwidening accessto the arts and addressingsocial exclusion. Bridgewood conceded
that such a concern would raise questionsabout collaborative work and criteria of excellence.Jermyn
recognisedthat the instrumental use of the arts would undermine not justartistic quality, but also die
social objectives themselves,as thesewere dependenton such excellence.Moreover, its attempts to
determinecultural performanceindicators, reflected an increasedbureaucratisation of the organisation,
in completecontrast to the published wishes of the Chairman. Furthermore,the position taken by
Jermyn that the value of the arts in realising instrumental agendascould be considereda form of social
inclusion, although not expresslystated, could be perceivedas re-positioning ACE to its traditional
agendaof democratising 'high' culture, dependenton a particular conceptof excellence.
Furthermore,the SEU was partial in its definition of social exclusion, aiming particularly at
unemployedand ethnic youth. There was also a tokenism in terms of tackling this massiveproblem, 50 especially if exclusion is an endemicproblem at the root of modem society. Similarly, there was a dangerthat by concentratingon a specific employment agenda,this could be at the expenseof a more leisure orientatedunderstanding of the arts, and correspondingvalues regarding the 'development of talent' and 'broadening horizons', statedaims of the SEU. There was more than a hint of social engineeringunderpinning this rationale and associatedspin regarding PAT 10 delivery of success.
51 PART 11 - Evaluation
Evaluation is an opportunity to gain different insights and provide for many voices, but it is unlikely to
provide a consensualunderstanding about what actually took place. Indeed that is exactly its value. It
can tell you many things that you need to know but is unlikely to be a useful way of quantifying
work.... it is not an effective method for defining and proving predeterminedoutcomes. Suchan
objective is best achievedby proceduressuch as monitoring and assessment
(Ifigham 1999:17)
On the face of it, evaluation researchwould appearto be a retrospective, purely technical activity
focusing decisions in impacts felt How on already made,processes already place, already .... the social
problem is articulated and how one describesor measureswhat occurs within an interventionary site is
shapedand constrainedby the evaluative discoursebeing used
(Vandetplaat 1996: 82)
He fell asleepmurmuring 'sanity is not statistical', with the feeling that this remark contained in it a
profound wisdom
(GeorgeOrwell NineteenEighty Four)
52 It the Part Two investigatesthe conceptof evaluation, its history and methodology. then critiques impacts researchdone by the Comedia.organisation into the evaluation of the social of arts institutions. Lastly, it programmes.Furthermore, it assessesimportant reports completedfor major arts presentsa casestudy of evaluation in practice.
PAT 10 and QUEST, emphasisedthe importance of evaluation to prove programmesuccess, as it determinedthe value and worth of arts programmesfor the socially excluded. By assessingthe plethora of techniquesthe thesis shows their political orientation, determination,and particularly, how value-
basedqualitative information can be subjugatedwithin a quantitative framework for reasonsof
expediency.This is highly relevant in today's measuredperformance culture. Blind obedienceto
normative evaluative practice runs the risk of failing to fully appreciatethe value of the arts and their
potential, but also helps to disempower thoseparticipants involved. The political nature of the term is
revealedwhich taps into wider sociological and managementdiscourses surrounding validity. That die
excludedcan be better empoweredand enfranchisedthrough taking control of the evaluative processis
explored. Such ideas of self-management,challenge the maintenanceand enhancementof power for
thosewho already possessit. %
The foundational researchdone by the independentresearch agency Comedia, in ternis of utilising
participatory arts programmesfor specific social purposes,which was offered as a role model of
working by PAT 10, is investigated.It advocatedthat the arts could aid society, help to creatively solve
social problems and encourageregeneration. This critique exposesthe contestednature of the territory,
with regardsto basing the evaluation upon aestheticor social impacts, and particularly the extent to
which the searchfor meaningful performanceindicators is in responseto bureaucraticneeds. Issues
concerningadvocacy and evidence,stakeholder consent, intrinsic and extrinsic utility, as well as social
auditing, the comparability of programmes,education and cultural rights are explored. The
investigation questionsthe underlying ideology hidden behind a seeminglybenign evaluative
pragmatism.
53 indirect to PAT Three official reports, compiled for major arts organisationsin both direct and response between 10's emphasison evaluation, are then analysed.They reveal interestingdiscrepancies theory and practice, and contradictions within cultural policy.
Finally, a casestudy is constructedthat illustrates the problems in practice. This revolves around personalexperience as an external evaluator for an arts organisation that takesprogrammes into one of the most excluded communities, namely prison. It shows that the evaluation was funder led, lacked clarity and was poorly welcomed by the facilitators involved. It found evidencedifficult to collect and
impact social even harder to prove. The bricolage nature of the resulting evaluation was a highly
practical method of trying to overcome this, but lacked depth and was hostageto the problems
encounteredby the programme.That a more methodologically rigorous approachto evaluation practice
was neither possible or attempted,illustrates the responsiveand improvised nature of the process.
54 Chapter 4. Evaluation Methodology
4.1 Introduction
In the previous chapter it was shown how PAT 10 emphasisedthe need for robust evaluation proceduresin order to prove the positive social impact of arts programmes.The thesisexplores evaluatorymethodology, history and philosophy in order to consider its utility and effect. There are
different several perspectivesand models that attempt to extricate value, which vacillate between various qualitative and quantitative methods.This literature review of models is necessaryas evaluation involves a blending of different concepts,values and charactersfrom diverse fields.
Ultimately there are a range of political and democraticquestions to consider.
42 History of Evaluation
EgonGuba and Yvonna Lincoln (1989:22-49) analysed the historyof evaluationin tenrisof four distinctstages which theynamed generations. These referred to theirown Americansociety:
First Generationwas dominated by positivismand ideas current in theearly part of the20th century.It concernedmeasuring the knowledge of schoolchildren,in termsof testingmemory. Such methodology wasinfluenced by theemergence of thescientific management movement and the phenomenal rise of socialscience. They calledthis the,'measurement generation' (1989: 26).
The SecondGeneration evaluation of the 1920swas in responseto thedeficiencies of the first, andto thelin-dtations of measurement.An approachwas taken, 'characterized by descriptionof patternsof strengthsand weaknesses with respectto certainstated objectives'. Therefore evaluation was seen in termsof a methodwith severaltools at its disposal.This wasthe beginning of programmeevaluation with 'the role of theevaluator.... that of describer'(1989: 28).
TheThird Generationof the 1950sand early 1960s began to recognisethat the, 'objectives-orientated
flaws' (1989:29). Now judge, descriptiveapproach had some serious theevaluator assumed the role of C, andbecame an authorityon the subjectusing the previous tools of evaluation.It wasvery managerial in orientation.But suchan, dovercommitmentto the scientific paradigm of enquiry' (1989:35) reflectedits failure to accommodatedifference of valuein a morepluralistic manner.
Theyattacked all threegenerations for their failure to accommodatevalue-pluralism, an
55 disenfranchised overcommitment to a positivist paradigm, and the extent to which they all and disempoweredthe stakeholders.Hence Fourth Generationevaluation was basedon a constructivist paradigm that included differing perceptionsand respondedto stakeholderneeds. This was directly influenced by 1960s American society in which respectand rights for individuals and diversity blossomed.In such case the evaluation becamemore, 'a paradigm of enquiry' (1989: 35), which reflected a failure hitherto to accommodatedifference of value. The evaluator thereforebecame a non- judgemental facilitator and co-ordinator. The conceptof participants as stakeholders,with different value systems,required a responsiveliermeneutic evaluation, in terms of the evaluator accepting , interpretations stakeholder in a more democratic fashion: 'Fourth Generationevaluation is a form of evaluation in which the claims, concerns,and issuesof stakeholdersserve as organisational foci (die basis for determining what information is needed),that is implemented within the methodological preceptsof the constructivist inquiry paradigm' (1989: 50).
This historical analysis needsto be consideredwith an overview of evaluation methodology.
43 Evaluation Methodology
An overview of evaluation methodology and relevant positions taken, is described.
43.1 An Overview
Programmeevaluation has been besetby methodological argumentand discourse,which Ray Pawson
(1996: 213) describedas the, 'paradigm wars'.
Jennifer Greene(2000: 984) classified four approacheswhich she entitled postpositivism, utilitarian pragmatism,constructivism/interpretivism and critical social science.Postpositivism was basedon quantitative method, experiment, survey and cost benefit analysis. Utilitarian Pragmatismwas an eclectic mixed method utilising survey, interview, observationand documentanalysis.
Constructivism/Interpretivism was a qualitative analysisbased on casestudy, open-endedinterview,
observation,document review. Whilst critical social sciencewas participatory, action orientated,
involving stakeholderparticipation in the evaluation process,data collection and interpretation.
Greenedelineated each category on the grounds of value: Postpositivism.in terms of efficiency, cost-
effectivenessand accountability; Utilitarian Pragmatismin terms of practicality, managerial
56 effectivenessand utility; Constructivism/Interpretivismin terms of pluralism, understanding,context and promoting personalexperience; Critical Social Sciencein terms of emancipation,empowerment, social changeand critical enlightenment.Green also noted that the audiencefor the evaluation had moved from funders and policy-makers to the communities and stakeholdersthemselves. S imilarly, she specified that the emphasishad changedfrom methodsof evaluation to its purposeand role, re-centring the conceptof evaluation around an enhancedsocio-political understanding,as against the traditional emphasison methodology and technique:
Currently, the diverse approachesavailable to evaluatorsoffer not only choices of methods,but also
alternative epistemologicalassumptions (about knowledge, the social world, human nature) and
distinct ideological stances(about the desiredends of social programs and of social enquiry. These
alternative philosophies and methods(concerned with what and how we know) and alternative
ideological stances(concerning the meaning of social and community life) are constitutive of their
respectiveapproaches. (2000: 984)
Therefore the nature of evaluation reflects an array of assumptionsand positions taken.
431 The Positions
The positions that evaluation practitioners and theoristshave taken are therefore exposed.
The more scientific positivist theoriesof Ray Pawson& Nick Tilley's 'Realistic Evaluation' (1997) are focusedon pure quantitative evidence.Michael Patton's 'Utilization-Focused Evaluation'
(1980a;1980b; 1982; 1987) refers to an eclectic mix of both quantitative and qualitative methods,which reflect function and practical application, as well as emphasisingthe accompanyingdecision-making process.Alan Bryman (1988:96) looked at the researcher/evaluatorin terms of his or her relationship to the subject. A quantitative researcheradopted the posture of an outsider, looking in on the social world from an etic position, whilst the qualitative researchergot close to the subject being investigated,in order to formulate an insider or emic position.
Ernie House identified eight models of evaluation which reflected different needsand evidence.Half were of social utility: SystemsAnalysis, Behavioural Objectives, Decision-making and Goal-free.
57 Whilst the other half were subjective and pluralist: Art Criticism, ProfessionalReview, Quasi-legal and
CaseStudy. He saw evaluation as a comparativetool and defined it, at its simplest, as leading, 'to a
settledopinion that somethingis the case' (House 1980: 18). Such consensualthinking and interest in
validity, was balancedwith a flexibility and awarenessof the relative nature of the discipline.
There hasbeen a split in qualitative thinking since the 1970's. This was epitomised on the one hand by
the interpretivist ResponsiveEvaluation of Robert Stake (1978) who stressedthe importance of die
particular case,and local interaction of facts with values. He moved evaluation towards an ethnological
narrative. Similarly, the Democratic Evaluation of Barry MacDonald (1997), who argued that
evaluation was determinedby a political agendabecause it was embeddedin the socio-political reality
by definition. Both stressedparticipant views and their representationin die process.
On the other hand, Michael Scriven (1991: 143) arguedagainst such an interpretation and emphasis
being put on the stakeholder.He re-advocatedthe evaluator as researcher,accumulating, editing and
analysing data collected. For him evaluation was a new academicfield basedon expertiseand
judgement, most obviously located in the sciences.
Dennis Palumbo (1987) also saw evaluation as inherently political, irrespectiveof die intention of the
evaluator. Information in the form of numerical data was more often than not utilised to subjugate
people,particularly for the purposesof organisationalcontrol.
The relativist position as describedabove by Lincoln & Guba's Fourth GenerationEvaluation (1989),
was.a multiple of varying constructionsand negotiatedunderstandings that accommodateddifference,
in order to find points of collective understanding.This allowed evaluation to becomeprocess-
orientatedwhereby the stakeholdersnegotiated the terms of the programme.
Clem Adelman (1996) argued that evaluatorstook a relativist position and thereby avoided judgement
on how organisationsused power and authority. He distinguishedbetween evaluation and a, 'change
agent', in which evaluation has been appropriatedin order to raise awareness.Amanda Gregory (2000),
emphasisedthe importance of participation and democracyin evaluation, and looked into the
mechanismsof power that determinedthese processes. David Fetterman's 'Empowerment Evaluation'
(1996) was centred around self-determination,and stakeholderinvolvement, with the evaluator role
one of facilitation. This was in responseto his own work with marginalisedand disenfranchised
communities.Angela Everitt's 'Critical Evaluation' (1995) explored ways in which evaluation in a
58 social context could be developedas a critical discourse.Thomas Schwandt's 'Evaluation as Practical
Hermeneutics' (1997) arguedthat evaluation neededto be dialogical and a framework for interpretation and understandingone another.
4A Formative and Summative Evaluation Design
For Hakon Finne et a], that evaluation methodology gatheredaround either formative or summative designreflected wider issuesof democracy:
Formative evaluation approachestypically aim at improving program performance,take place
while the program is in operation, rely to a large extent on qualitative data and are responsiveto
the focusing needsof program owners and operators.Summative evaluation approachestypically
aim at assessingoutcomes and impacts; they take place towards the end of a program or after its
conclusion. Statistical studies are more frequently used: they measuresuccess against formulated
goals for the purpose ofjudgement and sometimestake on an auditor's role in assessingthe use
of public expenditure. (Hakon Finne et al 1995: 12).
The emphasisand effect of formative evaluation is on the democratisationof social programmes through the evaluation process.They addedthat:
Evaluations are carried out as constructive dialoguesbetween stakeholders, with the evaluator
acting primarily as a communication agent.The results of thesehermeneutic processes, it is argued,
are changesin the cognitive maps of the participants, which do not really occur until they have
changedtheir practices.In a way, the evaluation results are effects of use rather than die other way
around. (1995: 14)
Adelman agreedthat formative evaluation had a greaterdemocratic element as it, 'admits more representationalequity than summative, and giving equal voice to all stakeholdersalso admits diversity' (Adelman 1996: 292). Guba and Lincoln (1989:184) explained this democracyusing the term, 'responsive focusing', a processby which formative evaluation can re-position itself in response
59 to stakeholderneeds and project requirementsby, 'using the claims, concerns,and issuesof stakeholdersas the organising elements'.
In which casethe structureand methodology of the evaluation is enmeshedwithin wider political issues,with a formative method allowing greaterdemocracy and stakeholdercontrol.
4.5 Evaluation In Terms of Social or Aesthetic Impacts
For this investigation the distinction betweenthe evaluation of social or aestheticimpact is important, as there has been much confusion and mutual exclusion of the two termsi. Patton categorisedfour different types of qualitative evaluation: Value-firee,Responsive, Connoisseurship, and Utilisation
Focusedand made the vital distinction between,
Responsiveevaluation [which] places the program's stakeholdersat the centre of the evaluation
process[and] Connoisseurshipevaluation [which] places the evaluator's perceptionsand expertise
at the centre of the evaluation process.The researcheras connoisseuror expert usesqualitative
methodsto study a program or organisationbut does so from a particular perspectivedrawing
heavily on his or her own judgements about what constitutesexcellence. (Paten 1980b: 120)
This 'Connoisseurship'category reflected the traditional understandingof assessingexcellence in the aestheticcanon, whereasthe 'Responsive' category reflected how social and educationalprogrammes have traditionally been evaluatedin terms of assessingimpact.
This reflected the thinking of House. Of his eight model categoriesof evaluator approaches,there are two of particular relevancefor this researchwhich reflect thesetwo concerns,the evaluation of the aestheticand social. With regards to evaluating the social impact of arts programmes,his Behavioural
Objectives,model was built around achievableobjectives and measurability, reflecting social utility, whilst his Art Criticism model was a more diffuse and amorphousmodel, basedon subjective knowledge, intuition and sensitivities within the artistic canon. House critiqued each approachand inherentassumptions.
I asset out in 3.3.2 60 4.5.1 A Critique of the Behavioural Approach
House (1980: 227-230) critiqued the Behavioural approach,with a caveat that it was the most popular amongevaluators. Its validity lay in the technologicalmanner in which it pursuedoutcomes, in that objectiveshad to be prespecified,precise and exhaustivein order to be measurable.But this measurementthen defined such success,not what actually happenedin the programme.Hence the purposeof the programmemay not reflect the impact achieved. In which casethere is an artificiality inherentin (especially the programme if the programme is of an artistic subject, but measuring behavioural Other change). criticisms revolved around the issuesof who defines the goals and in whose interests.Possibly House's most acerbic criticism was the most straightforward, questioning whether the behavioural actual goals can be measured,and similarly, if the prespecification of objectives distorts the programme,and if such outcomesare arbitrary. Hence when thesetechniques are applied,
'certain faults appear'.
4.52 A Critique of Art Criticism
House (1980: 235-238) critiqued the Art Criticism approachin terms of validity, value and legitimacy.
Becauseit was so intuitive and learned,drawing on the evaluator's own experience,such judgements
lacked legitimisation and containedbias. Issuesof what and why particular criteria were utilised and on
what values thesecriteria rested,needed to be made transparent.As did issuesconcerning the audience
for the evaluation and the construction of evaluation reports, making them accessibleto those who
possibly lacked any great knowledge of the field. In terms of value, this neededto be verified and
objectified.
4.6 Politics and Independent Evaluation
Palumbo recognisedthe conflicts facedby evaluatorsthat accompaniedpractice, in terms of political
agendasand evaluatory independence:'The political dilemma facing evaluatorsis to steer a course
betweenrecognizing the political reality of evaluation and retaining the symbolism of neutrality'
(Palumbo 1987: 20). The evaluator was both critic and advocateof the programme,in which casefacts
could easily become peripheral or twisted to fulfil hidden agendas.He concluded that:
61 value-freeneutral researchis not possiblenor desirable.Values inevitably are part of any evaluation.This meansthat evaluationswill not result in a 'correct' finding: they will take a political position about the desirability of various goals, whether directly, byjudging that the goals are worthwhile, or indirectly, by concluding that the goals are being achievedefficiently.
Evaluation, becomes in that therefore, a part of the goal-settingprocess organisations.... a process is unquestionablypolitical. (1987: 32)
Palumbosaw the need for all stakeholdersto have a part in the goal setting process,hence the need to consult them. He concludedthat rational assumptionsin evaluationstend, 'to favor a certain kind of politics, one that fits well with the basic assumptionsabout individual "rationality", calculation of costs and benefits, and the maximization of "efficiency"' (1987: 246). One of die two major assumptionslie highlighted was the 'individualistic' premise in which all, 'collective action can be reduced to statementsabout a model individual without contextuality' (1987: 241). The other referred to presumptionsmade concerning rationality, 'the "individual" is assumedto be a purposive, self- interestedand efficient maximizer of utilities', able to prioritiseand rank principles and preferences,
'such that utitily can be defined as a numerical representation'(1987: 241). A homogeneousevaluation report basedon this stilted 'rational' and 'individual' human, can be thereby quantified in terms of programmesuccess. Evaluators thereforeneeded to recognisethe dynamics of policy formation, the useof information and how it is fed into wider processes.
Barry MacDonald (1993: 107) formulated three models of evaluation that reflected the political impetusbehind it.
Firstly, 'Bureaucratic Evaluation' in which, 'evaluator[s] accept.... the values of those who hold office, and offer.... information which will help them to accomplish their policy objectives'. They therefore bend to the will of clients, and evaluationsare internal and integral to a functioning bureaucracy,but lack independentcontrol. This method prioritises service, utility and efficiency.
Secondly, 'Autocratic Evaluation' in which the expert offers an external evaluation, independentand focusing on educationalmerit: 'His techniquesof study must yield scientific proofs, becausehis power baseis the academiccommunity', to whom he is accountable.This method prioritises principles and objectivity.
62 Thirdly, 'Democratic Evaluation', which is an emergingmodel, and is more 'an information service to the community' The evaluator is an information broker and deals pluralistically in method with regards to all the relative views and values: 'His main activity is the collection of definitions of, and reactions to the programme'. This is a more transparentsystem which recognisesconfidentiality and people's right to know. This method prioritises negotiation and accessibility.
4.7 A Constructivist Model of Evaluation
The recognition of such political and hidden agendas,and need for a more democratic methodology,
was the starting-point for the constructivist model of evaluation, initiated by Guba and Lincoln's
Fourth GenerationEvaluation.
4.7.1 Fourth Generation Evaluation
The methodological classification set out by Greeneearlier owed much to Fourth Generation
Evaluation with its constructedand value-orientatedcharacter. The relativist position set out,
approachedevaluation on a situation-by-situationbasis, taking accountof context. It was a 'discovery'
basedmethod as against the 'verification' postureof positivist scientific thinking. It also took the
claims and concernsof the stakeholdersas a primary considerationunlike the a priori methodology of
positivism where questionsand approacheshad been worked out prior to and irrespective of
stakeholderinput. This constructivist teff itory denied any "true" stateof affairs, and acceptedthat such
constructionsthrough which people make senseof their situations were shapedby their values. The
evaluator therefore wasn't a technician gathering information but 'an orchestratorof the negotiation
process' (Guba & Lincoln 1989: 10). They suggestedthat:
If nothing else, commitment to responsiveconstructivist evaluation replacesthe arroganceso
easily assumedby the conventionalist, convinced that he or shehad found out about 'reality', with
a humility appropriate to the insight that one can never know how things 'really' are; that one's
construction about how things are is created by the inquiry itself and is not determinedby some
mysterious 'nature'. To substituterelativity for certainty, empowermentfor control, local
understandingfor generalizedexplanation, and humility for arrogance,seems to be a seriesof
63 clear gains for the fourth generationevaluator. (1989: 47-8)
Guba and Lincoln arguedthat there was no one right method of evaluation, which ebbedand flowed and had to be refocused.They also showed that the act of judgement neededto be outside any one person'sjurisdiction, and reflect all views and tastes.
4.71 A Critique of Fourth Generation Evaluation
Pawsona positivist, attackedthis position and arguedthat it demonstratedthe competition for,
4episternologicalsupremacy' (Pawson 1996: 213). He named it disparagingly the 'constructivist three-
step'. His three-prongedattack concernedfirstly, the concept that social impacts cannot be conceived
as independentvariables but, 'regardedas complex processesof understandingand interaction' (1996:
214). Secondly, that there was a misplaced emphasison accommodatingstakeholders and searchingfor
points of collective understanding.Thirdly, that such a position misrepresentedthe programmeswhich
were not supposedto be processof negotiation, and that consequentlyevaluators were not negotiators.
He arguedthat it was impossible to accommodatesuch multiple realities and reach consensus,as
knowledge lacked neutrality and information was selective. He also railed against the, 'militant
agnosticism' of such an approachwith its minimised scopeof understanding,and saw knowledge as
transferablefrom one context to another: 'Context is simply the current backgroundcircumstances
which encourageor enable a particular group of stakeholdersto be assembledfor negotiation' (1996:
217). The constructivist casewas tautological.
Pawsonunveiled the effect of this understanding,in terms of programmesbeing, 'people-led
endeavours'and not, 'objects of external change-producingprograms'. The weaknessin the
constructivist paradigm is accordingly its, 'inability to grasp those structural and institutional features
of society which are in some respectsindependent of the individual's reasoningand desire' (1996:
217). He also attackedthe claim that there was or could be a consensusof knowledge, as this assumed
that there was ajoint community or neighbourhoodassumption about its makeup, a consensus.The
social world was beyond individual interests,hopes and beliefs. People-ledprogrammes fell down
precisely becausethere was no consensus,and facilitators had to determinedirection either directly or
more covertly. There 'single of the dispossessed [it] invariably be was no, authentic voice .... turns out to
64 multiple' (1996: 217). His judgement on constructivismwas that it is too readily centredon the people making the programmework as againstthe programmeitself, and thereby was inadequatein terms of its capacity to build a methodology for evaluation.His view was that the story format, an ethnographic accountof participation basedon the reality of the stakeholdersinvolved, lacked substanceand was hostile to scientific analysis.He arguedfor evidenceas against interpretation.
Amanda Gregory also accusedGuba and Lincoln of naivety and idealism in their assumptionsabout
'unlikely is the evaluationprocess, which was, to promote participatory practices.... which fundamentally important to thoseevaluation methodologies that embody a subjectivist epistemology'
(Gregory 2000: 188).
Such critiques of fourth generationevaluation offer balance,and show the extent to which this method is an ideal which can be manipulated for ulterior purposes,especially with regardsto confusing advocacywith evidence.
4S A Pluralistic Evaluation of Inclusion
Greenerecognised how evaluatorswere concernedwith warranting their knowledge and method of
enquiry, especially in terms of non-biasedopinion or evidence.Hence there had been a shift from a
framework concernedwith methodological rigour to a more pluralistic political-ethical one. This
positions evaluation in practice and is concernedwith its inclusive effects on stakeholdersand capacity
to expresstheir needsand views.
She perceivedqualitative evaluation as a narrative which reflected individual biography or the
evolution and dynamic of the group. Her constructivist framework allowed an understandingof
diversity and multi-perspectives,hence the importance of, 'on-site observationsand personal
interviews.....supported by reviews of relevant documentsand records' (Greene200: 990).
But a plural method also included quantitative method within a qualitative framework (social auditing
for instance)and even if there were methodological variations, there were important common areas:
'sampling for diversity, triangulating for agreement,and monitoring bias' (2000: 99 1). She stressedthe
importanceof authenticity and understanding.
Greenealso insisted that although advocacywas at odds with a disinterested,neutral and distanced
evaluator(who intended to find an objective 'truth'), that this was the reality in practice: 'In short while
65 soundly disclaiming advocacyas bias, evaluatorsof this genrerecognise the undeniableleanings of all evaluationand embracethose most comfortably with their own philosophy and biography' (2000: 992).
Her constructivist viewpoint and method challengedthe methodological rigour of traditional technique.But evaluation, if it concernedmeaning, value and lived experience,was necessarily subjectiveand incorporatedthe values of evaluators.Therefore the role of evaluation necessitateda balanceof, 'social scientific theoriesand knowledge construction, interpretation and representation
[and] with the political realities of social policy making.... through explicit commitment to inclusiveness,to pluralism, to ensuring that all stakeholdervoices are part of the conversation' (2000:
995). This could be describedas a transparentevaluation of inclusion.
Adelman was also concernedwith bias and particularly how the evaluator understoodthe wider socio- political picture. He argued that evaluationhad taken refuge in various relativistic discourseand avoidedjudgement in terms of the power relations that are part of organisationalcontrol. This was due in part to a lack of consensus,'regarding the social responsibilitiesof die evaluator towards various
"stakeholders"and the wider community' (1996: 29 1). He suggestedthat,
relativism is out, multiple realities are acknowledgedwithin cases,but power and moral authority
and the well-placed communicative act are universals,and the meansto 'define the situation'.
This doesnot rnýan that the dominant view is ethically acceptable.For instance,in a democracy
denial is democracy Now, in of equity contrary to the principles of .... evaluatorsare specialists the
gathering of data upon which they or the readerwill constructjudgements of tile worth, merit or
quality of the activities. They have to be aware of the social principles enmeshedin the evaluation
and, knowing these,become sensitizedto selective collecting of data. In writing a report, tile
evaluator can either make explicit theseprinciples and argue for the evidencefor and against
each....evaluation .... or make out that as an evaluator they are merely accuratelyreporting those
eventsabout which they have data. (1996: 294-5)
Adelman criticised using evaluation as a progressivemodernising tool in terms of the needsof
stakeholders,as it was a reactionary control mechanism.He sensedan irony that such a modernist
methodology was at odds with a postmodernreality,
66 but not with 'the postmoderncondition' of feelings of fragmentationof integral social principles
be and a desperateseeking of sourcesof unity and community - which, by the way, may the
condition of all reflexive evaluatorsin their historical situation. However, postmodernistcritique
doesnot construct; there is not the senseof optimism and hope that may be integral to programs.
(1996: 302).
Suchbeing the case,the dangerwas that evaluation too readily reflected a political agenda,far from an objective data gathering pursuit. Evaluatorsneeded to recognisetheir own position, where and how they were embeddedin the whole process.
4.9 Empowerment, Critical Evaluation and Practical Hermeneutics
The interpredyist/constructiyistparadigm has undoubtedly enableda new and radical approachto evaluation,which has now attacheditself to more critical and aware conceptsfrom the social science field concernedwith social change.Empowerment Evaluation, Critical Evaluation and Evaluation as I Practical Hermeneuticsare examples.
49.1 Empowerment Evaluation
Fettermandefined empowermentevaluation as, 'the use of evaluation concepts,techniques and findings to foster improvement and self-determination.It employs both qualitative and quantitative methodologies' (Fetterman1996: 4)
As a processits objectives were to empower stakeholdersthrough their involvement in die evaluation process,in which casethe evaluator was a facilitator, encouragingself-determination.
There are severalpragmatic stepsinvolved in helping others learn to evaluatetheir own programs:
(a) taking stock or determining where the program stands,including strengthsand weaknesses;(b)
focusing (c) developing helping determine on establishedgoals .... strategiesand participants their
own strategiesto accomplish program goals and objectives; and (d) helping program participants
determinethe type of evidencerequired to documentcredibly progresstoward their goals.
67 (1996: 18).
This was in responseto Fetterman'sown work with the most marginalised and disenfiranchised populationsand their need for self-detennination.
4.9.2 Critical Evaluation
Everitt argued for a critical evaluativemethod. She recognisedthat evaluation had been utilised as a tool of managementcontrol, which, 'not only.... bring[s] about a surveillanceof practice at a time of massiveinequality, budget rationing and privatization, but also stavesoff any possible threat to die statusquo and existing power relations which a critical scrutiny of practice may bring with it' (Everitt
1995: 174).
An evaluative framework had to; be open to dialogue, promote equal opportunities, able to provide stakeholderswith a structure for their stories and develop understanding.Such a self-reflective critical evaluationallowed stakeholdersto think independentlyand autonomously.This thereby enabled stakeholdersto assesstheir own experienceand how their understandinghad been shaped,which was empowering.Everitt argued that little attention had beenplaced on such 'value' in evaluation, as it had been constructedfor other managerialpurposes:
The predominantvalues of our society maintained and strengthenedthrough a myriad of processes
and actions, have seemedto render, in systematicways, some people vulnerable and fearful with
little accessto resourcesto enable them to live a full and flourishing life.... Furthermore, the
1990's has witnesseda host of values, particularly 'family' values, telling us how we should or
should not live our lives. Values must be treatedwith care, constantly appraisedfor the ways in
which they can becomeabsolute regimes of truth, significant parts of discoursesthat maintain
power relations in an unequal society. (1995: 185)
Hence the dangersof quality of life and cultural deprivation indicators, which can be used as a conduit
for other managerial or governmentaldiscourses and agendas,leaving the excluded even more
68 2. vulnerableand exposed
Madine Vanderplaatalso discussedthe problemsof evaluation processesin terms of furthering communicative and critical capacitieswhich would enablesocial change.This she viewed as more a problem of discoursethan practice, beyond technique.She recognised the attemptsby empowerment- orientatedpractitioners to, 'develop strategieswhich will enhancethe ability of the disempoweredto affect social changeon their own behalf (Vanderplaat1996: 83), which were embeddedin a more collective rather than individual conception.Her concernwas that empowerment-orientatedevaluation may, 'stifle the practical and emancipatoryknowledge to be gained' (1996: 94), by concentratingon technique.
4.93 Evaluation as Practical Hermeneutics
Thesesentiments were also expressedby Schwandtwho suggestedthat evaluation neededto be dialogical as opposedto monological in practice. He saw evaluation as practical hermeneuticswhich,
&rejectsthe modernist paradigm of subject-objectthinking with its ideal of a determinateobject, "out there" waiting to be known through a processof methodologicalself-awareness by a disengaged knower' (Schwandt 1997: 75). Thesedialogical encountersand understandingof others had to be recognisedthrough a framework of interpretation.The evaluator as facilitator enabledthis by encouragingeducational and cultural critical reflection. He saw this role as one in which, 'the evaluator works more as partner - generatingsupplementary perspectives, enabling conversations,introducing new ideas about evaluation logic, facilitating examination and critique (including criticism of the tradition informing the practice of evaluation defted by the generallogic)' (1997: 80).
This re-orientation allowed the evaluator a critical voice informed by specialist knowledge, which encouragedthe questioning of any particular authoritative point of view. It aimed at the self- transformationof the stakeholders.Schwandt insisted that, 'we must recognize and accept the essential ambiguity and contestednature of interpretation' (1997: 80).
He statedthree areaswhere theseshifts should appear.Firstly, in educationin terms of, 'critical reflection and transformation not reproduction' (1997: 79). Secondly,as a subjective humanising
conversationaldi4logue as against objective concentrationon method. Thirdly, to help stakeholdersto
suchindicators were advocated by QUESTin 3.4 69 cultivate critical intelligence in order that they can determinewhether the end product or outcome of in the project is worth getting to, thereby allowing participants to refine their own practices a self- reflexive manner.
4.10 Stakeholder Participation In Evaluation
In order to realise these radical frameworks set out above, the participation of stakeholders in
is To evaluations vital. establish that they should be driven by participant needs and not by those of
is itself highly experts and managers a sensitive, political and counter cultural exercise.
Amanda Gregory (2000: 180-4) Rebien's cited and critiqued three criteria that distinguish whether evaluations were participatory. Firstly, that stakeholders had active roles in terms of identifying information needs and designing terms of reference, beyond being docile objects. 'Secondly, that as it was impossible to include all stakeholders in the evaluation process, representatives should be involved in lieu, Thirdly, that stakeholders should participate in at least three stages of the evaluation process: designing terms of reference, interprefing'data and using evaluation material.
Gregory argued that the first principle of stakeholders having an active role in practice was negated by the expert status of the evaluator/facilitator, which, 'tends to create a relation of dependence'(2000:
181) and contrary to stakeholder enfranchisement. Rebien failed to recognise such ingrained tendencies. Therefore Gregory cited Raliman and his concept of 'animation' as a way of countering this. It is, 'the process of empowering people to regard themselves as the principal actors in their lives in order for them to unlock states of mental dependence and apathy and to exercise their creative potential in social situations. Animation implies a process of learning through participation' (2000:
182).
The second principle was criticised as it failed to include all variety of opinion. It also allowed those involved to over-emphasise their concerns and even manipulate the process (to the detriment of those riot involved). Representation is therefore fragile and not coterminous with full participation.
The third criteria denied a full involvement in the complete process so that understanding remained partial, and restricted the likelihood of participants to eventually self-evaluate. It also gave the impression that the evaluation could be stilted and mechanical. Such an understanding and practice
lacked selectivity and a critical attitude.
70 in Gregory alsojudged that thesecriteria were not fully defined and thereforecould result a negative impact on future stakeholderparticipation. The main problem revolved around how to engender participation of stakeholdersin the evaluation process,and that this was a neglectedissue. One major assumptionwas that stakeholderswere motivated and wanted to be involved. Furthermore,even if stakeholderswere willing and exposedto the processthey could still be put off by the complexity of making the procedurefair. There was a lack of considerationof this and guidanceas to how to conduct suchevaluations.
Underlying her concern for participation were political considerations:'Power is really the great unmentionablein it evaluation theory.... we've approached through the back door in talking about participation and barriers' (2000: 194). In order to look at how the processesof power operatein the evaluationsetting, she referred to Ledwith's Sites of Oppressionmatrix (2000: 195-7). This matrix was basedon a Freirean pedagogyin which sites of patriarchal oppressioncould be identified and stakeholdersworking with the evaluator were enabledto investigatethese mechanisms of power, which allowed a shift to critical consciousnessfor the stakeholders.But such complex understandingsand
systemsfor combating the inbuilt and unseeneffects of power (this matrix has a multitude of variables),were in contrast with the need for, 'simple techniquesthat can be incorporated into our
existing evaluation methodologies' (2000: 198), which included the stakeholdersin the complete
process.Gregory concluded that, 'Effective participation in evaluation is problematic' and that there is,
'a lack of transparencyin participatory methodsin evaluation' (2000: 197).
Unfortunately, the actual democratisationof the evaluation processis riddled with problems, not least
the complexity of methodsneeded to counteracttraditional top-down processesand the time and
money neededto operatesuch systems.
4.11 Summary
Evaluation methodology and the history of the field was the subject of this chapter. Historically,
evaluationhas moved from measurement,to description, to judgement, to construction. It has a
mutable and flexible nature. There are a plethora of evaluative designsand methods in use covering a
spectrumof applications.
Greenedemonstrated that different methodological positions reflected diverse values and purposes,
71 which included the need for both qualitative and quantitative techniques.
Finne et al distinguishedbetween a formative method that respondsto programmeneeds and allows bottom-up participant input and thereforegreater democracy, and a top-down controlled, summative and outcome focusedmethod.
Both Patton and House distinguishedbetween traditional social and aestheticobjectives which have utilised different methodological frameworks.The former being concernedwith a responsive framework as set out by Stakewithin an interpretist paradigm, in which the stakeholdersare the focus of the enquiry, and the evaluator tries to understandtheir perceptions.The latter revolving around die evaluatoras expert and connoisseur,whose perception determinesthe outcome, hence the enquiry is steepedin his or her experienceand judgement. House critiqued a 'Behavioural' model as too precise, with prespecifiedobjectives possibly obstructing reality. This questioneddie goals arid purpose of the programme,as well as who determinedthese, which all neededto be transparent.S imilarl y, he critiqued an 'Art Critical' model as lacking objectivity and reflecting the values and opinions of die critic. Therefore it lacked legitimacy from the stakeholdersconcerned.
Palumboand MacDonald were concernedwith the politics of evaluation, and the independenceof the evaluator,which was perceived to be an ideal. They showedthat evaluation methodology is far from objective, reflecting the needsand designsof interestedparties.
That evaluation is teleological, interested,reflective and dependenton context, was explored by Guba and Lincoln. Their Fourth Generationevaluation was set within a relative interpretist and constructed paradigm.But such a concept is in dangerof slipping into a subjective morass,where value becomesso fractured, that there is no consensusbeyond the individual case.
Pawsoninsisted on a more rigorous scientific approach,to avoid unaccountableselectivity and an excessivefocus on the individual as against those institutional and structural featuresof society. He assumedthat there was no collective consensusand no single voice of progressfor the dispossessed.
He wanted to focus on the programme itself not the people involved. Even so, an objective value-free position is as much an ideal as a context specific subjectively constructedunderstanding.
Greeneargued for a pluralistic and pragmatic line which considereda shift away from methodological rigour, to a more political-ethical framework positioning the evaluation in practice which considered the needsof stakeholders.She urged authenticity within an interpretivist understandingbut with an
72 acceptanceof the political realities. Key issuesof service,objectivity, democracyand accessin evaluationshad very different and sometimesopposing frameworksand codesof understanding.The triangulation of evidenceallowed a degreeof objectivity and the incorporation of other viewpoints, but too often the evaluation method was utilised as a meansto an end, not an end in itself.
Her inclusive sentimentwas at odds with Adelman who arguedthat evaluation was a reactionary control mechanismwhich acceptedthe dominant view without question and was thereforebased on undemocraticprinciples. By evaluation concentratingon the individual perspective,this failed to recogniseeven hindered any collective impact, or the real world which to all intents and purposeswas an independententity. Social problems could not be addressedby individual understandingalone.
Similarly, there was a need for a consensualgoal for participants. He highlighted die danger of die evaluationsystem denying equity, with minority interestsand ethical frameworks overruled by dominant ones.He also perceptively questionedhow a modernist evaluative framework interactedwith the postmoderncondition of the world.
Empowerment,Critical and HermeneuticEvaluation techniquesas set out by Fetterman,Everitt,
Vanderplaatand Schwandt,opened the door to a more democratic framework that enableddie disenfranchised.The democratisationof and participation in the evaluation processby stakeholdersis vital for the most excluded and disenfranchisedpopulations, as this is a valuable empowering tool.
Gregory examinedsuch stakeholderparticipation and the problems of setting up a practical framework.
She showedthat the complexity of systemsto neutralise any inbuilt autocratic power structureswithin the evaluation were hardly compatible with the need for simple processesthat included stakeholders.
Participation had to be voluntary, therefore evaluation neededto be accessibleand relevant. In practice it is hard to replicate ideal theory.
This literature review has thrown up somedifficult contradictions,not least how an advocatorial evaluatory method concernedwith proving successcoexists with an evidential realistic objective appraisal.Similarly, the extent to which political and managerial interestsoverride any realistic or idealistic concern with stakeholderinput and control. Even so, each method still has to contend with an imperfect world and the diktats;of funding bodies.
73 Chapter 5. Critique of Comedia's Research Into the Evaluating the Social Impact of the Arts
5.1 Introduction
From 1993, the left-leaning independentresearch and publishing organisationComedia, produced a wealth of books, reports and working papersconcerning the social impact of the arts and regeneration.
Theseranged firom conceptsthat concernedthe creative city, urban planning and design, to cultural policy and the social impact of participation in arts projects. It was highly influential on the DCMS and government,with a raft of researchpublished, just as the New Labour regime startedits governance.
Chris Smith, cited Comedia.in his Creative Britain, when suggestingthat cultural activity can regeneraterun-down areas:
The work that has been done over the last three yearsby the Comediagroup has highlighted the
enormousbenefits of this. Indeed the conclusion of Comedia's work - in places as diverse as
Bolton, Nottingham, Hounslow, Portsmouthand the Highlands and Islands of Scotland - is that
by far the best way of getting social regenerationoff the ground in a neighbourhoodor a town
is to start with cultural regeneration. (Smith 1998: 134)
The concern for this investigation, centresaround the social impact of participatory arts programmes and their evaluation. Although the Comedia researcherstook different stances,the dominant research methodologywas summedup by Francois Matarasso(1997), in Use or Ornament?The Social Impact of Participation in the Arts. This method was later held up by PAT 10 as an example of good practice, as was the researchby Lingayah et al (1996) with the New EconomicsFederation (NEF), into creative accountingand use of social auditing.
Matarassowas the major researcher,but Deidre Williams (1997) and her work into the social impact of the community arts in Australia was also used as an example of good evaluatory practice by PAT 10.
Another researcher,Gerri Moriarty (1997) was also cited especially for her evaluation work on the
Bolton City Challenge Cultural Activities Project (Policy Action Team 10 1999: 20).
The link between Comedia and PAT 10 was firmly cementedas Matarassobecame Chair of PAT 10's
74 I Best Practice Subgroup,and Moriarty a member
5.2 The Community
That the arts can be consideredas regeneratorsof individuals within communities, requires analysis.
Matarassoencapsulated his philosophy by stating that he wanted, 'to start talking about what the arts can do for society, rather than what society can do for the arts. Unfettered by ideology, die new pragmatismcan extend its principles of inclusivenessto the arts by embracing their creative approaches to problem-solving' (Matarasso1997: iv). He also expressedthe view that, 'social policy can have only one aim: that of improving people's quality of life' (Matarasso1996b: 72). In real terms, this concernedthe effect of arts programmeson individuals and communities, specifically urban regeneration,creative developmentpossibilities and solving social problems.
But this involved many contradictions,not least, dispute over the concept of community. This has changedfrom being in the main about locality, to 'communities' of work colleagues,Internet usersor health club members.In terms of geographiccommunity, there is also an assumptionthat residents living on a rundown sink estatewant to stay in that neighbourhoodor care about it. If a project, that emphasisesbelonging to a community, concernschanging individuals, it may help alienate them so they no longer feel a part of that community. A 'positive' outcome for one personmay be to leave die neighbourhoodaltogether, or get involved in a non-local type of community. Furthermore, as in the caseof many areasof London, once a community becomesregenerated, it becomesripe for redevelopmentand property becomesmore expensiveto buy and rent. Such upward mobility and gentrification prices the economically excluded out.
Williams, perceived the individual's exposureto culture as entwined with community, which was vital for increasedunderstanding of human experience:
Community... is firstly a fundamentalelement in the experienceand expressionof culture
Secondly,people understandculture through their experienceof community, which is most
powerfully expressedthrough myth, tradition and ritual. And thirdly, if culture embodiesa system
I as describedin 3.3.1
75 of values,norms and moral codes,then art is one of the most powerful ways in which those values
are communicated. (Williams 1997: 13)
But if the social role of the arts is to help communicatenorms and moral codes, thesecan also be an ideal, or idealised mythical representationof the past. This can reflect a particular ideology or spin, for 2 instancethe perceived inclusivenessof British society in the 1950's
Also, sheunderstood the community as a social organisationthat was key to combating social isolation, andcommunity art as a generatorof social capital. But Saracenoreferred to conflicting conceptionsof exclusion;between individual, community, and a national perspective.It was possible to be both included and excluded,depending on contexO.
Although both Matarassoand Williams emphasisedthe important role of the arts in relation to die geographiccommunity and wider society, this was understoodin different ways. For Williams, community cultural activity was, 'an essentialaddition to, and antidote for, the passiverelationship with homogeneouspopular culture emanatingfrom the commercial media' (1997:4). Whereasdie value of such political counter cultural activism was questionedby Matarass64.
5.3 Fitting the Arts Into an Established Framework of Positive Social Impacts
Williams contendedthat, 'The value of community-basedarts production will always be severely compromisedwhile it is stuck in a fine arts paradigm' (1997: 3), henceshe constructeda framework of positive social impacts of programmes,beyond this aestheticstraitjacket.
Similarly, Matarasso(1997: 80) constructedsuch a structure. He emphasisedthat experiencethrough participation in the arts was 'different in nature' from other 'aspectsof arts activity', but admitted that social impacts were complex as, 'people, their creativity and culture, remain elusive, always partly beyond the range of conventional enquiry, and confirmed that there could be, 'positive and negative outcomes,and some which are both, or changefrom one to another'. He then went on to reveal that, 'if we recognisethat this is why the arts are important to social development,rather than becoming
2 the perceived inclusivity of the 1950's was idealised and can be contrastedwith the racism encounteredby Afro-Caribbean immigrants, who were badly excluded, see 10.5.4. 3 see2.1 4 explained in 5.5.7
76 frustratedat our inability to fit them into an establishedframe, we are more likely to use them successfullyand to recognisethe outcomes'.
But there is a contradiction betweenan acknowledgementthat the arts cannotbe fitted into an establishedframe and his methodology that showedsocial outcomescould be determined through such an evaluationprocess. It also questionswho and what determines'positive' and 'negative' outcomes.
Such 'value' could reflect the attitude of an individual stakeholder,funder, evaluator or political expediency.
If arts programmesare publicly funded, such social outcomeswill reflect directly or indirectly die line
Of the SEU and governmentsocial policy. If the reality of the excluded is different from that promoted, thereis a need to accommodatethis within such a framework.
5.4 Cultural Inclusivity
Matarassoargued for creative activity to encouragecultural inclusivity beyond art elitism: 'Our culture must welcome, value and respondto the creativity of all our citizens - women, minority ethnic communities,disabled and deaf people, the older generations- all have rich forms of cultural expressionthat can contribute to the renewal of urban neighbourhoodsfrom within' (Matarasso1996b:
74). But scepticism and passivity can destroy such personaland community development.Cynicism in particular is often a product of exclusion, and due to wider socio-political and economic conditions. If the excluded lack self-esteemand status,labelled as losers in a winners society, they may well distrust and despiseauthority and an arts programme that is perceived as part of the 'established' state.
Cynicism may be a defencemechanism against disappointmentand exploitation, and creativity may be able to help challengethese conditions, and allow such alienation and resentmenta vehicle for expression,both to challengeand expressit. But this awarenessand transformation doesnot necessarilycreate inclusiveness, it may further alienate and destabilisethe excluded.
There is also a danger of promoting a cultural apartheid, which reflects on the intention and reasonfor involvement. Following Matarasso'sline, the objectives behind participatory arts practice too readily involve individuals renewing themselvesand neighbourhood, forging a more positive local identity.
Ironically this may re-enforce working class conceptsof functionality, very different to those of
77 5 bourgeois aesdietic disinterest, re-inforcing class based stereotyping
5.5 Evaluation Methodology
The crux of the Comedia.research concerned evaluation methodology.
Matarassorecognised that evaluation, 'is not an abstract,quasi-scientific processthrough which
be identified. It is fundamentally He that objective truths can relative.... and about values'. accepted collating standardand objective quantitative evidence,was incompatible with proving worth and quality. He insist 'the important is is went on to thatý ....question about evaluation which value system usedto provide benchmarksagainst which work will be measured- in other words, who defines value'
(Matarasso1996a: 2). Similarly, he quoted the Audit Commission and its concern that, 'the art of evaluationlies in ensuringthat the measurabledoes not drive out the immeasurable'(Audit
Commissioncited in Matarasso1996a: 16). Embeddedwithin this need to assessbeyond aesthetic considerations,was that the evaluation processengaged all stakeholders.
He maintained that the subjective nature of the field contributed to a, 'lack of confidence which people working in creative industries can feel in the face of apparentlymore "scientifie' disciplines' (1 996a:
12). But then assertedthat although the processof evaluation, 'can have life-altering impacts on everyoneinvolved, from those who use them or gain their salary from them, to officers and politicians who have endorsedthem. Everyone has a vested interest and objectivity in such a climate is likely to be elusive' (1996a:14). It was as if he was apologising for the lack of measurability, although he had questionedwhether evaluation had to be objective and scientific. His understandingof evaluation methodology is confusing.
Therefore the researchcreates a critical discoursearound proposedevaluation practice investigating: indicators of success,its prescriptive nature, social auditing methods,language used, stakeholder control of the process,possible negative outcomesand the lack of standardisedevidence. Moreover, its purposein terms of collecting evidenceor as an exerciseof advocacy.
5 See8.3 which explains Bourdieu's social classification of taste and concept of cultural capital. Furthermore, this whole area of cultural exclusion is dealt with in detail in Part Three. 78 5.5.1 Indicators to Measure Social Impacts
Matarassosuggested pre-set measurable indicators of impact, to judge the successof programmes.
Thesehe set out in terms of: PersonalDevelopment, Social Cohesion,Community Empowerment and
Self-Determination,Local Image and Identity, Imagination and Vision, Health and Well-being (1997: 6 14-71). He further divided these six impacts into fifty subcategories (1997: x)
He arguedthat, 'more than any other humanactivity, culture - and art as its most highly-charged
fully expression- is concernedwith values and meanings' (1997: 84). Butjust as he intended to exploit socialPotential from arts programmes,an instrumentalmethod could be utilised and creatively built into non-art projects. The arts do not have sole rights over creativity, meaning and value. Matarasso expandedftirther: 'Art as an activity, processand objecL is central to how people experience, understandand then shapethe world' (1997: 84). This reflects his own thinking, and the importance he placeson the arts, his cosmology. Such a statementalso widens the rationale for using arts based projects,beyond the narrow confines of his pre-set indicators of social impact. If it is this very area,the actual processof creativity, that distinguishesthe arts and confers value, then this is the quality that gives them an edge over other non-art pursuits, and should thereforebe recognised.
He statedthat, 'The boundary betweenpersonal development and community developmentis bluffed, since the secondinevitably dependson the first: it is the competentconfident individuals who become the drivers of local initiatives and shapetheir neighbourhoods'(Matarasso 1998c: 23). But if die excludedlack confidence and competence,it is very difficult for such collective impacts to be initiated 7, and realised,without the assistanceof included characters which may undermine self-management.
Furthermore,indicators of social impact can too readily be an imposition within the formative evaluative design, as they shapethe direction and content of the arts programme.In which casethey can easily be appropriatedas a managerial tool of control.
5.52 SocialAuditing
Social auditing offers ways of measurementthat go beyond financial accounting and 'hard' statistical indicators.The NEF developed a social audit to measureoutcomes of activities and opinions. This
6 seeAppendix 1 7 Chananemphasised. the importanceof suchwhite collar workersor professionalsover the ageof 40 asdrivers of inclusionin 2.8 79 allowed measurementand meaningto be given to social objectives,beyond financial imperatives.
Although such qualitative or 'soft' information was not valued as highly as the 'hard' objective evidence,Lingayah and colleaguesargued that 'hard' evidencecould provide mis-information as it failed to representits target, and had little utility with regardsdecision-making. Similarly, they were
also keen to enablea more democraticevaluative process, and insisted that, 'All stakeholdersin an
organisationare consultedas part of the accountingprocess. In this way, the values of die organisation
are defined through a negotiation process' (Lingayah et al 1996: 21). The stakeholderswere also, 'best
able to identify the objectives of an activity, and the extent to which they are being met' (1996: 37). In
democratic life be 8 But which case a more statistical quality of outcome could evaluated . within our
culture which is saturated with indicators, statistical information can become meaningless. Such
portable short-hand language, does not necessarily measure value. The problem with these techniques
is why they need to be used. By attempting to quantify the immeasurable, it could be argued that this
signifies methodological misrepresentation. The creation of a raft of statistics, whether using hard or
soft evidence, is still contained within a measurable 'scientific' paradigm which is incompatible with
the subjective nature of value.
5.53 Stakeholder Control
Matarassoalso argued for, 'Empowerment through self-management'and an evaluation processthat,
'lead[s] to increasingly independentand autonomousactivity, since it gives people control over their
participation and development' (1996a: 26). Such a goal of stakeholdercontrol, in which arts
facilitators respond to, rather than lead the projects, firstly requires long-term programmes and
9. secondly assumes that participants want or are able to take control He championed the importance of
different stakeholders 'to the terms. This does contributing,C, evaluation process on their own not mean
being consultedor asked for an opinion within a framework establishedby others,but the opportunity
to contribute to the shaping of that framework in the first place' (1996a: 9). But he is being
disingenuous, he has C, as already createda template of evaluation with fifty indicators which has become
an orthodoxy. Moreover, Gregory showed how difficult this democraticprocess was to implement in
self-managementmethods that allow participants to have a voice and influence were explained in 4.9 & 4.40 see3.3.4 and Monks' problems at Core Arts in embedding local control 80 10 Participants be by the techniquesused, with their involvement tokenistic and practice . can subjugated contrived.
Also, the processof self-evaluationreporting may be messy and unattractive to sponsorsand unacceptableto bureaucraticsensibilities. Similarly, managersor evaluatorsmay manipulate the processin order to ensurethe quality of languageused and that an acceptablemethodological process is utilised. Self-censorshipmay occur in order to give a favourable impression to funders. Programmes II, tend to be funder-led and evaluatorstherefore advocatethe programmeto funders,through their reports.The baseline is finance to continue, and the project team, managerand evaluator will direct the evaluation to securefunding. In which casethe 'inclusion' of stakeholdersmay not be the primary concernof die prograr=e evaluation.
The conceptthat evaluation is self-managed,is a possible fillip to traditional 'high' art notions of
artistic freedom.Hence Matarassoexplained that, 'Participatory arts projects, more then any, should
seeevaluation as an integral part of the creative processwhich fully involves all die partners'. Which
includes the, 'involvement of participants in setting objectives'(1997: 90). But if thoseobjectives set
fail to coincide with those that management,evaluator and funder perceive to be positive social
impacts, there is a conflict of interest.
5.5.4 Evidence and Advocacy
Evaluation in terms of advocacy,and the evidenceof triangulatedopinion and assessmentare not
compatible. Moriarty (1997: 13-19), an experiencedcommunity arts worker and evaluator, in her
contribution to the Comedia research,distinguished between theseterms. She suggested,'Advocacy is
primarily a political activity which involves the judicious use of appropriateinformation
[whereas] is the facts .... evaluation an educationalprocess which requires examination of all and
feelings, especially the inconvenient ones' (1997: 17). Therefore concentratingon, 'the searchfor
"positive messages"drowns out identification of the difficult and the unpalatable' (1997: 18). Moriarty
differentiated betweenevaluation reports that could be published for the public, and those that
containedmore sensitive issueswhich neededto be tackled internally. She was also concernedthat
10 how the expert nature of the evaluator and knowledge of method, dominatesthe agendaand direction of evaluation, irrespectiveof intention is set out in 4.10 see3.4 81 information, consent be given by all stakeholders regarding the use of the particularly with externally
it evaluated reports. She found the evaluative process tortuous and questioned whether offered anything for the arts. She was guarded in terms of public transparency regarding access to information, as she recognised how reports could be manipulated to reflect other agendas, especially the needs of funders 12 and programme managers
5.5.5 Language of Evaluation
Moriarty jaded in was her enthusiasmfor the languageof evaluation, as she had been, 'burned by exposureto a certain kind of imposed,mechanistic [method]' (1997: 1). Her concern was that it was a developing industry but she was unsureas to how such an understandingbenefited the arts. She doubtedwhether the social effects of the arts could be measured,but recognisedthat a holistic and
pluralistic approachtowards evaluation was a necessarypayback for utilising public money. Although
thereneeded to be proof that programmeswere doing as claimed, she argued that it was the
immeasurability of the arts that was at odds with the bureaucraticsystems of assessment:
Thereis a mystery,a transformativepower, an invisibledialogue between the observer and the
artist,a complexset of experientialresponses which do not translateeasily into words,let alone
into thekind of informationwhich canbe recordedand stored on a spreadsheetor database....
Doesthis 'invisibility' makeit lessvaluable? (1997:2)
Moriarty acceptedthat she colluded in such statistical evidencein order to placate and satisfy funders,
but recognisedthat there was an issueof validit)r
It would be ironic if, just as researchersand practitioners in other fields (such as in health or
organisationaldevelopment) are confidently expressingtheir appreciationof the limitations and
fallibilities of scientific models of evaluation and moving to the languageof narrative and
metaphor,artists were to be terrified into the belief that information has to be translatedinto
12 see4.6 and Palumbo's concernwith recognising the political realitiesand lack of neutrality of the process,which can harm the prograrrane 82 numbersto have validity. (1997: 11)
Sherecognised that evaluation was part of every creativeprocess and somethingartists engagedin continually, in order to assessand thereby improve their work. Hence, the production or final product wasbest evidenceof programmesuccess, not a lengthy verbosereport. She was the most outspoken 13 Comediaresearcher in terms of questioning the languageof evaluation
Matarassoalso had a problem:
Politicians, policy-makers, professionalsin other fields have still to be convinced that die arts are a
development different languages:die seriousengine of community and regeneration.... we speak
artist will say 'You've only to look at people's facesto seewhy it matters', while civil servants
want to know the contribution of the work to employability, social inclusion or crime reduction.
(Matarasso1998b: Foreword)
But his drive to emphasisethe social utility of the arts, allowed him to paper over vital methodological concernsin favour of a civil servantorthodoxy. Furthermore,these different languagesmay not be translating the sameevidence, the 'looks on participant faces' may bear no resemblanceor relation to statistical verification, let alone employability or reduction in crime indicators. If evaluation methods and evidenceare determinedby stakeholders,they may choosea method and languagethat reflects their feelings and achievements,which may not be concernedwith contributing to civil servant agendas.
Both Matarassoand Williams endorsedsocial auditing and the use of statistically formulated qualitative data as necessaryand reliable evaluatory evidence.Matarasso in his reports ( 1998a; 1998b;
1999) bullet-pointed such statistical information, making such evidencestand-out, symbolising its importanceby grabbing readerattention. Similarly in Williams' report (1997), shebullet-pointed statisticswhich were also emphasisedin bold type, thereby standing out from the page. Both
13 Her plural method was utilised in the Breightmet Arts Social Impact Study (Moriarty 2002) which useda range of qualitative and quantitative methods,and the participant voice. Although it claimed a range of impacts, she warned of over-claiming the impact of the arts. Neverthelessit containedno evidencethat could be construed as negative, therefore had the appearanceof being advocatorial. 83 techniquesgive the impressionthat the statisticsnot only encapsulateall information, but subjugateand control all other evidence.The programmeparticipants were not properly represented,and their voice barely heard in thesereports. In which casethe evaluatorwas controlling the agenda in a very political ,,, manner.
5S. 6 A Prescriptive Evaluation
Even though Matarassocompiled a list of impacts as a template for evaluative purposes,he admitted that, 'Room must be given for the unpredictableoutcome, the unforeseenelement, and for creative approachesto reporting' (Matarasso1998a: 47). Such a statementis a foil against the perceived dangersof a highly prescriptive structuredevaluation and programme,that respond to pre-set social objectives.But this is confusing in light of his emphasison such impacts.
If the arts are being used instrumentally, this may well clash with the perceivedartistic freedomsof stakeholders,and a democraticmethod of evaluation that includes all stakeholderopinion. Matarasso maintainedthat the often unpredictableoutcomes of the arts programme,were due to the nature of creativity which neededto be written into the evaluation processand managementframework: 'At the outsetof the creative processartists do not know whether their efforts will succeedor fail, nor even, in many casesexactly what outcomeswill be' (Matarasso1996b: 72). There is a similarity between this
House's T Approach' 14 His conceptof evaluation and ehavioural model . valid criticism of such a model is firstly, the danger that measurementdefines successrather than what actually happens,in which casethe purposeof the programmemay not reflect the impact achieved.Secondly, that there is no transparencyconcerning whom or what defines the processand goals. And finally, and most
tellingly of all, whether the actual impacts can be measured.He perceived the prespecification of
objectives as distorting the outcome.
Such unpredictability should be acceptedas part of the process.But Matarassoneeded to, 'build die
unpredictablebenefits of creativity into a sound managementframework' (1996b: 72), which is a
sublime piece of sophistry and shows an obsessionwith controlling unknown factors, precisely because
they cannotbe predicted by his evaluative method. What he failed to recognise,was how this need for
evaluativeacceptability may be unrelated to the effectivenessof the programme.
14 see4.5 84 5.5.7 Negative Outcomes
Matarassodealt with 'negative' outcomesby arguing that theseboiled down to, 'badly planned or executedarts projects' (1997: 80). He recognisedthat there were problems concerning community and individual expressionand empowerment:'There is a need for some guidancein how to ride the sometimeschoppy waters of cultural activism without getting tipped out of the boat. If we accept risk we are better placed to institute mechanismswhich can minimise the negative possibilities while making the most of the positive' (1996b: 74). Here he is being both judge and jury. Furthermore, if becoming culturally active and engagedrepresents a threat to the statusquo, presumablythe
'mechanismswhich can minimise the negative' in practice refer to the evaluation method, which is thereforea processthat can be used to filter out unacceptableevidence. Cultural activism raises awareness,and can be a 'mechanism' towards challenging and changing society to better accommodate the excluded.It seemsthat 'negative effects' may also constitute challenging authority in some manner, which is another possible social role for the arts.
5.5.8 Lack of Standardised Evidence
Matarassocompared the lack of evidenceof the social value of arts projects, to other areasof social policy, 'certainly nothing which would be consideredby a sceptic as quantitative, independentand authoritative. This doesnot mean that no useful evidenceexists, as we shall see,but that it is in a form which few public sector agencieswould find accessibleor usable' (Matarasso1996b: 74). Here he revealedhis frustrations with the arts, as if he wanted them to be more standardisedand manipulable
(in termsof pre-set indicators) in order to raise their profile with civil servants,hence his insistenceon
the replicability of project objectives. But he was also at odds with this position: 'Public policy loves
indicators,neat measuresof successwhich can be applied acrossthe board. Helpful as they may be,
there is a danger that the outcomesof projects will be stretchedor trimmed to fit them' (Matarasso
1997: 90). Here he is suggestingthe possible reality for arts programmesdirected at the socially
excluded,with evidence constructedto showsprojects in the light that programmedirectors and
evaluatorsthink will impress funders, with any real criticism or 'negative' impacts deemedundesirable.
Here advocacyoverwrites evidencewhen suitable and necessaryand any sort of objective appraisal
becomesimpossible.
85 in Matarasso,whilst arguing for indicatorsand replicability, acceptedthat, 'being able to show change relation to a pre-defined indicator doesnot prove that the changewas producedby the arts programme'
(Matarasso1996a). This is of particular importancein today's climate of performanceindicators. All the social impacts Matarassoconstructed reflected changesin individuals and communities. These are complex areasand to isolate a particular variable (an arts programme) as a possible catalyst, is asking a lot of the arts and furthermore, whateverconvoluted statistical methodology utilised, may fail to recognisethe conceptof value, which Matarassodesperately wants to identify. Evaluation in this
domain is, by definition, a highly subjectiveand qualitative phenomenon,which befits Guba and
15 Lincoln's bureaucrat model driven by cultural performance constructivist model , unlike a 16 indicators This 'the paucity of existing evidence' (Matarasso 1996b: 76), reflects . unhappiness with,
Matarasso's search for cause and effect, which by definition, will remain illusive, unclear and
hypothetical. This will be exacerbated the stronger the decontextualised evidential line taken.
'factand Matarasso showed his own frustrations with arts evaluation as lie recognised that existing,
figure [evidence is] easily dismissed as anecdotal [and] not worthy of proper consideration' (1996b: ......
77). Such an attitude flies in the face of his own understanding of the arts as producing 'elusive' and
'unpredictable' social impacts. Maybe there is no reproducible evaluative template, as the arts have an
integral design fault and as Moriarty suggested, are at odds with bureaucracy. Maybe that is their
strength. Matarasso's thinking exudes turmoil, as he seems to want to prove the value of the arts quasi-
scientifically, but rails against such an idea. His recommendation of creativity in evaluation and that
the, 'Over-zealous pursuit of scientific objectivity, and the internal validity of evaluation processes, is
inappropriate and unhelpful' (Matarasso 1996a: 24), only exacerbates such ambiguity.
A self-managed evaluation may provide a truthful account for those involved, but in order for that
evidence to have bureaucratic weight, it needs to be comparable and presented in a particular manner.
This is the political dimension of the evaluation process, about which Matarasso is conspicuously quiet.
Ironically, he even argued for such stakeholder control: 'If an arts programme is going to fulfil its
empowering function, it cannot do so by disempowering people from its own processes, values and
assumptions' (Matarasso 1996b: 77). He recognised that the alternative to this self-management was
15 explained in 4.7 16 performance indicators and the wider performance culture are more fully described in 5.10 & 123
86 cultural paternalism,which would fail to enableor enfranchiseparticularly excludedparticipants.
Nevertheless,he implied that an authoritative top-down evaluativetechnique would better lever resources,hence there is an inherent weaknessin and paradoxto his pragmatic understanding.
5.6 Do the Ends Justify the Means?
This critique takes three areasof concernwhich relate to the specific agendaof assessingwhether the
in resulting evaluation report may be at odds with the processand reality of the arts programme.Firstly terms of the welfare implications of evaluating the arts for social impacts. Secondly, with regards to die cultural rights of participants.Thirdly, in relation to the informed consentof participants.
5.6.1 The Welfare Implications: Artistic Enterprise or Social Purpose
There are welfare implications when evaluating the impact of the arts, in terms of social outcomes V. whichrelate to theincreased medicalisation of life (Foucault1993) Theseinclude issues of morality, politics, the rights of the excluded,and self-determination.Matarasso's pragmatism failed to fully appreciatethese broader holistic concernsthat the methodologiesof, EmpowermentEvaluation, 18 Critical Evaluation and Evaluation as Practical Hermeneutics tackled.
Art programmestoo readily become ensnaredin a welfare paradigm.That they arise, 'principally from
their contribution to social policy objectives' (Matarasso1997: 81), with indicators possibly prescribed,
reflects poorly on their ability to encourageself-management and stakeholderdemocracy. His
argumentfor valuing projects in terms of social outcomes,befits a welfare conception of value that can
becomean albatrossaround the neck of such projects. Money spent charitably by funders in order to
help for help 19 It is important that the excluded,not them to themselves . vitally stakeholdersare aware
of the intention of the arts programme,whether this concernsaesthetic enterprise, social purposeor
both.
Williams statedthat in terms of factors for success,the initial and most important one, 'was starting
with a clear understandingamong all project stakeholdersthat they were embarking on a creative arts
project with other social and educationalbenefits' (Williams 1997: 31). But participants need to be
17 the medicalisation of life is elaboratedupon in the casestudy of Outsider Art in 8.6.1 18 see4.9 19 expUned in 5.73 87 madefully aware of the social policy objectives that lie behind the project if it is not self-managed,and that they are being evaluatedby somethingakin to Matarasso'sraft of indicators. Moreover, such information although transparentmay be a disincentive to participation. Williams still perceived the art project as a creatively driven enterprise,with other social benefits, hence the need for aesthetically basedevidence. She recognisedthat such programmeswere ensnaredin a 'high' art paradigm which,
4placescommunity art at one end of a hierarchy with opera at the other', and tried to re-align it: scommunityart is not concernedwith social work as we know it, nor is it focusedon the production of art as a commodity, rather the production of art as the expressionof community culture' (1997: 3).
Such an active understandingallied the community arts with local cultural developmentand as an antidote to massculture. Besidesbeing optimistically idealistic, this fails to position and accommodate 0 the 'high' art hegemonyfrom which she wants to escape,which is similarly opposedto massculture'
Furthermore,it is enough to presumethat an arts programmecan affect social and cultural changeand inclusion locally, let alone influence wider ideological perceptionsof the arts and culture. But if community participatory art programmesare the antidote to masscultureand commodity, then their role is radical and counter-cultural, challenging more thanjust an exclusive 'high' art paradigm, but 21 issues concerning the Such radicality if transferred to this wider nature of society and community . wider stagecould have huge socio-economicand political implications.
Matarassomeanwhile, was ambiguousabout the relationship betweenthe social and aesthetic.He sought, 'to harness[the arts].... for social development', but referred to them as 'elusive, beyond the control not just of policy-makers and managersbut very often of artists themselves' (1997: 87). He thought that it was, 'perfectly possible to combine high aestheticstandards with lasting social value'
(1997: 86). Artistic unpredictability and creativity were inseparable,and thesequalities were, 'the ultimate guarantor,for those that care about the arts, that they will continue to flourish even as we seek to harnessthem for social development' (1997: 87). But what he was attempting to do in terms of predicting the unpredictableand building this into an evaluatory structure, infringes on the spirit of die arts, particularly the freedoms that they allow. In which case the endsmay not necessarilyjustify the means,with a welfare paradigm of the arts a disincentive to participation.
20 see9.2.2 for Adorno's argument against the culture industry 21 see9.4 for a discourseon the 'high' arts and Community Arts Movement 88 if the Furthermore,his view that, 'arts programmescan be usedto achievesocial objectives, even arts themselvescannot' (1997: 86) and that the arts were unaffectedby this process,suggest that the arts are This is peripheral,as it is the actual participation in the programmethat contains the social benefits. confusing,particularly as he advocatedthe critical value of the artS22and that, 'It is in the act of creativity that empowermentlies' (1997: 84).
The tide of his researchUse or Ornamentalbeit supposedlyironic, which as Matarassosuggested
their 'gently mocked' British cultural policy with its 'artificial polarisation between forms of art and (in roles in society' (Matarasso1999: 46), still gives the impressionthat art is either of utility this case irrelevance socially useful) or pure aestheticornament. It cleverly plays on prejudicesheld about the of irony. Such the arts, which only someonesteeped in 'high' art culture would even recogniseas inextricably mutually exclusive languageis contradictedby his assessmentthat social impacts are linked to creative and artistic practice, thereforehave an aestheticdimension. Use and Ornament would be more appropriate.
in Lucy Phillips (1996) anotherComedia researcher, referred directly to those engaged creative arts
projects for the first order institutionalised excluded.She describedhow experiencedarts practitioners
tackled the problem as to whether such work was a social service or artistic enterprise:
What theseprograms and individuals are advocating for is clearly not 'art for arf s sake' - yet nor
The for that truly engageswith the is it as therapy or as social service. artists ..... are arguing an art for individuals human experience- having positive implications for both the art form and those
and communities involved in its making. (Phillips 1996: 8)
Philips formulated a compromise solution in order to try to balancethese two different objectives. This
position reinforced the concept that such work was categorisedas 'community' art, becauseit had to
justify its funding through social outcomes.Phillips argued that becauseartists facilitated such
programmesthey were first and foremost involved in artistic, not social work. This was their
perceptionof themselves.Such social benefits, as Bill Cleveland suggestedwere, 'the unavoidable
consequenceof making art! (Cleveland cited in Phillips 1996: 9), in which caseaesthetic considerations
22 see5.8.2 89 were of primary importance,with social outcomesnatural consequences,hence their importance with regardsto the evaluationprocess. Furthermore Phillips argued that, 'If the arts are not argued for on their own terms, then they are on to a losing battle against the stiff opposition of essentialservices who are increasingly fighting for the samefunds' (1996: 21). She concludedthat there neededto be a more profound debateand awarenessof how the arts interactedwith society, and they neededto develop, 'a
language does common .... one which not rely on catch-all and often empty terms such as
"empowermenf' but rather more towards expressingthe common denominatorwhich unites all creative endeavour' (1996: 21). Maybe that denominatoris treating the arts within a paradigm of play, not as 23 work or social utility -
5.61 Cultural Rights
It is probable that harnessingthe arts for social developmentmay infiringe upon the cultural rights of
participants.Matarasso's instrumental approachis not participant-led.There are issuesof transparency
for programmesthat intend to alter the participants in some way. Many of the socially excluded are
wary of officialdom and will naturally seekhidden adverseagendas. What a programmemanager may
perceiveas benefit, may not be seenin flie samelight by the participant. Even when explaining the
raison Watre of the project, its aims and objectives need to be transparentin order to engendera
consensus.But this may not be the casein practice.
Matarassoquoted article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which assertedthat,
'Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and
sharein scientific advancementand its benefits' (Universal Declaration of Human Rights cited in
Matarasso1998a: 49). That being the case,the evaluation of this 'participation' should be basedon
stakeholderperception of how they have engagedin cultural life and its consequences,fully cognisant
of any social agendato changetheir perceptionsor situation. It should be their right.
5.63 Informed Consent
That participants are aware of the proposed 'means' and 'ends' ultimately reflects the transparencyof
23 the paradigm of play is more fully explained with referenceto Dissanayakeand a biological need for creativity in 11.3.2 and Kane with his play ethic in 12.6
90 be the programme.Only then can informed consentbe possible.To enablethis, stakeholdersneed to involved in determining both programmegoals and outcomes.Matarasso admitted to taking a,
tutilitarian view of cultural activity' (Matarasso1996b: 72), but there is a difference betweenusing the arts to regenerateenvironments in terms of buildings, and regeneratingthose citizens who live there.
On the one hand he statedthat participantshave to be fully informed as, 'It is unethical to seek to
producechange without the informed consentof those involved' (Matarasso1996a: 24). But on the
other, when explaining the need for clear objectives, he backed off in terms of such transparency:
Ideally projects with social aspirationsshould addressspecific needsidentified in partnershipwith
those who are intended to benefit. Although in practice this may be difflcult, since die processes
are developmentaland there will always be a need to build trust and understanding,it must be the
intention. (Matarasso1997: 87)
Being the 'intention' is not the sameas transparencyin terms of informed consent.Also it is highly
paternalistic.If empowermentand self-managementare dependenton such transparencyand
involvement of participants in actual processes,then consentneeds to be agreed.By admitting that
projects intend to addresssocial concerns,but that transparencyis not of absolute importance, this
suggeststhat there is another agendabeyond community or individual empowerment.It also questions
the primacy of artistic quality, with the danger that aestheticconsiderations become secondary.Such
'intention' allows a top-down engineeringof the processwhich can prevent self-directed cultural
activity when deemeddifficult.
5.7 Poverty and Cost
In terms of cost, there is a lack of researchinto financial comparability between the value of arts and
non-artsprogrammes. There are also issuesof financial responsibility and the extent to which these
pressurescan undermine artistic independence.The other side of the coin is poverty, which if the arts
are to help address,requires a deeperand more political understandingthan Matarasso'spragmatism
allows.
91 5.7.1 Lack of Financial Comparability
Matarassothought that 'art projects can provide cost-effective solutions' (Matarasso1997: 81) for social objectives,but did not know whether such projects were more cost-effective than non-arts projects,nor whether they were more able to realise objectives. Such evidenceseems to be arbitrary, dependingon the interestsand agendasof those involved. This financial vaguenessis compoundedby his adn-dssionthat such a recognition of the worth of social impacts, 'may be unwelcome to some artists limiting their creative autonomy.But how much creative autonomy can you have with someone else's moneyT (1997: 86)
The socially excluded targetedby such programmesare not professional artists. They may not think inside the 'high' art canon in terms of 'creative autonomy', but ironically they may need to experience autonomy as part of the processof self-management.By arguing that other people's money was a determining factor, Matarassowas acceptingthat suchprogrammes were to a greater or lesserextent funder-led, and that creative autonomy may not be perceivedas an effective focus for evaluations.This could result in self-censorshipand a refusal to acceptthat such a programmemight be considered aestheticallyworthwhile by sponsors,not just a vehicle for social objectives.
5.71 Financial Responsibility
Matarasso(2000a) expressedthe need for financial responsibility, especially when accepting public money as, 'a properly elected government is entitled to pursueits social, economic, even political objectives through the way in which it allocatesthe public resourcesin its custody. Such a discourse
'There was further explained: can be no artistic independence- in the senseof adolescent irresponsibility - when the artist is paid for by the State', which dependingon the definition of
'irresponsibility', could disenfranchisemany in the 'high' art community. But this position, whilst, being laudable,is very conservative.It too readily disempowersand subjugatesdie participant/artist in order to succourbureaucratic needs and governmentagendas.
5.73 Poverty
Poverty has increasedto include, 'about 22% of the population' (Jonescited in Matarasso 1997: 8 1), but Matarasso'spragmatic approach failed to link thecauses of suchpoverty with die currentpolitical
92 and economic situation, let alone historical processes,and the role of the arts as a medium of protest and expressionof such concerns.There is an important issue regarding guilt. B yrn? critiqued
individualistic definitions of social exclusion, in which the poor were blamed for their situation, and the
hidden morality embeddedin this framework. In his opinion the excluded were not personally
responsiblefor their situation, but the victims of socio-economicconditions beyond their control.
Personalresponsibility was accompaniedby guilt and an attitude of charity towards die unfortunate.
Matarasso,by urging a new pragmatismwithout ideology, was engaging in kidology. His unhappiness
with ideological concernswas a way of avoiding thesewider philosophical questions.But,
unfortunately, such pragmatismis likely to reflect the normative paradigm of personalblame, which is
compoundedby the funding for such projects and steepedin a welfare attitude. I He affirmed that it may be easy,
to assumethat the arts have little or nothing to do with poverty....But such a view misunderstands
both the Poverty is as an issueof money A wider arts and poverty.... still seenalmost exclusively ....
conceptionof poverty would embracerestrictions on resourcesand opportunities - on inclusion as
well as income. (1998a: 40)
Furthermorepoverty was associatedwith limitation, disempowerment,and 'becauseof contemporary
culture'. But he did not explain precisely what it was about contemporaryculture that causedthis. He
acceptedthat, 'cultural action has an important place in alleviating its [poverty's] impact, and in some
cases,providing routes out of ie (1998a: 40), but failed to explain how. Again, he declined to ground
his position politically or ideologically, hencehis pragmatism seemssuperficial and confusing for the
reader.
5.8 Educational Impacts
Possibly, the most important evaluative impacts can be classedas educational.That the arts can
encouragea learning society, begs the question of what kind of society. But the objectives of
engenderingcritical attitudes and active citizens, are traditional effects of the arts and am lead to
24 see2.4 93 cultural activism and heuristic lifelong learning. But both unfortunately take time to realise, in contrast
to the often short-term nature of arts programmes.
5.8.1 A Learning Society
Matarassoreferred to a learning society,
in which the individual will have greater 'leisure' time while simultaneouslybeing increasingly
responsiblefor his or her own educationand development,equal accessto training and education
be determinant There is kind will a of poverty.... growing evidencethat the of skills which people
acquire through being involved in arts projects - team-working, communication, self-motivation,
flexibility, creativity etc - are vital to successin the changing employment market.
(Matarasso1998a: 43)
Theseeducational outcomes again reflect the instrumentalutility of arts projects. But the educational
needsof the excluded go beyond employment measures,the programmeis an opportunity for a more
democraticand educationalacculturation agendawhich refers to issuesof lifelong leaming and cultural
rights25.
Williams found in her research of 89 community art projects in Australia entitled Creating Social
Capital, that such programmes, 'were catalysts for experiential learning' (1997: 24). She referred to
four major impacts: experiential learning (seeing something differently), defining or re-defining
(knowing what is meaningful), finding a voice (knowing what is important) and knowing how to take
action (making changes needed). Such, 'impacts represent the experiences of critical reflection,
renewal and transformation' (1997: 24). Moriarty meanwhile saw the actual evaluation of die
programme as, 'sharing the learning process' (1997: 5), in order to make improvements for the next
one. Both involved heuristic learning.
5.82 Developing a Critical Attitude and Active Citizens
Matarassostated that,
25 this wider agendais embeddedin issuesof rights as described in 5.6,2 94 The greatestsocial impacts of participation in the arts - and the ones which other programmes cannot achieve - arise from their ability to help peoplethink critically about and question their experiencesand those of othersnot in a discussiongroup but with all the excitement,danger, magic, colour, symbolism, feeling, metaphor and creativity that the arts offer. It is in the act of creativity that understandingand social inclusivenessare promoted. (1997: 84)
But it takesa long time to develop this vital critical attitude widiin the time limits of most short-term programmes.Also, importantly, it needsto be establishedwhat type of critical attitude is deemed acceptable,especially if questioning the moral and political authority of government is considered irresponsible26 denigrated impact27 This and cultural activism as a negative . critical value may well encouragethe excluded to adopt an active political understandingin order to comprehendtheir own situation. They may not necessarilyaccept the statusquo or governmentpolicy. To do this, participants need to be free to explore their creativity, which is possibly the role the arts play best.
Williams recognisedthis, stating that community cultural expression,'is a processthrough which people - communities - can use artistic expressionto challengesocial norms and mobilise for, or resist, change' (1997: 4-5), hinting at a more active political involvement. Even Matarassoargued for active and 'engagedcitizens', revealing a hidden idealism, as such participation in an arts programme could be a stimulus to involvement in the wider society. But this is an unrealistic outcome, becauseoften when the programmehas finished, the participants return back to their excluded neighbourhoodsand lifestyles.
Matarassoalso askedthe question 'How far does the statereally want to empower or raise the expectationsof its citizensT (Matarasso1998a: 78). But then failed to answer this concern as he deemedit beyond his researchremit. But it cannot be so, as the social impacts he advocatedhave a political manifestation. This is surely the reality of joined up thinking.
26 as advocatedby Matarassoin 5.72 27 as suggestedby Matarassoin 5.5.7
95 5.9 Relevant Social Impacts
ConsideringMatarasso's fifty impacts in the indicators are social of participation the arts28, not all of best servedby the arts. Firstly, it dependson how wide a definition of the arts is taken; the broader this is, the more likely that the outcomeswill be realisable.Secondly, there are indicators that naturally standout as arts-orientated,although the arts give a particular angle on them all. Thirdly, there is no comparisonwith non-art programmes,for instancecreative sport and catering projects, in terms of which could best deliver theseoutcomes.
There are three indicators that are particularly attractive:
The first indicator is number 18, to 'Help offenders and victims addressissues of crime'. This can be affected for example,by participatory dramaprogrammes using role play and theatrical games,in a highly creative manner that allows participantsto practice being someoneelse and comprehendother 29. perspectives,in ways that sport or catering projects cannot
The secondindicator is number 32, to 'Involve residentsin environmentalimprovements'. This can be directly affected by a visual arts programme,producing public work for the locality, by the people of the locality. Decoration, design and environmentalconcerns can be addressedthrough a visual creative focus.
The third indicator is number 48, to 'Contribute to a more relaxed atmospherein health centres'. This can be assistedby the product of a community music or arts projects, in terms of decor and sound.
Hospitals and health centresare semi-public spaces,which need to be therapeutic,and through the arts, positive healing environmentscan be createdand sustained.
Theseaforementioned indicators are arts-centred,directly result from the art activity and are not synthetically manufactured.They contain a natural instrumentality. Here the art is of primary concern and integral to the outcome. Other indicators also possessthis capability, but some do not and are synthetically instrumental.For instancenumber 22, to 'Help involve local people in the regeneration process'; number 26, to 'Facilitate the developmentof partnership' and number 41,
'Transform the responsivenessof public service organisations'. These indicators have been placed onto the arts, but are not necessarilybest servedby them.
28 seeAppendix 1 29 theseissues are addressed in the casestudy ch 7 96 Matarasso(1997: 83) questionedwhether social policy objectives could be better affected through non-art methods,asking, 'Could it be done without art?'. If the main objective is employability, projects could be more transparentand direct in terms of intention. There is also an issue about the social location of the arts with respectto leisure, and the needsof the excluded in terms of how they utilise their leisure time. Many of the excludedmay be on the periphery of work culture, but lack 30 leisure time It is though Matarasso is trying to that the arts compete with constructive . as advocate non art programmes, to achieve similar social objectives. If this is the case, he is involved in a public
relations exercise for the arts, in order to justify them through avenues of utility. But this is a dangerous
avenue, as such synthetic instrumentality, may eventually narrow down the creative capacity of
impact. The programmes, due to the responsive focusing aspect of the evaluation process onto social
01. arts may therefore become redundan
5.10 Cultural Performance Indicators
A marriage of the pioneering work done by Comedia with the reality of New Labour's performance
culture, has led to an interest in cultural performanceindicators. Matarassodistinguished between
in the its cultural and performanceindicators, with the latter 'broader scope.... using organisation as
basic unit' (Matarasso2002: 4). He mentioned the SMART method ( Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Realistic and Timed), which is steepedin a measurementculture, but suggestedthat, 'most
of the things which matter to us in relation to art and culture cannotbe squeezedinto this template, so
perhapswe should ask ourselveswhether we should keep trying' (2002: 6). But ComedWs meeting
with the DCMS, QUEST, ACE and LA in September2000 (2002: 6), was precisely to discussthe
developmentof cultural indicators.
Unfortunately, as the measurementculture within the health and educationalsectors increasingly
confirms, the voice of the stakeholderis rarely heard. Furthermore,although Matarassoadvocated
cultural indicators, he seemedwary of such a culture and readily admitted that, 'we do not now, if we
ever did, have much agreementabout what excellenceis in the arts' (2002: 7). In which case,if there is
30 the issueof abnormal leisure and need for creative forms of leisure as an alternative is discussedin 12.7 31 the instrumental use of the arts in prison and extent to which this is detrimental to them is more fully exposedin the Arts Education in Prison casestudy in 11.4
97 no consensus,any method of compiling cultural impacts into an acceptableformat would be immensely difficult. Again he is contradictory and far from clear.
5.11 Counter Argument
Here a more rigorous criticism of Matarasso'smethod is compiled, which assessesthe expert evaluator and the ideological appropriationof evaluativemethod by a normative pragmatism.
5.11.1 The Expert Evaluator
It is important to determinewhether there is a role for the expert evaluator.
Matarassoreflected on the problems of project failure and claimed that, ' there is still not much understandingof the participatory arts beyond those involved in it, and in the absenceof anything approachingstandard expectations, it is possible for such work to drift along unquestioned,especially if projects are short-term and have no statedoutcomes' (1998a: 74). Hence,presumably, the need for an expert professional evaluator. But arguably, people are more generally aware than he gives them credit for.
Firstly, any parent can tell how confident and empoweredtheir child becomeshaving performed in the school play or band. There is much understandingof the benefits of the participatory arts by
'outsiders'.
Secondly, 'standardexpectations', soundsmore like the culture and languageof performance indicators. Matarasso,the expert evaluator, in his Vital Signs (1998b) report that mapped cominunity arts in Belfast, very slickly evaluatedthe changesbrought about within its first eighteenmonths, using 32 form It like Such language portable statistical . reads an annual company report. is far from inclusive
be and unlikely to read outside a very specific constituency. Understandably, it is loaded with
jargon 'under-achieving management such as projects' and 'community organisational capacity', which begs the question as to whether such terms are anything more than part of a game, a simulated exercise that relates to a virtual parallel world, not to the reality of the programme. There are precious few views from participants, who are therefore further disenfranchised.
Guba. Lincoln and expressedconcern over evaluation information within the perspectiveof evaluators,
32 as reviewed in 5.5.5 98 which does, 'not speakto the interestsof other concernedparties', but is aimed aL 'affecting solely sponsors,funders or a few selected(and powerful) stakeholdinggroups' (1989: 54). There are clear dangersof 'standardexpectations' becoming standardisedmethod and practice, for the convenienceof comparisonand determining value for money. PresumablyMatarasso would rail against such a scenario.
He also glossedover, 'The concernabout how far a community developmentprocess (arts-led or not) could reach,and how it might be distorted by the need to deliver outputs' (1998a: 76), and the requirementsof funding and governmentagencies. Unfortunately, Mawrassohas constructeda templatethat can be utilised for precisely thesepurposes. His method, like any evaluatory technique, can be utilised politically and becomethe servantto a host of other agendas.Guba and Lincoln referred to stakeholdersas being at risk, as they 'are open to exploitation, disempowermentand disenftanchisement.Evaluation is a form of enquiry whose end product is in formation. In formation is power, and evaluation is powerful' (1989: 52).
It is the processof participating and determining the evaluation which is so important, and the danger that this is short-circuited by expert analysis,which re-focusesdirection away from stakeholderinput.
5.11.2 Appropriation: Evaluation as Pragmatism or Ideology
Evaluation method and practice is a political minefield, and for Matarassoto fail to recognise this by insisting on a new pragmatism that avoids ideology, is both naive and obstructs a fuller understanding of many issues.If the bottom line is to use evaluation in order to impressfunders, the game is to utilise and manipulate evidence(creative evaluation) in order to curry favour with economic and political masters.It is thereforea processof obfuscating a more realistic assessmentof successor failure.
Furthermore,if so many of the programmesare short-term, it is unrealistic to read too much into subsequentevaluation reports, beyond advocacy.
The pragmatic Matarassois being very idealistic in terms of the value of such reports. For short-term projects the triangulation of attitude and opinion, and an assessmentof processand outcome are as far as evaluation can proceed.Besides which, 'hard' objective evidence is not available for the vast number of arts projects aimed at the socially excluded.
What is available and a determining factor, is the extent to which an attitude or opinion of a stakeholder
99 reflects that person's reality, whether tutor, participant or spectator.Narrative and description may betterdescribe this processthan statistical evidence.Consequently, the processof social auditing, in order to convert such information into portable and comparativestatistics, may be inappropriate in termsof expressingthe reality of the programme.Notwithstanding, Matarassoclaimed, 'that the oppositionbetween qualitative and quantitative data is unhelpful, since it is possible to quantify qualitative information' (1998a: 10). But it is this mechanismof social auditing that has serious flaws.
Ian MacPhersonet al (2000) claimed that quantitativemeasures of performancedominated perception becausesuch methods,
are consideredto be reliable and valid, objective and clean, and orientated towards producing
empirical outcomesthat are generalizable different In acrossa variety of quite contexts.... by contrast.... qualitative methodsare characterized ambiguity, subjectivity, and place more
emphasison the localised context. Its researchoutcomes are essentially expressedin linguistic
forms, where the themesarising from the participants' perceptionsof practices and environment
conveyed.Thus, it is regardedas soft, less concrete,and therefore,is regardedless highly than
quantitative projects. (MacPhersonetal 2000: 50)
Hence the basic equation is one of the validity of thoseoutcomes and impacts portrayed by using numerical data against those concernedwith linguistic description. If the outcomesare genuinely local,
MacPhersonet al argued that they should be basedon a set of four principles: purpose, place, process and product. This allowed such information to be contextualised.The social auditing technique is an attempt to generalisesuch information, for comparativepurpose, hence the danger of using a method is intended that to be comparative with information that is not comparable.Their argument against quantitative evidencein social contexts, is precisely because,'it claims for universal and generalizable outcomesacross all contexts' (2000: 52).
Matarasso for argued a pluralistic multi-method procedure,a practical creative bricolage of whatever be evidencecan used to support the claims of the programme. MacPhersonet al cited the dangersof such an approachbecause the quantitative methodological hegemonyundermines qualitative evidence.
The useof the terms 'hard' or 'sofe evidence is testimony to the extent to which the latter is subjugated
100 by such a hegemony.Thick descriptionis fine, but not deemedto be scientific and thereforeunreliable.
But such a method should be, 'legitimately valued in its own right' (2000: 58), as such a method is a better fit and translation of the empirical reality.
MacPhersonet al quoted two of the foremost thinkers in qualitative technique Norman Denzin and
Yvonna Lincoln. They spelt out in a paragraphhow and why to use such a method:
qualitative researchersstudy things in their natural setting, attempting to make senseof, or
interpret, phenomenain terms of the meaningspeople bring to them. Qualitative researchinvolves
the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials - casestudy, personalexperience,
introspective,life story, interview, observational,historical interaction and visual texts - that
describeroutine and problematic momentsand meaningsin individuals' lives.
(Denzin & Lincoln 1998: 3)
Matarassocomplained about the lack of 'hard' evidence,and need to use social auditing as a method of analysing evaluation evidence.This is probably becausesuch a techniquedetermines acceptability in terms of professionalism,which is embeddedwithin a quantitative measurementmindset. In order to advocatethe arts he pursueda methodological orthodoxy, although he recognisedthat social and aestheticevidence was highly contextual, and neededto be understoodin qualitative terms. This is indeeda paradox, one which he fails to address.
5.12 Evaluation, Putting it All Together
Guba and Uncoln describedin sevenpoints what evaluation as an entity meant:
First foremost, is and evaluation a sociopolitical process.... ajoint, collaborative process.... a teachingl7earning highly divergent process.... a continuous, recursive and process.... an emergent [and] process.... a process with unpredictable outcomes.... a process that creates reality. (1989: 253-256)
In which case,evaluations are an approximation of the truth, unpredictable,with possible contradictory
101 outcomes.Matarasso is influencedby this relative contextualisedperception, in terms of the cyclical natureof programmes,responsive focusing, stakeholderinput and the unpredictability of outcomes,but failed to reflect the overtly political natureof the process,admitting that he was trying to talk the languageof civil servantbureaucrats. It is this need to be acceptedwithin what is after all a constructed measurementand performanceculture, that distorts the evaluative processand takes it away from the control of and focus on stakeholders.
Greeneexplained that, 'constructivist inquirers seekto understandcontextualized meaning, to understandthe meaningfulnessof human actions and interactions- as experiencedand construedby die actors - in a given context....there are "no facts without values.. (Greene2000: 986). She conceived evaluationas a telling of stories, as, 'evaluation practicedqualitatively is a narrative craft', in which participants, 'gather information about their experiencesin their own words'(2000: 989-990).
In none of Matarasso'sthree reports (1998a;1998b; 1999) doeshe allow participants to tell their stories, let alone control the evaluation. Both Poverty and Oystersand Vital Signs include, in only one chapter, anecdotalremarks by stakeholders.Nevertheless, even though lie triangulatedopinion, all reports are his voice and perspective,and rely on numerical data. Matarassosits asjudge in the academicmanner describedby Scriven33 Furthermore, , controlling the whole process. each report contains an almost fawning advocacyof the programmesinvolved and lacks any critical teeth or dissenting voices. It is as though any criticism is perceived as a negative impact and unwanted,as it may hinder advocacy.
Although Matarassodescribed Magic, Myth and Money which was an accountof the impact of the
English National Ballet on tour, as, 'not a critical study, or an evaluation of the company's work or even a piece of market research' (Matarasso2000: sleevenotes), it takesa similar form to the other two social impact studies.Throughout, the evidenceseems to be constructedas a form of public relations exercise.
5.13 Summary
This chapter involved a critique of Comedia's researchinto evaluating die social impact of participatory arts programmes,especially its main writer Matarasso.This directly influenced PAT 10, which in turn advocatedits methodology. The refocusing by the researchersaway from the narrow
33 see4.3.2 102 economicagenda of the eighties,onto a social agendato regeneratedeprived urban areas,pre-empted
New Labour.
The Comediawriters emphasisedthe role of the arts as an engineof conununity development,re- enforcing geographicalnotions of neighbourhood.They also recognisedand emphasisedthe importanceof the evaluatoryprocess and cycle, in order to help strengthenthe programme and allow input from all stakeholders.Besides social objectives, the researchrecognised the value of the arts in engenderingboth a critical attitude and a learning society. But there were many inconsistencies,not least surrounding the conceptof community, how evaluatory advocacy impinged on the evidence, die use of social auditing and participant self-management.
Evaluation was the central concernin terms of fitting the arts into an establishedframework of positive social impacts. Matarassoattempted a pragmatic approachand createda raft of fifty social impacts, but madeno distinction between those in which the arts were naturally or synthetically instrumental in achieving the required outcomes.Arguably, the latter could be better servedby non-arts programmes.It is as though his agendawas to widen the gamut and importanceof arts participation beyond aesthetic considerations,and thereby advocatehis own position. His framework of reproducible social impacts was, ironically, highly ideological, contradictory, even Machiavellian.
Although he advocatedparticipant self-management,this contrastedwith his position as the 'expert' evaluatorand report writer, denying local input and self-evaluation.The voice used in his evaluation reports was his, further disenfiranchisingstakeholders from the process.Moreover, local control can be underminedby a top-down insistenceon the very social impacts createdby him, which have becomean orthodoxy. He contendedthat self-managementas a goal could only be realised through long-term programmes,bemoaned the lack of rigorous evaluation in the field, criticised existing practice as relying on anecdotalevidence, and championedsocial auditing as a method of quantifying qualitative evidence.But lie failed to fully acknowledgethe extent to which the evaluation methodology is a contextual and political process.
In terms of transparency,participants might not perceive themselvesto be excluded or in need of social welfare, even be offended by such a categorisation.Issues of social impact may thereforebe a disincentive to participation, particularly if intention is to be involved in the arts, not social or behavioural experimentation.This confusion of the social and aestheticis disconcerting,and to the
103 detrimentof the arts. Besides,if the transparencyof such social objectives is a deterrent,clarity could be purposelymuddied in order not to firightenoff potential volunteers.
Matarassoalso seemedto be concernedwith methodologicalacceptability, proving professionalism and advocatinga programmeevaluation practice that realisessocial impacts.This in turn advocatesthe validity of his position that arts programmescan be evaluatedin such a way. His argumentbecomes dangerouslycircular.
There was also somethingabsent in his thinking in terms of negative outcomes.The delineation betweenpositive and negative impacts seemedto be far too distinct, as though successwas controlled by advocatorialambition. The arts as Matarassosuggested, are messyand unpredictable,but he still wanted to build them into a neat evaluatory template,which seemsstrangely contradictory.
The arts are no panacea,as he admitted. But he insisted that arts programmescan deliver, even if die arts cannot,which is confusing. Notwithstanding, this emphasisesthe importanceof die evaluation 34 process, which may be a tool of empowerment for the excluded
The researchassessed the welfare implications of evaluating the arts for social impacts, the impact on the cultural rights of participants, and need for their informed consent.Matarasso agreed that permissionwas neededfrom participants if projects were intendedto changetheir attitude or behaviour,but he contradicted this by adding the caveatthat this was not always possible, and that it must be the intention. This clouded the ethical issueas to whether those involved neededto be fully aware of the objectives of the project.
He also contendedthat there was a need for artistic responsibility towards public finances and that arts programmeswere cost-effective solutions to social problems. But there was no financial comparability with non-arts programmesoffered. Ironically, he perceivedcultural action as alleviating poverty, but was strangelyhostile towards such activism, and failed to take a wider political position beyond his conservativenew pragmatism.
This interest in the functionality of the arts in terms of social impact, reflects a particular utilitarian habitus.The working-class have arguably valued the arts in terms of utility, whilst those with higher and more sophisticatedlevels of cultural capital have valued them more in terms of a disinterested
34 asexplained in 4.9 andspecifically 4.9.1 with regardsto Empowermentevaluation
104 autonomy. His methodology can therebybe perceivedas a cultural apartheid,in which the arts are seen as instrumental for the socially and culturally excluded.
Phillips meanwhile, was concernedwith whether such programmeswere perceived as artistic enterprisesor social services,and believed that thoseinvolved in working with the institutionalised
(first order of exclusion), consideredsuch work as artistically founded and the social impacts as a consequence.In which casethe arts were intrinsically vital to the programme.
Williams, although similarly ensnaredin a social auditing methodology, seemedfar more radical.
Hence her understandingof 'community' art as a generatorof social capital, effective in combating isolation and an antidote to globalisation. She recognisedits political potential as a challenge to passive attitudes to massculture. She valued participatory arts groups in their capacity to solidify communal values and recognisedthat they could be used to contestsocial norms, and hinted at a wider ideological and active involvement for the arts.
Moriarty the most outspokencritic of normative evaluationmethodology, objected to its mechanical language,and perceived the immeasurability of the arts to be at odds with bureaucraticsystems of measurement.She also recognisedits political nature, and the dangerof misusing reports.
Her point that evaluationsdo not representthe reality of the programmeis a serious indictment of
statistical method. She professedthat a production or final product was best evidenceof programme
successand questionedwhether social impacts could even be measured.She made the vital distinction
betweenevaluation as evidenceand as advocacy.
Educationaloutcomes in terms of individual change,were anothermajor concern for Comedia, and the
creation of a leaming society, in which citizens actively participated in their culture and developeda
critical attitude towards it. Such idealistic values, also promoted greater cultural activity. But again, this
vision of changewas also confusing, as Matarassoargued that cultural activism could easily become a
negative impact.
This investigation constructeda counter argument which critiqued Matarasso'scontradictory position
of masqueradingas a democratic evaluator, whilst reporting as an expert evaluator. It revealed the
dangersof appropriating evaluative method by a normative pragmatism,especially through social
auditing. The value of such statistical information is debatable,but more importantly, this method
readily becomesensnared by the norms of a measurementculture, with numerical information
105 subjugatingqualitative written and verbal evidence,thereby undermining alternative approaches.
Matarassoalso failed to addressthe problem as to whether such a pragmatic methodology gives a convincing reflection of value.
A major difference betweenComedia's researchand the objectives of PAT 10, is that the former was aimed at the evaluation of participatory arts groups, whilst the latter was concernedwith the narrower constituencyof the socially excluded.Matarasso contended that such arts groups were driven by those more able membersof the community. Theseself-confident 'included' characterswere catalysts in motivating a constituencyin which passivity and cynicism is high, and self-esteemlow. But they would by definition, be absentfrom more excluded groupings. This difference is vital, as outcomes concerningparticipant empowermentand the self-direction of programmes,would be adversely affected.
Arguably, the concentrationon social impacts and their realisation, may accentuatethe condition of the socially excluded.Whereas a greateremphasis on stakeholdercontrol and managementof the programmemay better enable this inclusive process,in line with conceptsof empowermentand 35 emancipation
The value of thesecontributions by the Comedia.writers cannot be underestimated,as they have raised awarenessand initiated discussionin this particular field. But there are pitfalls inherent in the evaluative approachesoffered, not least the appropriation of qualitative evidencewithin a quantitative
framework, the relevanceof pre-set social impacts, and especially the need to empower the excluded
through both the arts and the evaluative process.Ultimately, the overriding question is the extent to
which theseevaluation techniquesbecome a meansof managerialand funder control.
35 see112 106 Chapter 6. Evaluation Reports
6.1 Introduction
This short chapterassesses three specific evaluationreports for London Arts, the ScottishArts Council
(SAC) and the DCMS, that concernthe arts and social exclusion.
61 The London Arts Regional Challenge Programme Report: Me Arts and Inclusion
Evelyn Carpenter(1999) in her evaluationof the London Arts RegionalChallenge Programme entitled The
Arts and Inclusion, reviewedthe self-evaluationof six projects.These concerned participants from specific ethnic, homelessand psychiatrichealth communities,young peopleand thosewith leaming difficulties. It was in responseto an evaluationbrief that, 'was to assessthe processby which eachof the six projectshad
its identified its target audience,the quality of the participativeprocess and the artistic quality .... concept, delivery and effectiveness'(Carpenter 1999: 4). This included the impact and quality of the final work/productionon participantsand audience,and how this might influence a wider audience.
Sherecognised the political natureof the field and usedspecific democraticcriteria to establishand understandthe inclusive quality of the participatoryprocesses which enabledaudiences to be involved.
This owed much to the political theory writers, RobertDahl and David Held, and their criteria of equal value, control of the agenda,ways of participating, and new understandingsand skills (Dahl had a fifth criteria of inclusion). TheseCarpenter contextualised: 'equal value would be demonstratedthrough the attitudeof the artists and other key staff to the audience....equal weight would be given to the views of the audienceat important stagesin the artistic process' (1999: 9). 'Control of the agende referred to the audienceinitiating artistic concepts,planning and taking responsibility for the project, whilst 'ways of participating' concerned,'mechanisms in place or ways for the audienceto expresstheir preferencesabout the purpose,form and contentof the artistic activity' (1999: 10). 'New understandingand skills' were understoodto reflect aestheticconcerns, but also wider educationalobjectives in terms of making informed choicesand actionsin order to be able to participatecreatively. Ultimately this, 'shoih:ed the extent that the
arts organisationshad a democraticrelationship with their audiences,and had democratisedtheir art forms'
107 (1999: 4). Participationrelied on the sustainedinterest and commitmentof stakeholdersin the creative process,and consequentlythe importanceof artistic quality. Shewas concernedthat, 'the arts were valued
in for instrumental benefits Jas the as ends themselvesrather than their social and economic ... this] seemed best explanationfor the enthusiasmand commitmentof the audiencesto seeprojects through often in the face of many practical obstacles'(1999: 4).
Carpenterwanted the artists,participants and audienceto have equal control over the concept,design and practical implementationof the projects.Unfortunately, half of them did not subscribeto her criteria, one of the reasonsbeing that, 'the audiencewere involved primarily as learnersof new artistic skills' (1999: 30).
Becauseof this, it was not possibleto sharecontrol and responsibility.
Sherealised that one yearproject funding was possibly inappropriateand that, 'there was a correlation in theseprojects between effective inclusion and the extent of democratisation'(1999: 32), as the two most successfulprojects in terms of reachingand engaginglarge audiencesbetter fulfilled her specified democraticprocess and agenda.That artistic quality and ambition were deemedvital for successful inclusivity, firtrily placed aestheticconsiderations high on the agenda.But artists also neededto demystify artforms and processesto better enableaccess.
Sheconcluded that, 'on the evidenceof theseprojects, marketing was not a significant factor in reaching and engagingtheir audiences'(1999: 36), where intention was to engagesocially excludedgroups and communities.Direct contactwith artists and developingbridges between different stakeholderswithin the community,was the best strategy.Interactive marketing methods,such as focus groups,came closest to the methodsused by th-- arts projectsto develop their understandingof audience.
Getting work into the public domain and creatingpermanent legacies were deemedindicators of programmesuccess. An examplebeing that one of the projects,the Polyglot TheatreCompany, which worked with the Eritrean Community, performed7he Harvest Plays outsidethe National Theatreand createdtexts of the work in both Eritrean and English. It also helpedbuild a new cultural organisationfor the community. Carpenterrecognised that, 'artistic quality was not alwaysan over-riding concern' (1999:
33), asthere was tensionbetween high artistic aspirationsand maximising audienceinvolvement. She recognisedthat:
108 Much evaluationfocuses on the wider impact of the arts contributing to, for instance,neighbourhood
renewal and making a difference to, say,health, crime, employmentor educationin deprived
communities.Participants in the 1998/99Regional Challenge projects did not engagein the projects for
thosereasons though were sometimesaware of thosebenefits (1999: 39).
That the motivation for the arts was intrinsic, not instrumental,saw the projectsthrough to the end. Such commitment,in the face of a rangeof obstacles,was inspiredby the arts and creativity, which questionsthe durability of an extrinsic agenda.
63 Scottish Arts Council Report: NotJust a Treat. Arts and Social Inclusion
The SAC commissionedthe Centre for Cultural Policy Researchat the University of Glasgow, to createa toolkit for evaluatingarts projects and review the SAC's Social Inclusion Schemewhich it did in the report
Not Just A Treat: Arts and Social Inclusion (Deanet al 2001).
The 'toolkit' aspectdealt with defining measurableobjectives and ensuringthat, 'an evaluationdoes not seekmerely to praisewhat was done,but rather takesa critical look at any problemsthat have arisenso that lessonscan be learnt' (Dean et al 2001: 7). But the emphasison standardmeasurable outcomes failed to accommodateany greaterunderstanding of value and quality. Nevertheless,the report useddirect quotes from thoseinvolved to relay the impact and effect of the project.
The researchrecognised that, 'ideally... [thosewho are intendedto benefit from a project] would be participantsin the project's inception and would play a key role in influencing and implementing an evaluationframework, aswell as being participantsin the project' (2001: 10). But it consideredthat in practice,this was hard to achieveas, 'the burden of consultationand participation often falls on a few dedicatedresidents' ( 200 1: 10). It admittedthat such a scenariomay or may not allow the views of all stakeholders,and recognisedthat the arts neededto recognisethe importanceof quality, but in effect played a minor role in accommodatingsocial inclusion. Christine Hamilton (2002) a researcheron the project, agreedthat levels of consultationwere varied at the early stageswith somebeing funder-led.
109 Regardingthe SAC's Arts and Inclusion scheme,Goodlad et al (2002) studiedten selectedarts projects and the successof the Social Inclusion PartnershipScheme (SIP), inauguratedin 1999.They concludedthat the, 'arts were not featuredin most of the original strategiesdeveloped by SIPT but where they were used,
followed, 'approaches in [but] did they that are well-developed community arts... not always reachthose who are the most vulnerable' (Goodladet al 2002: 4). 'Tbe report discoveredthe extent to which the arts were not consideredrelevant to social inclusion and given low priority'. Out of forty eight recognisedSIP's more thanhalf had either never appliedfor SAC funding for the arts or had beenrefused (2002: 13).
Hamilton (2002), one of the researcherscommented on the different levels of involvement of the local community in eachcase and consideredself-management was not the intendedaim, 'even though community empowermentis regardedas a key aspectof tackling exclusion'. Similarly, althoughthe researcherswere asked,'to considerevidence of new and innovative approachesto using the arts to meet inclusion goals' (Goodladet al 2002: 50), they found approachesto be traditional: 'In terms of art practice,
be' (2002: 53). Neither did none appearto be particularly "innovative" - nor do they set out to any of the projectsfit into a particular art categoryas they offered a rangeof experiencesand artforms. As regards impact, information was seento be limited and it was, 'almost impossibleto have any certainty about the longer-termimpact of theseprojects on either the developmentof the arts or the alleviation of social , exclusionin the targetedareas' (2002: 54). But the researchhad raisedthe profile of the arts in terms of their utility for social inclusion projects and in termsof partnershipwith other agenciesand schemes.
Unfortunately,sustainability was problematicas the lottery funding was not aimed at long-term developments.The researchersnoted that observersof the projects and SIP schemeshad,
detectedinunediate impacts of participation in the projects. Personaldevelopment, self-expression,
community participation and.self-esteem were mentionedseveral times. One interviewee
consideredthat evidenceof the arts in a community in itself would be evidencethat the community
7bis backedup researchdone by the Irish Arts Council (1997:116) on poverty, accessand participation, which concludedthat 'For thoseliving on low incomes,in disadvantagedareas, the arts were not seen as somethingimportant in their lives, but rather somethingthat was for other people', although these peoplehoped that the arts would be availablefor their children.
110 would be more inclusive. (2002: 62).
2 Such a sentiment perceives culture as an aspect of social exclusion, related to that expressed by ACE
The report concludedthat the SAC funding schemewas, 'encouragingSocial Inclusion Partnerships....to usethe arts as a meansof social inclusion' (2002: 65), which is good advocacy.But although it failed to find long-term evidenceof the effect of the arts (which was beyondthe remit of the study anyway), the views of all concernedwith the projectswere very positive. Interestingly it utilised the term and role of
'cultural champion', somebodywithin the SIP staff structurewho had an interestin the arts and was thereforecentral to their promotion. With regardsevaluation, it perceivedthat SIP's neededto be free to developmonitoring frameworksthat capturedinformation relevantto their specific goals.However, some commonapproach or baseof monitoring datawas requiredto enablecomparable evaluation across the scheme,of the shorteror longer term effects.
That therewas a need for cultural championsto instigatearts projects,as well as the evidencethat many
SIP's did not considerthe arts relevant for the purposesof social inclusion, questionsthe importanceof the arts to excludedpeople and communities.Only thoseinvolved in the arts deemedthem to be socially useful, which puts an emphasison the motivation to participate,a major concernfor voluntary groupings.
6A Department for Culture Media and Sport Report: Count Me In
The DCMS askedThe Centre for Leisure and Sport Researchat LeedsMetropolitan University to conduct 3 an evaluation report of fourteen culture and sport projects promoted by PAT 10 which was entitled Count
Me In, eight of which had art and media connections (Long et al 2002: 22). The research sketched out the purposes of these cultural projects for young people, but was less forthright as to whether such projects
actually addressed social exclusion, and there was much veiled criticism of the social inclusion agenda. It
was concerned with, 'how small a part cultural activities play in the wider, official considerations of social
inclusion' (2002: 3), and also recognised methodological problems due to the, 'transience of Audit
2 see3.5 3 see3.3.5
III Commissionand Best Value indicators.... [which] illustratesthe difficulty of devising convincing measures of cultural provision that are capableof supportingbenchmarking exercises' (2002: 2).
The report repeatedlyreferred to Matarassoand the researchundertaken by Comediaas a good model, but reportedthat althoughmany projectshad, 'latchedonto the idea of "soft" indicators.... there are few signs to date that they have movedbeyond the conceptualstage to identify indicators and gatherthe associated evidence'(2002: 29). Confusingly,it recognisedthat for evaluatorypurposes, 'there was never any intention that a standardisedset of indicatorsshould be imposed' (2002: 29), which fails to adequately describethe intendedinfluence of a predetermined PAT 10 (and Comedia)agenda. It also deemedcritical,
'the extent to which the projectsare a responseto demandsfrom below as opposedto being imposedfrom above' (2002: 69). Overall, it found a lack of enthusiasmfor evaluationand method.
With regardsto social cohesionand citizenship (two specifiedareas of importancefor inclusion), it suggestedthat, 'projects allow scopefor participantsto make decisions aboutoutputs' (2002: 70). It raised the importanceof participant decision-makingand self-determination,but suggestedthat stakeholderinput into evaluation,was impossibleto action due to the transitoryand short-termnature of the projects. It indicatedthat participatory arts shouldrevolve aroundthe threeconcepts of. empowerment,social exchangeand citizenship,which required a highly complex evaluationprocess. But acceptedthat programmeswere, 'rightly being encouragedto evaluateagainst their own aims, so no consistencyof practiceor procedurecan be expected' (2002: 4).
The report questioned,'just what it is that people are expectedto becomeincluded in, and the extent to which they have any say in the shapeof that' (2002: 85). Similarly, it arguedthat, 'becausea project is deliveredin disadvantaged [this does] benefits a area.... not necessarilymean that the presumed are
accruingto the socially excluded' (2002: 85), suggestingthat it did not always follow that suchprojects
necessarilypromoted social inclusion. One reasonwas a problem with definition, anotherin termsof lack
of attentionto outputs.The researchfound that it 'sometimesfound a lack of clarity of outcomesand what
they constitute,which projects would do well to addressregardless of whetheror not they will be
conductingevaluation' (2002: 83), intimating that the processneeded to be betterembedded into the
project from the start.
112 It also found a conundrumand confusionwith project aims as they, 'are being evaluatedbut not againstthe samecriteria or agendaas DCMS adopts'(2002: 86). This in itself is a very telling observation,and could possiblybe appliedto the agendaof project managersas againstthat of participants.
One sectionentitled, 'Enjoyment- Plain and Simple' (2002: 59) tried to match the involvement in such projectswith enhancingquality of life. Sucha 'fun' orientationunderpinned involvement and participation had to be consideredon stakeholderterms: 'If people feel excludedany effort to re-engagethem has to start with their interest' (2002: 75). Not surprisingly,the researchrevealed that, 'so much of the cultural provision for young peoplein particular seemsto be validatedby the extrinsic benefits that it provides'
(2002: 60). But sucha position fails to respectthe rights or opinions of participants,overriding their intrinsic interestand rationale for participating.
The researchstated that, 'if the link with social exclusionis to be established,recognising the importanceof consideringoutcomes is essential'(2002: 77), an admissionthat the position had not beenestablished. This outcomeorientation may be unrealistic,and adheringto an extrinsic agenda,unwanted by those participating (as expressedby Carpenterabove). Besides stressing a, 'lack of clarity of outcomes',it also explainedthe, 'temptation for projectsto claim a wide rangeof benefitsin order to make themselvesmore attractivepolitically and increasetheir chancesof securingfunding' (2002: 83). Hencethe dangerof utilising an indirect and unprovenraft of social indicatorsto prove programmesuccess.
The evaluationfocused on the supposedextrinsic social benefits of art programmes,to create,da more
[for inclusion] (2002: 4)., AJthoughit prominentposition .... social on the agenda' was value-freeresearch, the fact that it was commissionedby the DCMS, madeit politically driven to somedegree. That bottom up control could ensurea raft of relevantrealisable outcomes based on participant interestand objectives, might not necessarilytransfer to a pre-specifiedagenda of social inclusion. Interestingly,projects were keen to engagestakeholders in the activities, 'but less so in respectof their own agendasetting and
decision-making'(2002: 69). Notwithstanding,the researchreferred to the conceptof "'knowing" (the
knowledgethat comesfrom direct experience)'(2002: 86), which, arguably,cannot be translatedinto a
mechanicaland measurablevaluation process.
Moreover,PAT 10's initial panaceaof a longitudinal evaluatoryapproach to discover the link betweenthe
113 4, arts and social exclusion had not beenrealised. Whilst agreeingthat, 'one of the touchstonesof the New
Labour approachto governmentwas that emergingpolicy shouldbe basedon evidencerather than being ideologically motivatedor purely pragmatic' (2002: 2), therewas still little evidenceto prove this. The report questionedgovernmental definitions of social exclusionbased on, 'symptomsrather than causes'
(2002:23) which were treatedas products rather than a processes.
71beresearch initially set out by concurringthat, 'The aim of the projects is to engagethe attentionof participantsand provide a stimulating and enjoyableexperience, without which their objectiveswill fail to be realised' (2002: 6). But it did not makeclear whetherthese objectives had come from the DCMS, project management,funders or stakeholders.
It concludedby admitting that, 'we are concernedthat much of what we have written in this report is redolefit of social engineering' (2002: 87) and that suchprojects should be offered for their intrinsic merits,
'offering fun and a contribution to the quality of life' (2W2: 87). This seemedto be a direct affront and reactionto the DCMS agendaof social impacts,returning participatory art programmesto a more traditional artistic rationale of value.
6-5 Summary
This chapterreviewed threeevaluation reports into the socially inclusive impact of the arts. Each were scepticalto differing degreesof such an extrinsic agendaof social utility, all concurring that there was little supportingevidence or interestin it.
Carpenterin her The Arts and Inclusion report, evaluatedsix programmesfor London Arts. She founded her techniqueon the interestof stakeholders(participants and audience)and the equality of all input into the artistic processand content. Sherecognised the political dimensionand framework of evaluation,and her attemptto harnessa democraticprocess was a step towardsrealising a needfor wider empowermentof
stakeholders.There was a correlationbetween inclusion and pursuing a democratisationof the processes
involved in the arts programme.Direct contact of artistswith other stakeholderswas deemedas vital.
4 set out in 3.3.2
114 Artistic excellence,the quality of the participatoryexperience and final product or performance,were understoodas benchmarks of social inclusion. That this was dependenton the democratisationof the arts, recognisedthe importanceof cultural inclusion aspart of the process.She described the intention of participantsand audienceas intrinsically embeddedin the arts,with evaluativefocuses on wider social impactsmisrepresenting involvement. Furthermore, such enthusiasm was vital in order to seeprojects through to the end.
Successcould be perceivedin termsof work in the public domain and creating a permanentlegacy.
Carpenterwas awarethat participationdepended on artistic and creativeneeds, not instrumentalones. Tlie
NotJustA Treat: Arts and Social Inclusion report,reviewed the SAC's Social Inclusion Scheme.It recognisedthe minor role played by the arts in social inclusion projects,and that evaluationrequired a critical stance.It also recognisedthat stakeholdersneeded to play a major part in determiningevaluatory objectives,but in reality this processof democratisationwas unrealistic.Similarly it expressedthe difficulties of reachingthose most excluded,which were compoundedby the arts not being featuredin original strategiesfor social inclusion, proof that the arts were not perceivedas relevant.
Raising the profile of the arts amongSIP's seemedto be the centralconcern of the report, hencea 'cultural champion' was consideredvital to convince,instigate and enableart projects.Unfortunately, only those involved in the arts recognisedtheir social utility, which emphasisesa needto motivateparticipation in termsof creativity, and the needfor voluntary projects.
Another ambiguity centredaround local control of evaluationprocedures in the face of the need for baselinebenchmarks applicable for comparativepurposes. Self-management, was not consideredto be the aim of the projects, further evidencethat bottom-up community empowerment,a key aspectof tackling social exclusion,was either not possibleto implementor assumedunimportant. That over half of the SIP's had either never applied for SAC funding for the arts or had beenrefused was a damning indictment of their perceivedlack of social utility.
The CountMe In report for DCMS, evaluatedeight culture and six sport projectspromoted by PAT 10. It
showedhow the evaluationmethodology created by Comediaand especiallythe Matarassomodel, which
relied on the identification of social indicators,had not been successfullyimplemented. It reflected on the
115 conflict of interestsbetween local control and aDCMS agenda,but concededthat enfranchisingand
by including the participantsdemocratically through the evaluationsystem was problematic , and negated the inherentauthority of the expertevaluator. This conundrumreflects the political natureof evaluation, which can easily fall prey to evidencemanipulation, especially through a lack of objectivity. But if evaluationconcerns value, the evaluatormust instinctively 'know' and understandthe valuesof stakeholdersand their reasonfor participation.Therefore, any attemptto include must be on stakeholder terms and start with their interests.
The report challengedgovernmental definition of social exclusion,as symptomaticrather than causal, product rather than processorientated. Finally, it found no conclusiveevidence of long-term social benefit from sucharts programmes, and reckoned that projectsneeded to be embeddedin fun in order to enhance participantquality of life.
asshown in 4.10
116 Chapter 7. Evaluation CaseStudy
7.1 Introduction
This casestudy in this chapterillustrates evaluation in practice,and is basedon the personalexperience of the authorin his role asexternal evaluator for a drama-basedarts programme designed for prisoners.
Firstly, it describesthe context and illuminates the problemsas well asprocesses involved in determining a methodof working. Secondly,it usesnarrative to describethree visits to the project in operationincluding triangulatedopinion of thoseinvolved, which have beenmelded into a readablepassage. These are presentedusing a different 'hand-written' font for the sakeof clarity. In order to emphasiseauthenticity and better understandthe context, the resultantfield noteshave beenwritten in the first person.
71 Background Considerations
There were a rangeof backgroundconsiderations in termsof methodologyand context to considerwith regards to utilising evidence for this case study.
71.1 Methodological Position of the Researcher
The methodological position of the researcherwas examinedwith particular referenceto both evaluation report and researchthesis writing. The following conceptswere major influences.
Denzin andLincoln describedan interpretativecrisis in the social sciences.They distinguishedthe analysis of causalrelationships and variables,which dictatedquantitative methodology and assumeda value-free framework, from qualitative methodswhich emphasisedmeanings, processes and stressed,'the socially constructednature of reality, the intimate relationshipbetween researcher and what is studied, and the situationalconstraints that shapeinquiry' (Denzin and Lincoln 1994:4). This crisis was also reflected in I evaluationmethodology
Denzin (1994) describedhow therewas a legitimate role for storytelling within a framework of
seech 4 especially4.3 & 4.7
117 interpretation.Such a framework of, 'first-person accounts....are attemptingto producereader friendly, Smith multivoiced texts that speakto the worlds of lived experience'(Denzin 1994: 512). Similarly, Louise
(1994) in her work on biographicalmethod as a meansof conveyingqualitative material, arguedthat,
'every text that is createdis a self-statement,a bit of autobiography,a statementthat carriesan individual signature' (Sniith 1994:286), hencethe authenticityof the first person.
JeanClandinin and Mchael Connelly (1994) discusseda range of personalexperience methods one of which concernedutilising actual field notes.In their opinion, 'researchersare often more reluctant than necessaryto use field records.They worr y that field noteswill be insufficient to capturefield experience adequately....What we fail to acknowledgeclearly enoughis that all field texts are constructed representationsof experience'(Clandinin & Connelly 1994:422). They also reflected on the need for anonymity and to fictionalise passagesand peoplefor ethical reasons.
Beyond thesemethodological concerns was the needto comprehendthe techniqueof writing up into a case study framework.
712 The Case Study Method
Robert Stake (1978; 1994) championed the case study as a method of inquiry, and particularly as it, 'may be in epistemological harmony with the reader's experience. He went further to suggest that, 'those readers who are most learned and specialised in their disciplines are little different. Though they write and talk with special languages, their own understanding of human affairs are for the most part attained and amended through personal experience' (Stake 1978: 5).
But there was a danger with such a subjective methodological leaning. Ile researcher may be tempted to infer that the case has a wider application. He recognised that personal experience was, 'not a suitable basis for generalization' (1978: 6), but that it was the experience of the researcher that determined such generalisation. This system of felt understanding was based on individual perception and not scientific, but the reality through which knowledge was constructed.
Stake distinguished between three types of case study: intrinsic, instrumental and collective cases.
This case was chosen, partly because it is instrumental, and, 'provide[s] insight into an issue or refinement
118 of theory.Ile caseis of secondaryinterest; it plays a supportiverole, facilitating our understandingof somethingelse' and 'it is expectedto advanceour understandingof that other interest' (Stake 1994:237).
Much of this is due to the position of the researcher,in terms of being employedto take up a particular evaluationrole which was predeterminedto somedegree. But the casealso exhibits intrinsic propertiesas it revealsits own story.
Ultimately, Stakesuggested that, 'the purposeof the casestudy is not to representthe world, but to representthe case' (1994: 245), hencethe needto describethe following casein the manneroutlined above and as experiencedin the field.
723 The Context
It is not entirely by accidentthat the author applied for this evaluationjob, as it incorporatedboth his area of work (prison) and intendedfield of study (art and social exclusion).But this chancecase study also threw up problemsregarding ethics, especiallythose of consentand deception.
Prison is an institution shroudedin secrecyand confidentiality.There are no clear-cutrules as to what is open to public scrutiny or deemedagainst the public interest.7bese grey areasof public accountability hang over prison like a Victorian fog. Such a lack of clarity aptly symbolisedthe author's own position and thinking, as well as methodologicalinsecurity.
The ethical dilemmasconfronted by the field researcherwere tackledby Maurice Punch(1994). Whilst he recognisedthe utmost importanceof informed consent,in reality (especiallyregarding street-style ethnography)such consent was inappropriate.Within the confinesof prison, such issuesof consentand deceptionare extremelysensitive issues. Firstly, prisons are rumour factoriesand placeswhere half-truths and lies predominatewithin a culture of exaggerationand machismo.Secondly, with regard to especially observationaltechniques, these are loadedwith issuesof surveillanceand control. Thirdly, truth can be multifarious and distorted.
Punch the, 'moral "political" referredto pitfalls of participant observation.... that warn us of the essentially natureof all field research'(Punch 1994:83), but arguedthat the central issuewas for the researcherto,
6get out and do iC, and 'infiltrate' the relevantfield (the term infiltrate in itself has overtonesof deception).
119 He cited many examplesof researchersjuggling with the competingpractical problemsof fieldwork, their own conscience,and the lengthsit was permissibleto go to ascertainthe information sought.He also questionedthe honestyof the researchpurpose in termsof whetherconsent needed to be soughtand if covert researchmethods were justified.
In much fieldwork thereseems to be no way aroundthe predicamentthat informed consent
- divulging one's identity andresearch purpose to all and sundry- will kill many a project dead it is legitimate stone ....proponents of conflict methodology....would arguethat perfectly
to exposenefarious institutions by using a measureof deceit. (1994: 90)
Punchaccepted that somemeasure of deceptionwas inevitable.After all, 'who is to perform the moral calculusthat tells us what to researchand what to leave aloneT (1994: 92). But he rejectedconflict methodologyas an inappropriatemodel for the social sciences,because in the long term it spoiled the field for thosewho followed.
RichardMitchell also arguedthat researchpractice should not rule out secrecy,as doing so could limit possibilities.His assumptionwas that secrecyis a fundamentalquality of society and inherent in social relations,he eschewedthe conceptionthat, 'Secrecyand disclosureare represented as polarized phenomena,antonymous and mutually exclusive' (Mitchell 1993:3). He also referred to the, 'myth of cosmeticidentity' in which the researcherbelieves, 'that with skill it is possibleto passunnoticed among attentivestrangers' (1993: 43). In which caseresearchers needed to be awareof their affect on thosebeing researched,as they were not invisible, and that full disclosuremay not necessarilybe productive or the best courseof action.
Suchissues are magnified in the prison environment,which is an areaof moral ambivalence,with much mistrustof 'outsiders' and a closed-inindedinstitutionalisation endemic. Fact is blurred and pollinated by more fictional and mythical concerns,it is neither a suitable or safeenvironment for disclosure.Beyond theseenvironmental considerations there are issuesof information manipulation.In termsof confidentiality, Punchrelayed the strong feelings amongfieldworkers of non-identification and respectfor
120 the privacy of thoseindividuals involved in their research.He concludedwith the idealistic conceptthat soundethics fitted hand in hand with correctmethodology. But he concededthat, 'At the situationaland interactionallevel, then, it maybe unavoidablethat thereis a degreeof impressionmanagement, manipulation,concealment, economy with the truth, and evendeception' (1994: 95), thereforeit was importantthat the researcheradmitted to this processand was clear about intention.
The considerationof contextýincluding self-positioning,is an important pre-condition for both evaluator and researcher.
73 Evaluating the 'Connecting Lines' Programme
The authorwas to work for Insight Arts Trust (IAT) as externalevaluator for its 'Connecting Lines' programme.This aimed to help prisoners,'examine their own behaviourand choicepatterns, hold a
[and] develop social skills' positive self-image,make pro-socialcareer choices .... communicationand
(Insight Arts 1998a).It ran from autumn 1998to summer2001 and consistedof two projects;
'North/South' which was a structureddrama workshop and 'Sleepers'which was a more unstructured multi-arts project.
The programmewhich consistedof eight sessionsover four days,visited 10 prisonsin three years.The following information describesthe evaluatorybrief, rationalebehind the programme,preparatory research, considerationswhen creating a method,contradictions in position, on-siteobservations and constructionof the evaluationreports. The namesof thoseconcerned have beenfictionalised with identities withheld.
73.1 The Brief
We have appointedPaul Clements to undertakethe external evaluation....His brief covers initial
research,visiting projects as they run, conductinghis evaluationand assimilatingour own and providing
interim and final reports. (Insight Arts 1999c)
The authorwas interviewed twice in April 1999by IAT for the post, by the two Directors. The initial brief
121 was to evaluatethe ConnectingLines programmein termsof its successin addressingoffending behaviour.
It was agreedthat he would observethe workshopsand complementthe internal evaluationdone by the
ProgrammeDirector (PD). The OrganisationDirector (OD), wantedevidence to advocatethe worth of the programmeto primary funders,who had stipulatedthat the programmehad to be evaluatedexternally. He realisedthat there was a problembetween gathering evidence regarding the successof the project and advocatingit, but decidedagainst raising this as a dilemmaý.
He had two more meetings,one with the OD and anotherwith the PD. Theseboth concernedthe role and ren-ýtof the post. He was shown the internal evaluationprocedure, asked questions about the programme and organisation,and was given much written materialcontaining relevant information. It was his role to createa methodand compile evidenceand information to supportthe internal evaluationprocess, within a researchframework, which would be written up into reports.
732 Background to Insight Arts Trust and Programme Objectives
IAT began as an Organisation in north London in 1987, and was supported by the Inner London Probation 3 Service, who referred to its drama Since then it has introduced other art forms, clients workshops . namely. video, photography, sound, sculpture and creative writing. It has expanded to work with prisoners, but keeps within the remit of working with offenders or ex-offenders. By 2001, the Organisation had many sponsors and a small nucleus of staff (the two directors and an administrator) as well as a pool Of Ereelance tutors.
Its overriding programmeobjectives were to usethe arts as a vehicle for exploring personalchange. Issues of identity and the relationship of the individual to society could therebybe investigatedthrough the mediumof drama and role-play experimentation.Its promotional keywordswere: reflection, creativity, participationand change.The arts were perceivedas a possibleway to, 'break negativeattitudes and behaviourpatterns', raise confidenceand self-esteem.(Insight Arts Trust 1999b;2000).
In one meeting,the PD gave the rationale for a successfulproject. This was to channelenergy
2 as describedin 5.5.4 seeAppendix 2
122 constructively,combating the lethargy and negativity of prison, instil motivation and enable
Ultimately better communication. the objectivewas to encourageparticipants to understandtheir potential for change,or at least acknowledgethe possibility, and to seeprojects through to the end. When asked aboutconfidentiality andconsent, it was considered,'tactless to bring up theseissues when such concerns may frighten off participants', as it was essentialto get projects off the ground quickly. Talk about rehabilitation was consideredtoo 'heavy' in content(Insight Arts Trust 1999a).Hence there was a dilemma in termsof informed consentý.
733 Useof Art forms
Thetwo differentprojects that made up theConnecting Lines programme, although steeped in drama,were verydifferent:
'North/South'was totally drama based and prescriptive. The two tutorsinvolved used a curriculumand specificagenda, which was then adhered to rigidly. Therewere specific aims and objectives for theeight including 'development Exploration sessions, the, of spatial/physicalrelationships .... of themes- power, image [and] (InsightArts Trust 1998b). control, andempathy ... beginningsof conflictresolution' 'Sleepers'was founded on similardramatic method, but lessrigid andmore experimental, 'utilising more technicaland aesthetic accompaniment: photography, video and sound. Such artforms were used to re- focusattention on behaviourand the individual; watching an imageon video,a photographor hearinga voiceon mini disk.The five tutorswould work arounda looseragenda.. It was,'A dramaled multi-arts residencyculminating in a shortperformance/installation on day 4.... The workshop structure has been intentionallycreated to allow for goodworking practice, cohesive group dynamic, empowering the individual,a successfuldirectorial approach and a highquality final product'(Insight Arts Trust 1999c).
Bothprojects were thematic and could involve a performancein frontof anaudience, depending on the wishesof theparticipants.
Themanner in whichthe organisation utibsed and applied multi-arts in theprogramme was also set out.
theseethical concernsare discussedin 5.62 & 5.6.4
123 Thesehad to be treatedfirst and foremostaesthetically, with any instrumentalitynaturally resulting from proper use.Quality within the canonwas of primary importanceand deemedto enableutility. Ilis rationale is briefly explained with regards to those art forms utilised:
Drama allows a senseof connectednesswith others.Individual behaviourbecomes subject to the scrutiny
and criticism of the group.The fictional plane easilybecomes biographical with an exploration of real
issuesand emotions,thus allowing individuals to respondwithout a pre-determinedcurriculum. This
enableseach participant a freedomto decideindividual response(and later a discussionof this response),
and strategiesof how to cope with issuesof freedomof choice and responsibility.Drama facilitates a
simulatedoverview of many of the real problemsand issuesthat the participanthas to face, and how they
accommodatethese.
Video material is a languagewith which especiallyyoung peopleare familiar. Due to its accessibility and
recognisablenature, it is easyfor participantsto identify with it. Ibis allows both an understandingof
being a cameramanor being viewed, actor or voyeur, insider or outsider,therefore it makestransparent
the dual role of watching and being watched,indicative of the prison and wider society. It also shows
how imagecan be manipulated.
Photographyprovokes discussion around image, environment and privacy. Also around
themesof the past, family, relationshipsand personalexperiences. Techniques of working need to be
masteredin order to achievebetter results, so the underlying requirementfor discipline and learnt craft
can be better linked to creativity.
Music and soundencourages listening to othersin a group situation. It naturally promotesan
understandingof group dynamics,communication, and other people.Sound is a medium that enablesthe
user to explore other ways of looking at the past and how recordedlanguage encapsulates these emotions
and experiences. (Insight Arts Trust 1999a).
But within this multi-arts format, dramawas the linchpin and foundationfor workshop activity, the dominantart form.
124 73A Applied Theatre - Cognitive Behavioural Change
The 'ConnectingLines' programmeis part of a dramaturgicaltradition, one of utilising theatrein prison to addressbehavioural concerns.
JamesThompson (1999) documentedthe techniquesof using dramato manageanger and offending behaviour.He showedthat suchmethods were designedto enableparticipants to engagein the decision- making process.This was doneby utilising dramagames which emphasisedrole play, modelling and perspectivetaking. Sucha problem-posingand -solving theatreencouraged cognitive dexterity. The underlying philosophy was that change(as in behaviour)required a creative approach,and thereforeneeded to be treatedin a fashion that encouragedexperimentation and necessitateda safeenvironment. He consequentlyasserted that, 'Cognitive behaviouralanalysis of human action is one in which events, thoughtsand then subsequentactions are shown to be interrelatedand mutually reliant. To put it simply, a situationthat leadsto a thought, which is processedinto a decision,which is then put into action'
(Thompson1999: 17). Behavioural.change therefore requires a performancethat is rehearsedor repeated, hencedrama is the natural medium and tool of operation.In theory, this is a natural processof self- reflection with the roles played enablingpractice at tackling rigid thinking and behaviour.Such a natural and therapeuticprocess, 'should explicitly encouragea spontaneityin thinking rather than an unthinking acceptanceof what is "right"' (1999: 34).
Chris Johnston(1998) ex-directorand founder of IAT describedthe play orientation of the exercisesthat constitutedmuch of the dramaworkshop. There was an immediacyto the practiceand an accessibility lacking in other artforms.He reckonedthat it, 'had a special aptnessfor groupswho are excludedor choose to excludethemselves from mainstreamculture' (Johnston1998: 3), and stressedthe need for voluntary participation,which enabledthe participant to explore the medium with real inquiry. In contrastto the barrier createdby compulsion.He proposedthat the potential of community dramalay in four overlapping areas.These were: recreation,solidarity, the study of conflict and celebration(1998: 5-11). Play and the needto bond with others,the primary motives for participation, combineda personalsearch for identity with more collective and cultural considerations.Such was the approachpromoted by IAT. Issuesof addressingbehaviour, therefore, had to be understoodwithin this wider play-orientatedframework of
125 motivation, a processfounded in individual inquisitivenessand enjoyment.Similarly, he expressedthat
'workshopsin my view are more effective by criteria of self-empowermentif they place the participantsin the role of content-makers'(1998: 17), hencethe needfor somedegree of participant control. Ultimately,
Johnston 'theatreis [and it] is concededthat, a subversivemedium .... that when conceivedand organized to reaffirm political or cultural orthodoxysits ill-at-easewith itself' (1998: 2 1).'In which casethere is a conflict of interestinherent when using dramafor behaviouralpurposes, especially when thesereflect a political agenda,and social accommodation.
Both Thompsonand Johnston acknowledged the major influenceof two Brazilians, the educationaltheories
PaoloFreireýand AugustoBoal6 For to be of the theatricalpractice of . them,participants needed empoweredto changenot only themselvesbut also, 'the community or society in which they reside'
(lbompson 1999:37), in order to sustainpersonal change. But this createsa real problem within a prison environment,as participantshave to return to prison society after the workshop,an inflexible and authoritarianregime, which they are not able or supposedto change.So already,there is a contradiction with applying this method.
7.4 Practical Operation
A practical techniqueof working neededto be consideredprior to observationalvisits and report writing.
7A. 1 A Method of Evaluation
The first considerationfor the evaluationwork was to constructan evaluatorymethod.
Pattonshowed that an advocacy/adversarymodel of evaluationinvolved many ethical issuesin terms of manipulatingboth quantitative,but especiallyqualitative data:
It is difficult be inductive holistic [hence] to and when you are trying to prove a predeterminedpoint ...
a comprehensivequalitative methodsstrategy is largely incompatiblewith the adversarymodel. The
discussedin 9.5.7 & 112.4 6 seecase study 9.5
126 qualitative evaluatorseeks phenomenological understanding; the adversaryevaluator seeks evidence to
supporta predeterminedpoint of view. (Pattonl980: 53)
Therefore,traditional qualitativemethods of observation,interview and written feedbackneeded to be treatedwith caution, the evaluationbrief was not one of objective evidential analysis,as therewas a predeterminedposition to supportin termsof addressingoffending behaviour. 7 Patton took in his 'utilization-focused' He the a pragmatic approach evaluation . concentrated on process, as well as the individual character and setting of each programme. He recognised that, 'the practice of evaluation research requires more flexibility than is likely to be provided by any single model' (1980: 58), and that a strategy was required to accommodate this. Such qualitative data could be used to isolate important factors in the programme but could not be standardised. He argued that the concerns of how decision makers will utilise evaluative information should be a driving force. His reasoning related to fulfllfing a practical mandate, whilst, ' attempting to construct a general framework that goes beyond the gab-bag approach of technique mongering that leaves one with a limited bag of tricks, but no real foundation on which to build new approaches to deal with new situations and unanticipated problems'
(Patton 1982: 18).
On the one hand he advocatedthe rigour of social sciencetechnique for collecting and analysingqualitative data,but was not happy for methodand theory to override any practical imperativeencountered in the real evaluativesituation. He welcomedtheoretical models, but also warnedagainst strict adherence,as it was the utilisation and processof the evaluationthat was of primary concern.
Stake(1995) took this processa step further in his 'Responsive'evaluation. It was the job of the evaluator to vigorously interpret the content and data collected, from a particular not generalpoint of view. He likened evaluationresearch to casework:
All evaluationstudies are casestudies. The program,person, or agencybeing evaluatedis the case.The
7 see4.3 2&4.5
127 is, least in for When fully in the of study at par4 a search merit and shortcomingsof that case.... role
programevaluator, the casestudy researcherchooses specific criteria or a set of interpretationsby which
the program's strengthsand weaknesses,successes and failures will becomeapparent.
(Stake 1995: 95-6)
Such a localisedconcept implied a subjectivity and understandingthat allowed entry into the specificity of the case,from an en-& perspective.Whereas the quantitativeevaluator assessed effectiveness using objective measurementfrom an etic perspective,the qualitative evaluator, 'empbasisesthe quality of activities andprocesses, portraying them in a narrativedescription and interpretativeassertion. With all strategies,there is the essentialityof contexts,multiple points of view, and triangulation' (1995: 96). It requiredan emphaticinsider understandingin order to selectthe important issuesand criteria upon which 8. to basethe inquiry
The evaluativeposition decidedby the author,was also much influencedby Denzin and Lincoln (who were indebtedto the anthropologistClaude Levi-Straus),and their conceptof the qualitative researcheras bricoleur: 'The choice of which tools to use,which researchpractices to employ, is not set in advance.7be
"choice of researchpractices depends upon ...... what is availablein the context, and what the researcher can do in that setting' (1994: 2). This included interactionwith participantsand triangulation of opinion from all involved in the prograrnme,combined with observationaland verbatim participant evidenceto be usedin the written reports.The authorwas also influencedby Matarasso'spragmatism and the NEF useof 9 IAT Quantitative be by social auditing , as wanted statistical evidence utilised. evidence would provided collating qualitative information gathered from the feedback sheets into statistical form. Moreover, the reports would contain additional advocatorial research regarding the need for and dearth of such projects within the prison context.
such a constructivist methodology is set out in 4.7.1 9 set out in ch 5
128 7AI Contradictions in Position
The position as externalevaluator was contradictory.71be OD wanted an externalresearch-led evaluation to complementthe internal evaluatorymethod already in place.He wantedhard evidenceto prove that such art programmesaddressed offending behaviour,as funding dependedon it.
The authorknew that this would be difficult to collect or prove, as the number of variablesinvolved were phenomenaland becausethere was a huge debateabout the effectivenessof rehabilitation programmes 10. anyway He was unhappywith this position, but unfortunately,that was the remit which was madevery clear in the interviews.
T'he 'ConnectingLines' programmehad not worked with a consistentgroup for more than one project, which merely lastedfour days,and had yet to establishitself in a prison, hencethe needfor advocacy.
Thereforeit was unrealistic to even try to prove that sucha short-termcourse could meaningfully affect offending behaviour.
7A3 Preparation for On-Site Observation
The observationas agreedwith IAT, required a day-longprison visit of the project in operation.In order to maximisethese opportunities, it was agreedthat this would be basedon non-participantobservation, which would include informal interviews with anybodyinvolved.
In order to createmore specific evidenceand link the programmewith addressingoffending behaviour, the authordecided that a 'before-and-after'technique needed to be incorporatedinto the project. Michael
Balfour and Lindsey Poole (1998) arguedthat the absenceof evaluatoryevidence undermined many drama projectsundertaken in the prison and probation environment.They agreedthat it would be unwise and unrealisticto constructan ultimate evaluationprocess, but that changesin attitudewere seenas a key indicator.71bey advocated a quantitative approachwhich consisted,'of using two questionnairesdesigned to measureattitudes and administeredon a pre- and post-testbasis' (Balfour & Poole 1998:224).
Tbereforethe PD was askedif a before-and-afterquestionnaire or gamecould be incorporatedinto the
10 seethe casestudy in ch 11 especially11.42; 11.43 & 11.4.4
129 programmein order to gatherevidence as to any changesin attitude amongthe group. This could be a dramaticform of evaluation,using trigger situationsto seewhat effect thesehad on the participants.For instance,a simulatedrole play aroundthe themeof violence and how this alteredfrom the first day to the last. The participantscould then be askedto quantify their responsefrom I to 10 in termsof their angerto the trigger situation,thereby allowing changesin behaviourand attitude to be explored, and the results quantified.Unfortunately the PD decidedthat such a test was inappropriate,and was not in sympathywith her way of working, it was, 'too clumsy and awkward' (Insight Arts Trust 1999a).So the idea was abandoned.
In order to aid the processof triangulatingevidence and opinion, the PD was askedto introduce a diary notebookfor interestedparties to fill in daily, in order to elicit specific descriptivedetail and opinion.
Hopefully this would enablethe 'value' and effect of the workshopto becomemore apparentover time. It was designed(and re-designed)to ask the samequestions daily and give spacefor the diarist to expresshim or herself.The questionswere there to help direct thought,but also to allow diarists to articulate their own, and ascertainopinion (both individual and collective). The PD agreedto utilise the diary along with the internal evaluationprocess which included written feedbackforms from participantsand tutors..Also, the authorhad accessto workshop proposalsand plans from previousprojects.
The prisoner feedbacksheet was re-draftedand re-wordedby the authorin consultationwith the PD. This
askedparticipants to mark between 1 and 5, their responsesto certainquestions about the workshops.
Originally therewere six questionsand the obligatory 'any other comments'at the end. Thesewere:
'Approach,Content, Benefit, Delivery, Time Allotted and Feel Good Factor'. Two areasthat neededto be
addedconcerned how challengingthe workshophad been and if the participantwas involved with
educationalactivities. Eventually the 'How Challenging' questionwas added,but not until the end of the
programme.Redesigning the tutor assessmentsheet was also discussed.That containeda session-by-
sessionmonitoring. Questionsasked included: 'Summary of the Session,What Worked Well, What Didn't
Work Well, Any Particular Points,Problems and Other Comments'.The redesignedform never
materialised.
It was agreedthat the author would have accessto all feedbackforms from every project, which included
130 all opinion in order to triangulateas widely aspossible.
7AA Observation: Evaluation in Practice
For the first observationat the Wolds prison, the author intendedto utilise sometraditional observation techniques.There were good reasonsfor being a non-participantobserver as againsta participant observer.
Firstly, becausehe was coming into the multi-arts project on the third day of four, in order to seethe processin operation.He had only met the PD, and obviously did not know die prisonersinvolved and would thereforebe a strangerunder suspicion.Secondly, he neededto seethe project for what it was and how the tutors combineddrama, games, video, photographyand sound.Also, distancewas neededto ascertainhow they interacted,among themselves and with the participants.Thirdly, this had been agreed with both the OD and PD.
He realisedthat this way of working would be difficult as dramawas a very inclusive medium. Balfour and
Poole describedthis processand how boundarieseasily become blurred, giving a real workshop example:
The 'observer' who had originally beenbriefed to maintain an 'objective' distancefrom the drama
work, found that the participative way the work was structuredmade it impossiblenot to become
part of the drama.Before the end of the first day our impartial observerwas playing the role of the
girlfriend in the drama. (1998: 225)
Becausethe authorhad decidedto concentratehis observationon the involvementof the group in the
project,he had startedto design a systemthat quantified individual prisonerparticipation in the project.
This wasbased on interaction-processanalysis and particularly the Bales/Flanderssystem (cited in Bell
1999: 160-1).In order to keep it simple, he preparedto classify involvementby the group into six
categoriesto investigateinvolvement, which would be modified. Thesewere; proposing,supporting,
disagreeing,giving information, seekinginformation andbuilding. Ibis systemwas utilised for classifying
behaviourin meetings,but seemedan ideal initial evaluativetemplate. Broad categorieswere neededto
portray the extent to which eachperson participated in and respondedto the project, which could be
131 finessedlater as the project unfolded.This would therebyallow him to gaugeprisoner responses in termsof verbal and non-verbalcommunication.
The authorwas particularly interestedin how tutors incorporatedthe excludedcharacters in the group and how they interactedwith eachother and participants,as well ashow the participantsinteracted with each other.Therefore he decidedto concentrateon informal conversationalinterviews during breaks,to discover opinion.
The position of observerwas compoundedby the foucauldiannotion that surveillancehad beenused historically to, 'induce effects of power' (Foucault 1977: 171) and as a meansof coercion". There were also issuessurrounding the voluntary natureof programmes.The emic knowledgeof the authorgained through many yearsof working in prison and informal discussionwith inmates,had madehim sceptical aboutcoercion. For instance,the EnhancedThinking Skills (ETS) and Anger Management(AM) programmeswere nominally voluntary, but therewas huge pressureon prisonersto participate as such programmeswere written into prisonersentence plans and non-completioncould affect parole.Therefore it was pleasingthat this project was foundedon voluntary participation,but this did not ensurethat it would be promotedby the prison in a similar fashion.
There were other observationsto consider,such as: the suitability of venue and facilities, the co-operation
and attitude of all partiesinvolved, the make up of tutor and participantgroups, the drop-out rate, and
whetherthe workshopswere engagingand challenging.
7.5 The Written Notes
71befollowing notes are an amalgamof two separateprocesses at work; the author's observationsand
thoughts,as well as the opinions of thoseinvolved. Thesewere written up separatelyat the end of each
workshopsession, and re-edited.
" as describedin the Outsider Art casestudy see8.5.1
132 7.6 'Steepew'at 3L" Woth, Mun&uide (Od 1999)
four i cirrtvo the Kloht before the f4st observat[O-, buttkel>rfhýLeol to KottfU the other tvtors, so wkev. i
K4tttkevKtv. tkeouestkovsetkateveK, tv,.cj, tkeo 1PwewwothLK-3 OtboktK4U vLsk. ThePD aolmýttedtkatske had bemworrW abovtteMvýo the tktors. ALso, tttraKzptredthat shehao( v6ottoW the pot vtEoLpawts aboRt mU vLsk 6ther. T`hýs was vot a 00001OmeK,.
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1ý-ooth: L: SoLAKols av6dspeech pLaUed wLth cmd sLowed olowv. kstKO the AettaL teohwoLoou. iýootý2: sLWes of Lmnoestakev. projeoted cmol olLsoussed.
ýrmeol iý,ootk3: vLoleo footaoe ptaUeo( ayoimol wLth av,.d Weas kp.
Ewterest Wý UAf6ymaLLU to Afferem ts, The eyokp showed a Lot of the sesstow, AKol ( taLked pavtýapav%. some
morewUUv6g to Lv-teroicttkavý, otkers.
JVý,týe LL4KOkbreCft I Wa.SAbLe to tOILIP.to botk the projeot oo-oroltKator av6o( the cUreotorof SkKtmttAyts, avý
to ruw clvtseveKts avol worlp-sýops. I CILSO tauzed to tk tutovs,Who Were kappd
wttk tke progress"ole tK,tke sesstmav-ol overaLL
7.62 YA - efiapet.
sessWt-startedwLtk a Oroup taLle 4,6wKok tke m asizedtke partldpaKu wkere theo wavaeot to Oowýtk
tke "terEaL 4,%, terms of a perfonuAvze-ske wavtedtke 3rokp to atrect the prooeeAýOs tkevvzeLvesto
some oleoree,aLtkouoý tkLs wovW "Ize herjob more AffvkLt. Issuts of demooraoU avýd owv,.ersktp were
olLsou.s.sed. one of tke i3roup wao-teo(a tkme, somttKKq covzrete to woviz towards, an-otker saW k
wanteol a beqEnvUKg,a KtWo[LeaKol av6e&%o(. Tlie Areotor re-tteratedtke tkeme of expLortvo tke tAvdzwowo,
cm,ol tLme, ctmoltk Oki" hdorsuE)Oesteol Wre olkotLom,. It w0m CloreedWtt foy tk ctfceywoov6sessLovu,
134 LV%,L [, two @rOL4. PS WoLkLdWOOZ VRt KA. ? OU. S. 7-htd wouwthen notoutsoenest and3, whEpahwokLa olescAbe thestorU (beforeand then a-ýertketvevt) ltavýngthe other ermtp to OL4essscene2 tnthe wjAdLe.
These mtvUptaoswere repeated and bRUtkpon and astked wereperfprmeol, bgr, "rokv%, dsoL4vý, ds
Lntrooluoeolanol sLWesprojerteol over the Uveperformav%zes,trUtn, 3 to brtwo 44,other a rtfom4s. It reaLLU toolz Off, wLtk tnVoLvemevvt-ýOVK OILL. i-Vere wasmkoh personaL Asclost4re, bRt UttLC oontroL of the olkotiwv6 from the paytýapants.
MwAng down, the Areotor&LqgestedtkepOS. StbMtU Of a ? eYf0YMaM.CC On the Last dad, WktCk Was One
Of the RLMSof the projeot. 1"herewas CiK&ýKea response from potftLolpants. c>vesot W he olEdntwawt to be
LaRokeolcit.so theolkotor sLtooesteol ctk-. LvwLteolcuoltemoe of frtenols, thLs oot an evenWorse response.
T'het&SL4. e WaS 00tV,,3 to be MSOLVedthe K4Xt dad.
MU posLttovýas evalttatoyWasqkesttOneOl AYUýtLU bU two Of the partýPtpaKtS Cit dtffCreKttLKLe4 OIL'aýno
the pyocdeoltvý'Os.I-ked wereSLksptotov-s. I re. SOLVeO( th6r AKA1,e6*. S, bo teMno theM of KALUeApertemCe of
tKVoLvemtvt 616the woylz4n,o 4,%, prLsm. and aYt. S. Ond Wanted to lZnOWWhat I thOL, (Oht Ofýt aLL. I tOW htyv.
that I tkOL4t3ht tt 01Verd ? O.SLttVe and CtMbttýov-sprojeot. I'te aereeol and speakýKoforthe orotq saW how
Lt dtffiC, L4Lt Was to eet E-VOLVed tn the projeft. 76 quote: that-s the PrObtem,we LeadSkchstrAcbAred Uves
hLt tn pytSOnand Lt'S Olýffituk for ttsto Ulu olerEsEonsand oholzes'. I thokekt rentavie a stroK4J
reoommenolatLový of the pro@ramme.
The ormq was etkntwUo mLxeo(andtke onLd drCIP-OLAtrate Wasfor thosekaVL" Le'pLVLS'Lts to attend.
Another endorsement of theprooramme. T-he venLtes were adec[Rate anot fttted In WLth the prLson re,3ýnte
(a servýoetv6 the ohapeLtv%, the morntno anolprtsomervLstts tv.the a-fternoom).
T'hepyýsov%, ers and tktors fMeol oLttthetr fetolbar-k-, sheets at theev% d, and OptntO&A, Wasthat the WorlZShop
haol been a sLtooess.
135 7.6.3 9tiaaqu&Uoa of Opbaon
StatLstEp'Sfivnt feedbaclesheets:
0 ompLetedforvvz
Approac,k totlQM 31
Cw,tmt of wovieskops
'Eltmfit (to PrEsomrs)
Dwweru 26 (74fo)
AVKDLjv-t of eLmeA Uotted ir,
Fed 0000(factor
overaLLAwaLUSLS: more t"t Ktedeo(.
veod WeLLclppyoctc, ýeol, devised ct Vol derwered.
Veyu bewefýdALto PYLSOVkeys.
verd0 ooo( feedbotole from. pyLsovwers.
oo,eprLsov-erredes tomed týefeedbctolzfom LVZLUAýo a 'fvUskeo(proauct,cate0oru.
cow mevý,ts from pyisowers:
secav-setkecourse was so abstract ttwovW kavekeLped twKaLLU 'tfweo( beev%, toW kow t4ostruatAred Et
wokLolappear'
,Tlie exerolses were exreLttvkt ct" weLLo(eUvered a" executedbRt tke oroctv%,ý,, s skoku kaverectUsed
earLUfrom themtkat therewerepeopltwko wuLd oreate, extemporise awd that everoomwuW reaaLL [ý) .S M[ft0aWt Oh U V61? 4 Of teKV -Me ev-olperforv"Kte Lsv,.t what Ws aLLabout, tts thewkote prooess'
'I wouLdbe wULLv60 to talze part tv. awUfidure projeftsavA wouLdwdoome barlz the team'
feeL 'I OUKA We had CKOROk CKPLtt reearOILKO the f^ýhed PrOdLlft'
136 be kowest,i fat ,i tkuuý moretýmt ookLolhave beew talzew to expWý the tktMe of timt awd spacr. -To the therapU?l as Lfsomeowewas pLabýw@wItk mo head.if tKs was tkerapo arts whereWAS feeLthat the ctýmof the projeatwas IT-kepostertkata olvertLseol tkeprojeotwasvero mEsLeaAw-cj....I clowlt
oleUveyedat the be0tvwt1wol
ITIlereWas Kat ewouOk twt to havehc[Kols ow expeviewoe wLtk the VisuaL awd auato ecjuLpmewt civaUabLe,
'if thepurpose was rekabUkatLov..I oloot -fieL irekabUftated'
but dWv%,t talze e"uok 4mtoher oomfEdewoe.i-ter emoovraoeMewt olketor cisoygomlser ... she us
was terrifit, but soymetLwzsa Kt 'Luwtel f6r us loowsll
,I AolwtfeeLwe had evwkoktv-put re0ardLmO the f4, ý, Lskeol yoo(Rot. c; ot boredawd Astraoted towards
the endbut to behowest I thWe that wasdue to mU stateof m4m-dwot thejob oloWe bU 1"ýOkt arts'
1weLL'What thefude kap?emswow? wUL the mateviaLrecorded aw-ol ftm-s be?a rt of awotker
Ad tt projeot?..... what aakttval Laaletwe tw 'Fourdads ts wota Lowetýmt for peopLeolotwo a Lowet4, m ....i thovohtthere was sontetktwo
C'00-teV4,
'souo.ol awd VOeo asthe8 o[Wvt oompLemewtthe fi, "LpmsewtatLom"
the teamfrom ("Lokt arts werevero professio"Lawol sUolz tv. thetr emouttowof the? rojeot. Akkouoh I
Wwlý,.that theu serLo"Lukvdey esttmated the taLents of someof the tw"tes here,awol set th6r OoaLs
to [01Low'
LmportaV4 Irke bemefkthat coursesLke thesehave ow 4Amates are tworeoQLU .... FtrmLUbeLteve that f
bot,efited from taktwg pa rt'
fiwtsheol UIP-C tKYOZthere ýs Lot for ,i woisv-tsure what the prodkotwas.... I WOUW to add that I a of soope Orov.ps Ulu fmsýOktArtsto oomelwto? rLsows awol ketp PrLSOK&S to &XpreSr. tkCVVZeLVeS Awdketp WLtk
th6r creatMto'
hardfor four feLt have tked 'ALLthe t[elam worized theevý, tk clabs.... I theteam awewereU about what bewuse beoav-se Ws Kehest berausei tktKk doand theUwaot to, "t tkeUhave to .... i Onve the praLse thts LsI vwsýoht Arts styowoestasset,
11thWz lvsLektArts are'veyU brave, aslz4ý. Ofor oomw-ewts'
137 71leDlarýst-
Theclýayjstskowm how overtke four oladr.,KS tv-terestCIV601 C(L, (eLttoV%, tKOOf the projer-t Oot the betterof
KssoeptLotsmamo(reLRctaKze. 1ý-U olaU 4 hewas 'reciLLU Oetttmo the hav-0of W. OveraL4it, lwascxcdLent cisýt broueht out a part of me I was v-ot eveK, aware of. Fte aLso referyM to, a UttLe btt of amAýetd uwdcr
the 'Lot them lperformanct fevee, whEth Es verU certatvl, members of OroL4pl wtth a, of .... OettýýO KormaL
dabLel. an. ol uKoleystpv%. Fte a Lso oommeVýted thOlt, 'It WaS[WtereStEVU3. to SeeOf Out Of KOthEK13 SOmethtoo had beeA,oreated'. Ife was a Kt oov-oerwedthAt tkC GleOLSIOP%,about hAVLv-O Av. AuoltCKct der. or v-0 was akaýo bdý t0llzen for v-s'as thouOh ýt was a foreE)OV6COOVdV4[OV6 that a ?eVfOrMAVkCe WOULOI hCIPPeK,.
TutorvtewpoLKts:
Ov.ehAtorstOlteol tkcit therewols Ct, qi4olqan-ý effeottvetwteorktm with the potfttctpClwtOrOkp', but tholt therewere, 'I>robLems wttk parttotpants, arvivLwo cima LeavEvoEv. thew. Wofteof sesslovwci KA wýtk,
'aomK&L,cvtlc, OttLovk, ct-ol ohav-oesLv6 LocRttom. avA KXVLKCj Offumlture'whtoh tMerrupteolav6ol KKoleyea praotLoe-AwwtherfeLt, 'Stretrkeol tnterms of leeep4,L-O tkepyqjectmMvý. 0 wklpk reclutreolmuoý emrod'.
AK. oth eraa mttteol th at, llzeeptmo everd oKt EmvoLveaEs a tfflokLt, Assome clomt reaLLU wAKt to beLKvoLveo( cis mvoh cis others avA Oet easUU Astracted,
Two tutors were civ6@vbcivA As"UeOl Atthe prestKu of the evciLuatoywKCh oKt c(eSCYtbCOlCIS, 'Clffect460 the ol&Andc, of the Ormp ýK, a Keeadve mav-vter`. ALLtktors were happo that the project was sem tkyouOh to ooK&pLtttovt, and the quaUtU of the fiýmciLperforv"Yý-a wk1ok wovlq-eo(weLL.
other upWwv%.:
'I WOUW kAVetkCK& [I K,.S[ýOýt Aft] barW
'i tWvLý the KxretWv-ostkattk1,t areto G(ohere, the Lesstro, (bLetkeU E)tve us, (l>rism'cfj!zer)
7.6.4 Ove-tallimpmolom
0 illerewolsKok evý,eroj avA:Looýo eff0ftAVW(OOMK4tWKtfrOKt thePD- CIVUi hdOrS, WkDWtre ý[-OKU skýUo( aKA a bLt tm tke ev-vtroKwmt.
138 W T>Tý,Let 00 of oov-troL,enabUV60 the orolq to eKpLoreand talp-ederLstons tvýterwus of orovp oltreattow.
TKs olemooracjWas VLtAL tntermS of aLLOWtv,,3 pot yttctpants to totIze je. SpOv.. SLbLUtu. She CAeverLure-
Ev-troc(L,coed striAotL4re wkev6 Lt was MeoledbRt CdOWCO(eKpLorAttový of the v-eW.MaUbe tKS proceSS"COled to 0o farther, CISthe i3roupWere YeWtývdU weLL behaved cmol respovJed weLL.
UU)Thepyi. SovýWRSVerU aetovv. K-WAýýO. The Art-S oo-oroltwatoravw( oltrectorfarUitateol the wuts avýol boLtsofmov[Kcj priwmrs av-d dwesokeo(v-Leseto. ALtkoLt0h the ormp ohav-oeol as mm were takem off to vmtts,tKs ooktolhave beevý a Lot worse.
M TIle O(Wer-SttUOf ArtforM aLLOWtOlMost of thepaytEdpamts to betvvvoLved tvý the projeot, bedom-ol bkddlvý,o performers.
V) Tke'CfftmdýýE)bekaVtoke remttwas vtottke0oKtrOLUK,0 or oev%,traLfeature of tkepyooyamme,tt wolsvvtfor0ed owto the partleLpatoys,tt Wassteeped LV. a MoreClestketb, A0eV%, 0la. T'h e ?a rttttpa At.S Ok Otre to oltsotoseKOO rapKoa L tv-forKQttov, was tkeýr olecLsýomTKS was a KAW.MLprooess aKol Svoh roLe pLao tv, the VKLVIIpLaus oame Old of emkkwsýasmCIV1,01 tý%VoLvevKeKt. eýutwketkerst4ok av. evwtyovýmemtwas a scife pLa0eto OIL)tKs, pRvttr-RLaytdas thoseLvvVoLveoi wot4U have to retkrK,to the WEV.0, was aro"Ue.
VO T-heprojeot au. 0we0l Weas from the pavtLotpawts (who were oreAted Wtth LvvteLU0ev60e to orasp to(eas
civ,vl co-stmotstovies) to befoLLoweOlthrotx0h. ItWaSa VOL14MRrd VercLse WLth 0ov-sMtLv-0 paYtEoLpatýo&, 6. T'kerewas mo oompuLstm, some of thepartýotpavvts were Wre vocaL tkav. Others, bLtt two members Of the
tfmLu for ormpwere veru peyýpkeraL- I VýOttcaeol thatthe hdoys lp-epttheM tv-VoLved,tv-dkolývq theKk a
r1hat-101praCItt0e thetMteYaOttVe KatUre Of the projeOt farMtated COK4. VKLV6tCadDK, aKdSdfle. Steem.
VU) Tk KkalZeRpOf the tLctoyteavK was Averse,both tv%, tems of,3evJer, etWay, peyso"UtUav'-d
S16". -reavv,roLes were WeLL 00-OrAv"Ateol ano( oiefmeo(.
VCWTýle Vevt, "es L4sed were cir-r-eptAbLe av60(fuV-0týOVLAL forthemeeds of the worluýop.
t, TIlere LaCk ýOatLOK, f(OKA K) Was 01 Of CDMKA L,(Vk, the pl> to the 0YOUPreoarAýo K&UObSerVattOm aVLD( (frOM
the WrýtttM tlCtOYOOMKOLMtS) a LaOkl,Of LmG(eystnno(4m-0abm4tthe posLttoK,.T4tors were"t happowtth
b6Aýobseyveol. TýiLsskoutJ hCtVe beev, OUScUSSCOI wLththe PD, Or0D pviorto V40 arrWaL.
,K) The projeft Was VeyUantbttEo" CIV,.01tefý too KkaV.U patttrEpaMS aSjqtK,0 for. yKoyeStrtketUre LMtketr
feedbadz-Theo WereWot totaLLU skre as to theratlo-aLe bektvýd the worýzskops.
139 tts b ftLt AO Ivý rook"re,IAT- -s", 30 estea that th eprOO rcl MMI CORLdPOOOmMOdate Vpto 40 pri-So"ers,I th Olt tvwoLvea EmLuded: tKS Was uvweaUstEp- T-he, 3roup L2 -15, ovýLU a thtra Ofthe KQKtKtL4M. T'k
ParttCiLpawt.S (KWvtU of whom wereLovq)-seNtng p&OKers) WereVerU meead to, teyvvsOf Evko(LVWL4aL attevutýov,7-he smaUer the @roupthe easterthe proorcm&Me.
KU)The wrýttevi,feed back from two otherprojeOtS AkAad oompteteol,oovvfLý med that the partEtEpa Výts ., wav.teo( certtfLoates ShOWEV-0 thew tv.VoLvevvmt. I c(Wvot persovaUdtKv%, k tKs was a oood tolea,b"t was perst4adedbU the ar@t4memt.
7.7 'NotdlSoudat YodtandVOJr, Dowd (Od 20CO)
I drove olowK, to Pori: Lavol earLU that morvavýo for the Last dad of tkeworleskop, aKol was Oreeted boa
Wvk,lAWvvtaL DLol fasKoKtol borstaL. I met the two tktors, a malt anda femaLe(One I knew from the prevtotAsObservattm, ) bLktWe had tervibLeprobLems Oet6KO Evao the yotAtk offevýolers lmstitkte. We were Late 40 K4ýktes starttme. ApparevaLo tke. Same probLemkad oaLiYre0(CVeqjdaU.It was a VeYU umc,ooperattve ree"t. '8-oththe elover"r of Aottvlttes aKd Edt4cattov%,ao-ordtKator kadfaUed to Ott tmvoLveol,both had talp-emLeave. kAlke at i-fMP WoUs, therewas Ko cD-ord4%ator. we weretakzei'L. to av. tvAkstyýALcleaolvzj worleshopwhtoh was far from avýWeaL Loocittov.. it had bad aookstýoswhev. there was raýý ov,the týý roof. TKS tt olWa Lotof the ttme av"ololvru, %-O the PerfOrMavLee. tktOrS The tDL0lMe that tkeo had abAKAOMeolthetrstmaLkred noewola,as v-oKeof the dovoo prisoners bem had tKformed aboL(ttkeUAtevvttm, of the prooramme to addressoffow(tvig behaVLotAr.Theo had beeA
Lf asized theo waKteo(to parttatpatetv. a drAVKRWorlZShop, So the tutoYSfeLt [t WasLiKethtwL to Oobedomol tKs hastUd fOLkr ren4t and re-ooKstruotedthe daU WOHRZSýOpto be K&Dre fUYL. OrievLtated And refLertWhat theu had for. voLumeered Thts &xampltof ewforCtdCMPYM. SatIM, Showedthe abULtUof the tktoyS to Empressed ohangethetrmethool.I was aLso th Ottthe Lsskeof pattEaEpantcovsenthad beemoovtstaeredavLd respeoted.
140 Womiahop UJ " -. 7ndmt" eteaning
AS we ev6teredtke worleshop,tkere was A OrORPOf iS UOUV60KQLe P&OK&S C1,3011.7-21 ArtLv%,0- T-ýeU hold tAlR-M tt OV6theMSeWCSto @et started WLtkoRttketutors, avtol were trUtK, @ out tkeLrWeas from the pyevýousolaU. T-kU ýctd oleoLdeolthattheo wav-tedto createaKJ proolucta ptice of worlz for a
?ey'ýnA&CIV, ze. T-KS Was to beevtkLeol T,ýe inicivioel. what It wtaUeol was a oový&merolttov-of setpteres
C"Luoleol bvdtV', that kad beemoyeateci a KolprMt4ced over tkthreepYeVtOv-S OIAU-S.TKS srekAeS.Suc-h AS: 0
twýuemeof avýol seMno olruo-c;motorbtlee amol oar arash (uvolerthe olrWq-av6d olruoS); rovZotente of octiAsIng a death; LoLterýýo ov. thestreet etc,. I twtrool"oeol mUsdf awd reaSomfor vKUprest"e, the orovp
of UoLtvýo "Le pyLsoMrs respov6oledpo. SýdVeLU awd C,ýattld Wttk W.C. ItWCIS a tdptCaL KkLKOf cuLbArtS and
abMtLes- 7,lie partIdpowts kad s'Lomd up for the worigshop bU respovioltvxjto postersow tke WEV.0,
tkereforepaytýrtpatýov6 was vo"tarb, but wkkotAt reaL kvtAerstAvkdtvý0 of Wýat tke prooesS evtaUeol. The
groL.tp. seemed a saft ptome to expLoye Essues av-ol themes associated wttý theIr Uves, tK; refLecteci tke
'M abtUtýes of the tRtors to oreatesuch ai, 6 eVWýrMK&tnt. 1ý,Ut as the WOLOIS P&OV., these ParttdPaMtS
woRLo( have to Yetkrm baolv- to ol Verd Afferevvt avuA kostUe sttiAatLoK, so AsdosRre oouLo( cotvze probLewz
Lotter.
The tS hCO tOLOI that the p2rtýOtPAK; Me EdLiC,atton DepartK&Cwt tw theprLSO&& 01Wv6ot cater for olra" tw
a vkd wold. At Leastthreeof thegrovpwanted to foLtowLip wEtý o(ram-a wovle ovtkelr reLease.
-T-hePrý-Sovx, offLoers Svpposeo[Lu assýowedto the project qkWdd "ole th6r excusesanol Le-ý as theo had
othero(uttes to atteno(to.we werelt-ý WLthoutaw offictrpreseiL-t. T-hEs avtool other Lsswes referytiq) to
SCcuntUOomtradtctýoms (LeaVtv%. g tutors aLowetv. the mWo(Leof theprLsovL, Lacle of 41%,tere.St aWol
oom;istewod) olldv6t heLp the project to reLateto thepyLsm. Suoh secutitUtmpUcatýms were a v6 Essue i
broughtup wýth IA-r Later.
tmaE)ý"tiový, 7-kere was avýo( Leaoleyshtp skowm bU the @Youp EKodeteyndnEV-9 thew aE)ev,.ola av"ol
LttLvq) c,oVKW, themseLves to a peyformawce. 1ý,ut twteresttwOLU there was Averse optKlom ov%,how to ev,,d the
plect,aKol theU asked one of thetutors to olkat them.Thts heo[W. TheU rehearsed The I>arIQA,3e'as a
oompLetedplect for aKoClNrvtoový, peyfom&a"e.
141 7.7.2 YA - Jn"Wd eleaning Wm&fiop
A (youp of: L:L turvLedup, two face-Sfrom the prevIousolad who had beenu&&abLe to oome Ev. the morvUvuo wereextra, whereas four frow. the movwtvýosessLovL,had L3meto the musUm servýceto be retur"d Later.
T'keprobLem of lP-eeptKOa comzLstemt E)rovp for the ev6ttreLeKoth of the projeotwas verU mkoh ci oo"em.
T-heOrovp praotLseol and performedthe p[toewLth the four from the morvtvO haVLK.0 beenreturmol. T*he audtevvoeoov,, sLsted of somefrtev-ols aKd ooUeaoues(about twento tv. aLL)who had beev-nUowed to watok rather tka&,6worle. T-he performavze was ewjoUedbU aLL Feedbaolzforms werefULed out bU pavtýctpaKU aA.dtutors at the evd. Certtfzates wereoLvev, - to partlzatpaKu. ovýepvisoneroommev%,ted tome that, whm we'reow assocýattov%,.I-keres a Lotof botK,,3 up. Tlits worlukop has OWev.us a ohavý,ce to YeaLLd commuWL,C.ate wItk eolokother. I waKt to fwol a dra" e3roLtpto-Somerset wkeiA, I Oetout'.
As we Left,the UouvýqprEsoKeys were U"d up av,,d marched4,6 mUttaod foi; hLov. baolz to th6y wLv%.Os, to the AsappyovaLof the tutors. T-hereaUtd of the UftstULeLed bo theseUovvv3 pViSoVerS OokLd KOt have beeK.better eKpyesseol. towards the pylso"rs. ýtewas RvwepeKtavttUdtstmterested.
7.7.3 gWangutatimof opbtion
from StatLst1p, s -ýedbotolzsheets:
1--2compLeteol foý
Approctoýtakun. 0 09ý. )
Cov.tmt Ofwoyip-skops 0 025)
1ý,evuefit (to pyisovýer) CýO (wof. )
I>eUverij 51 09ý0
Amokvutof týme aUottea 25 (42ý0
Fed Ooodfactor C'O UOOý-)
OvercUA"LUsLs:
142 moretývm vteedeo( for proyaw-me. extremetUgood -ýeo(bOtrlzfrov'& OILLVisowcys tv-voLveol- r, eemeolas bemftdaL to prLsomrs- mvok tv-terestskowvt,tm,cov%. ttm.RtK-3 wýtk dra" awdspeotfWiLLjj IKsýOýtAyts oK, reLease.
from aommeKts offeoolers:
for , TliaK, iz Uok verU vvuaý OMKO metke c,ýctv%ze tosýow ýow we a.; a teavv.couLol do to,30ey'
formore' IPVaseoome baolz fantastLo li thL,&ý that tke [Iv6sýýtArts] staff pro-seated[?] wýat wasto bedov%, eclvýol oltreottd v4 Lowa
wa U,
, Mere skotAolbe a f-RLLtEK&e drama class'
ElwstoktArtsl tw fawtastto ýave beewbetter tf tkere was more Tke StAff...-Arected VS A wao-AwouLd
t"t cis Lt was good for soc,ýA sip-Ms'
,it wasOyeat, muck appyeclatedawdwmAol be weLLweLcovAtd back.,
IT-ketutors were verU Epod'
li-fada e3reattýme. PLease c-ome baole for moresoow'
'MeYe'SWO CDMK-tRK! OatW&A. OK,the WýwOS betWee&16 tke OkUS, OK-Ld Wkew 014, CISSOOEAtEow. TkereSa Lotof
baweUp. TIILS Work. SkOp kaS E)WeO, VStke Okawceto reaLLUoontmkwtoate wLtk cotak otker. i want to fmA
a drAV" E)rotApýwSOMMet WkeV%, I Oet ORt'
Inere weedsto bereORLar dra" worIP-skaps,theres wotktwo kerel
lzeaUdeKjoUeol mo-SeLf feeL @oodfor Ct CkAv%, OeO
'it wasa reaLLUOoodfu$Utwo projeot awd I enjoUedeverUtktwo abot4t W
I-ýIeolLarý. St.
Ftewas botý positWeaboRt tke projeotbut aLeooritizaL of somt of tke pavtEpatpomts.ivattoad, ýe, went over
wýtý aKopev%,K4v,, d kop[pRýg for a skortpLad or somttktvýolaool ClOIKkEttedtkatke, teRYKtA LotAbout
tke [aKolj AL lz"wýAo peopLtI was wo4zý wLtk.... we seemeo(toOet oo, weLL'. Fte aLso referred to vLow
143 fmAwo Affivoutto to,, Fte eveTov.e,sKAKte. s avd 'comýmo vp wIth Wears,awol taldme decWovsl. wouLol
Ffe haveUlzedthe projeotto have @oKt ovw, tov,. ger, but, tooleprtote tv. buUoltvýosow--Wý ttp from.scratoh'.
Umt Llcjktl. wasav6"Ued that IsomeprLokaL ....trU eot to stedthe ýtetoW me that hehad Learota Lotabotd h4vseLf av-d, more LKApoytavvtLU, those he Uveo(wýth. Fte aLso thouoktthat theprojeot was as wortkwKLeas cw. Uthtvýo he had dom whLLsthe had beem,at the fvýsdtuttovv aV,.d, 'kaO(a E)OOdLRL4. ok doýVL, 3 tt. It Wasthe perfoýmx that loterestedhtvK the most.
Tl4torvIzWpotWts:
I-keu Wereboth As"Ueol wLtk the týKkeLoss and other AfRuAtýes wLth the prisovv,.One desortbedthe,
for ustxciLprLsov, prob[tKLs - no kznowLedeeof vS DK,the 00tte,LoKcj w0lýt eSCOftWKLe the pClrtýap0lwt.S wOlýtedot4tSWe Vewtoce tw ML&16.No Cov6tcletfrom edvottom, or oroolwtser'.TsILS SEtLatlow Worsened CIS the projeatproores. W: 'the pooroommvnlzcltýový, and CtttýwoleOf the staff cs not aonolvotveto the
Us and the worle of the Lefc worle.... Staff venj meocitivetowards securýto- wtth tmWtesfor LoneperWs, Looked4,6 wLth no acussto edto/pantob"ttov. etc, 'Tutors feLtthat the weocttive reactLowsof thestaff wereo(eUberate and am.effort to unolemdvý.ethe projeat. One tiAtor eXpressed, 'feeUmo cingrUClvid ClppCiUed bd the VLSLUO h0lrsk reotyvtt, ctrmd treatmewt avkd KeiptMto of offioers'.ALso there
fYOM MtAtAtEOV6 wereprobLems gettLno CIV6 avAe^ct forthe PeYfOrMaVUCt, Wký " W; ktClOt the 00-Ord[VIAtOY tkrot4ohotdthe foLir olads.
OVeraLL,and tm.VeT trdt" ewcumst0t"CS,there WCis a Lotof postdVeWorle 6lone. One tutor Skooe-Sted that, 'rhe partIdpants havereLaxed Into the worle aKA we havebi4M txpa 000olYdatýonsktp wýtý theml, the otherthAt, the p0lytý,tpCtntS Were emthRStaStE0 Ctnd e"Ctoed fuLLO'.
fromtktoys, In 0eneraLtherewas Mkok postdve fteolbaok wttk cm, kmderstaK&ý of theprobLems
AssooiatedWýth the ter6torU. The prooravm&e worlped weLL bkt therewere cUfficmLttese Votoed.
Onetvtor expressedooncero. that ke,'needed A Uttlt V"re SkpportCit t4wes'. The other SAW the v%,eedto ý&ore tyaEnttxtors totc the ethosof Inst0ht:Ayts. 'Iýoth mewdowedtkattkeo needed t4vt for projeot
PLAnnlwz3.
EstOtbUsk 14A, 0 tyust wýththe pcirttrtpavýts was aLso seen as a c(tffiruLto.
144 toto Whenthe offen-ders were frog-marokeol awaU at theeKd of theprqjeclý ove of thetktors bvrst tears
SO[OtK43kOW She ýW KOt,%VaVtt tOLeaVe theM tvý, thLs awfuL pLare, tkeU, re ov%, LUieWs,.
other erpLm4om:
'we OetOroup afýer EyoupLw here, Lf UOL4A'S'; z K&C Lt-s CiLL a waste of ttme gwoiKWKeb, (prLso, offiter)
7.7.4 G. 11
0 TIlat thePyEson. fhUeol to cl=Ktmodatethe proorcimme cis mL4ch ttme was Lost o(ve to Lac-19.of Staff to esr. ort. stmltarLU, Kot AL paytýotpaKU hadciczess to the worl? 4kops for CILLfour olaus.
"ole OOM4MALto AffitRLt. U) ALso Some droppedmt om olotU tkm returmol the me.Kt, WKch
tv"wKok these Atkouok tkls LSa Lwaosa probtemLv6prEsovv, I wov6dered Lf therewas a v,,U wau oomolýtEovms oo"Lolbe mitte- E-tothe oowtraotfor the KVtprojeot.
UO lzzoardýýg seoi4viy, there had beeK,a totaL AstMerest skowvi.bU the pvLsov..A oompLatvtmeoleol to be v,ode to the prfwo., or tvem Koher Rpthe bkrem4orattc,okatv-, to the area Kta"E)ey- T'keattýttAole of the prism, staff at PortlZmAme6ted tKs.
Afferewt LA TýkeeKVLrovwv-ev, -t avW oomdýtloms at the prLsoo,were so tkam.at "mP woUs, as werethe Lf be for paytýcatpawts.I wo"ered there weededto moreempkasls ovv, olraw -66LLSaý%Ol edkcAtýOV6 Uou" pyisomrs whosepattem, of offevwltvi-obekavýmr maU beof a oUfferev..t order tkav6for aduLts. v) T-kerewas am.twtemaL evciL"attve C"ve reenroltv69 the akeratiov6 of aoe"a A" metkod vsed. T-ke
PoytLav.d Novtk/SoL4tk WASa OoodexampLeof the meedto be fLextbLe
VO1-here Was cl WKZLstevt Oroup Ev6VOLveol, WhoWere WULLwý) to taLIZ to VKCCIVIA dLstvss tkdr ct."terests
twtewttows- RKA COW KwwtOcitýOwbetweew mUsdf aKz( ALL ýývoLveolwols 0 ood.
VU)The tktors respertedEss"es of oovzem.1ý-Cccmsd the eolvc-attov%, clepartment hotol faýLcolto twfornt pavti,c,tpav6ts of the watureof theprojeot, tkeU aLtereol tts oleUverbAVA WKtevt.
VU0AtteMpttKq to OhaVeethe attLtUdeOf pClVt[PLpaWt! S.SeeMtOl VV.. Sk[t0lbLe CIWUWCIU Lv%,.SL4Ck Ct
K&ýUtcirýsdp,evvvýrov-mev6t. r4sdasvre m(LolKwize priswers viAvterabLeov6 the WKos.
W T-ke Loca6ov-wcus far from WeaL.
145 X) T$ietutor. S Clvvo(Wrf0lýLeo( to W-ora"teWttý tklprýsovuskxessfuLLU av%,d the wDyjzskopwcts eKcLL(O(eO( from tke prtsov6 rq)ýme. d) tke emookwtered-z-uttt kad UttLeto o(oa Lrecadwitk , Týe worluliopwas stActessfuLo(esptte probLems cfo(olressLVL,O LSSLkes Of offev, &VýO beýclvtour.
7S 'Steeptu'at YoW"d VOJ, Douet (At" 2001)
I rett4mcolto PoytLav%,o(for tke Lastoicto of tke worivskopCl,,, Ci ma tke fývehAtors (same owes cjspyesevýtclt
ýtmT,WOWS) OtAtswe the PrLsvo, LK, the W. DMIv6O. Agoilv%, there were probte" oetttKototo the ? rLsov6.
7.si aAt-, 7, d,, wdu.. igwoA4ftop ThePreKd5ec, "5e0l Were Wev6t[PaL to the prevLous v1stt, exr-ept that the OrotApwere meed I. C, or ttwoler.The
WOR.StrIAL cleavtwo worleskap had beewpaýwteol tAp and OWIMOLThere was Avý Offiter presewtwho was
Ev-terestedEv.the projeot. There knol bem veod Oood Ua Lsov6 wýtk the Eok4ontfowDtpartmem, cmol tts KewLU empLooeo(6016W[ttm 00-oroltmatorwas preseM for a Lotof theSeSsLovi.. T`kýs was a vero Afferewtscemario from theprMous v[sLt.
1LKtroolkoeo( vKU-seLf as "WIL av.O(VerU soov. reolUledtkat the t3rot4pof Uoumoofýýers wasof a
Afferewtwature than before.T'keU were fLAOet[MO and RKARZto Co&4.CeKtYAte- TkeU were tAwtv-teresteo( LV6 eva3a@ýmowttk me.7-ke paytýotpamts were stUL oK, oomptdsoro eol, 4rattov6 as tked wereaLL kv-der i&. 7,he
6olLxcAtEoK.Co-oroll*%Ator eXptaýMolthk, To a vKav6eftý 0" of the Ormphas rejectedeo! L40attoo. tv. prlsovv'.7-he 0 rotApwere ový, fuLL-tWt dasses, avO the 00-ord"tor' haadeeLoled that Lvý,,stead of them attemoltKZ3classes 4, - oEttzevzKpavO UfeslzUs, thed wotAWtalp-e part Ev.the ISLeepers'Troject.so there hadmot bem awU vo"tarUb appLI-Ottow.ýte seented to thtKk thattkosewho had vtjectedeo(t4oatEov%. tv. prLso&,6were best skýteol for theOymp as theUwouLd Oet most mt of tt. Ftemoethe Orm-cp hadthe Kwst
AfficuLt membeystv. Lt.
7-hoseji4veo-UesI spoleeto, sato( how vKkck tked hatedeolt4rattov%,. I'lierewere OrLotvALLU 20 tmthegrmp,
bttttl4s had beemo(eemeo(tooKO cis ea0h voemberwasVerU medo Cv-temtsofwavvdvuq attendom rýt4eto
146 Asrkptive, drop-ovtrate, thts evOeolup cis:L'.. lvýteresttv6oto, theU were AL, vero o(tffttvtt avLot ctvdav6aLL whtte 3ro Rp.
The hktors trlto(to Lvvterestthe OroRpwLth drama i3amesav"ol ptabt" wLththe vWeo,soixno( aVL-ol Lot photoorapKocc("tpK4tv6t, but womeof the Orouphad a verij LDý attewtEoo.spav.. T'here was a of footbaLL, UteraLLU the Tkejuve ha a tk,t.terntpttoK,, mookz f[LOht4, -L3 and cisweLL as cUmbLvLO wALLs. KUes ot vý fwst dads WCUtu to oovxev-trate,were attev-týov--. seeK", avA rettrevLtto work. The ookpLcof were
tt4ttom Affv, RLt bLktevewtRaLLU trkst had bem b"Ut up. eac'ýpaytýcipavýt meoleol scrýous om-to-owe
T-herehad beena massiveev%, eroU Lvi-pktfrom the tRtors, wlth smaLt reward.
LV6WLateol, Unes EveA, tIACILLU, a T-VVSt 1301KAtWas wtth the OroupEKotuo[L" the tutors, spUt 4,4otwo sittLKO
olowvý,ov. okatrs orpposite enok other. Earh perSOV. keW the Mist Ofthe ptr. SDV6 AdjOlOeM, AK,01 the ObjeOt Ofthe
OaMEWas tO. SC[LAeeZt that WrýSttV. order tO. SeVd a Mt.SSOlee C(OWVV, the UM AVIOIreCICk the M-01Of the LIM
beforethe otkerteaw- *T-he mtossed a ooýýtDstarttheOamt off. OKLUtkefwstpersov%, s totke UmoouLol if tt seethe ootn. I-he rvLe was, that if tt cawt t4pheads, thed dWKotKK-cj, was taýts, thed set the t3ame
tvý mottDv6. Týkefwst Uvleto 3etthe messa,3e to theevol of the ckaLv%,was the wLK^er, btAt ovLd tf theooLv-
ha ol towt t4p ta ýLs !
The M toWme that the E)rokphad dom a Lotof t3amesavýd tytAst exeroEses. T'keo meded a verU
struotured proEyamme,as theU wereKot abLeto "e the freedomof a moreopev. aeevwla.
T'heseoot-,, ol exeroLse saw the OyovpspUt 14, %,tD three. E010h M! vU E)rOup rChimed to theP'Wt of d ra" or
%Ao(eoworlztheU kao(perforvAeo(tkpreVwtAs ciao aKo( expaKdeolov%,Et.T-osee the lq-WsaottKzj a" LwvLAveo(
IP-etp wasclOoompaKledbUa KcatiP-edtraKzformattový,ofctttttkde (forastono astheu OOL'W aV6AtteKt[DV6
tD. Lv6to spav%').But there were om or two verUolifftouLtIP-W; who were t4vablt SettLe ai&UtKvý0.
The 'AngeL avA iwW theme of the dra" worlz was verU Oooa, as the Ws #Ltooed Evtto the power roLes
verU easUU. T-h6r votoes were recordeo( a" the rtspowst of the IzWS to heartvq their YeoordeolVoýcoes was
fasr'L"tLVu3.
I taLlzedto severaL after the sessEoo, before tked were plolzed tAp bU thetr esooyt baolz to the w4, ý.O. T-ked
reVeatto(VerU LLttLC,OvýLd to Cov%,fLrm th6r hatred for eoluoatLov. oLasses avol how boreo(tked were. I taLlp-eot
to the tktors olurýýL3 LRvvh. Theo had vý,ever eKootkv4eredsuoh a demanoltv, ý) a" olýfficuLt E)roL-tp.
147 WoAafwp 732 YA - 9tuhmodaleleaning ct T'he seotxýitu O(epctytvmvtSLtoldev6LU oleoWed to stop the a-ýemoov-sessioK, Ots was oltAeto Sýtctvt,wttko"t teLtuet'Oavuove. T'Ks Lade of CoVV.Ku4WEICattOV6 WLth ttktOrSCtV%, d UOIRC-atLOV. U-Dr0lU-XatOr CIKZjereO( eVerUOKe oovzemed. No E)ovemor oot4Wbe oomtacteolto weEptEatea recuso"btz ev6oltvýoto the workshop. T'he
for tv%. seouvitu afooer C,ýteo( Lade ofstaff as the reCtSom,.I tmt6mudedto 4%dLtoIC ClottoK, a CDK&pWvLt the
before d evaLt4atýovk,report, as the prtsovk,COUW have VotevtttDv"eo(týL-S.S[tL4attovv, tumok clv%,the Oroup omw have been tLosedWýth tkLS kKDwLeolOecmd Oooolbuesspokev. etc, TkLS was CIV%,tAKfOvtLAV%, ate "ýýO as the
bao(LU. UotAKýOprLsomys were dt4eto perfoym thew sketohes AKA haol beev.Let olown The DP av"ol I had aLreadd ASOUSSMKOt LLtUStKCjthe formaL evaLRadov6skeets,as MAKu m4w V-ot read or wrýte. T-he
bU tLdors fMed otkt tkeiw feedback,.skeetr., Upset bo the LVýtrOMSteeKteaMd LaOlý!Of ODWSWeratýOA,ShOWL'ý, the ptisom.
for The 601LACCItLOv6C-O-OrA"tor Olettded to V-Sethe attlvLclavkýe ýOlAres the workshop towards the
bU COIRCAttOV6O(CpartMeWt PerfOrPUAWCeCKAPatOYS, QVL-01ALSO the kCU SKU ktt2ed the parttOtpaMts, tSptOL2LLOVerbaL aVLOIV. OK, -VerbaL OOKILVALILKýWltLOV%,OV-d CreatMtd, tOWAYOISe0440attOKAL t0troetS. The edROattOM,0lepAYtK&fVlt (RVkUJZethe PreVLDV4VEStt) WeYeSLCPPDVttVe AKA EV.VOLVtd, POSStbLUtoo Mt4th as theU Mteredthe Workshop WKIWVtted AKol dLsrRpteo( Lt too frectuevvdu acOovcUv,0 to the hitors. I askuo(Tke
601L,coatEov- Co-orAKatDr Lf he wokW ask the Ormtp to dte what tkeu thow3kt of the ProoraKkKke for evatjAattom, ptcrposes. T-he In). amol i persuaded hIm mot to make Lt tmto a fovv"L wrtttmO exeratse bRt to
Make Lt tiVtO a E)aVKt CIV601? DS&tbLjj reroro(vEtws. I asked htmto se&Ao(resuLts to IAT- (these were Kever sev-t). Fte was keeo, to v-se the workskap aOALv%,.ALso, the PviSov6 4oVeyvtor had watokedthe worksherp tvL,
CjOtLov. AKA had beeM tK&PrMed.
tfhe had L[tO( OMe pjSomerWhev6 aSked G(OKe aWd 0(raK&a at SChOOL, Yt? that heWal theMLU Om tv%, the
Oroupwhohaot beem to SchooL.
T'hepvtsovýaffioertoLolmethat hetkOU0httke? roject was a Ooodwea (hewasam,ens tutor), but
rewevLLsedtkat,'wkev-tkejuveKUes were out of tketr comfortzo", tkeo Lackedasapuoe cmotpLaded
up.TýKs was becausethere was tntmev%, sepeer pressure vot to potrtake ctKz(to rebeLaoatk%st av6d autkorýtd'
148 7.8.3 gtiangu&dioa of Opistioa stottEsttos-(ýDm -ýedbaole skeets:
Feeo(baolzforms weremot used.
aommmt. s from offemders:
beKe-Rtto Cv6severaLwOlUs. for 'I YeOILLUtKvde the plrcj)ertwcts C, me TWIKk UORVerU KtRCh OMKO Methe
C,ýOIKZe to Show [wýatj dotooetker' .... wecis a teamcokW IveT eojo&Ue.Maim a UOdtfýreme to fm4rwals av%Aa svWWL06LýVate'
'Its better thaK-SýttLKO eettýKý boredwkk eoltkwqov6'
'It's SOMethtV.0 to G(O'
lFtaVeuok E)ot aou bttrv6?1
("v-d pOtYtWLpclv%,ts were wot fortýoomt" wkhthetr opLWWk%, s clvýoldw &%otwavýt to taLle4", f)rWaLLd)
T-ý d Aa ýist. -
TIlere MIS VO CUIrLSt CISKD OM WAS EVtereSted, CIAd WVýtLWE)MIS A ? rDb[tM
T)AtOrVýeWPDLK, tS:
T-keuwere both exhakstedn-ol av-orU cittke LKzowrLusLveevto(4, %,o to tkewovlq4kop.ovýettttor wKswereot
beeK., Lt to have the wwst c(emavw(LvuqPKd ommarated tectcKKOi haveever ýovýe. TlieLrcittevttýoKspoiv, - was vtov%,-Wstev6t. f-tef6tkmo( tt, 'Affivautt workýv-qwtth sLkckmeolU pavtýdpuu, as theU weretAvOibLe to
oomxmtrate,squabbLed av,, d werecovatvu4aLLU attev,, týov. -seeldvzj,. I-hed aLLooKouryed that ýt hcO bem a
olrctWLKýqwrotse wýtk a masstveemrod tv-ptkt.Each UouvLooffev-oler mteded om-to-om attevtim. wKok
prodRoedsmatt rewards.Sut tt was Oev%,eraLLU oov-sWereol veT postdvebe0akse the prooramme had
c,ov-v6ec, teo(wkh the offewolersLv6 a wao tkatthe ec(RwtLov%,pro,3ravKKke had Ktherto beev.k"bLe to clo (as
advtdtfed bu the eduoadoo,affi"r).
ivýoemraL there was mLtch postttve feeolbatIZ from hdorS,Atkmoh theSOkOIL41t WAS eKhatASdK. O-IssReS
of estab"htv-gtntst wereseev.bo ovetutor as av.tvmportant outcowt, wtth a Ooodsevse of teamworle
149 forespeOEALLU AK,otkertutOr. SCIWtke projeot as too sopkEsdwted'avwl Over-clvKKtw.S' UDVVLOOf(ewolers' b e. StrAtee LOPLA KKiVLo CtKOl Ctte r as, therewas ot LAole of aLayitUas to theobjeaLves of theproorcimm Afferemt LLvlzm Iv6 preparcltýovt'Was meeoleol as there Was mo reaL vwolerstaK-oltv'o of how the artforms tAp'. Um terVVLSOfWkatWCI. SWeeded, aKOtk1rtlAtOrtkOR0ht tkatthe approclaham(pyclatc-e of earh arts Asoi? v6eeo(.s to be [better] RvWerstoool' tholt rdattve slzUs areolrawv6 ov6 aKd toteeratedwre whestvdo wLthtv' EV6 tile project'.Tutors rewgmLsed the 4uportavzeof tk6r partLOULayevolUattoo. termsof oleveL0pLv%'L3the
PrOorCIMMe.
Otktr CTýKýOKS:
Not CIVOILLAL'.
Cumd 7mpudaiom 7.8.4 . L)T'he LooatLov- was cloatvk, tvaoltquate.
U) T'heprojeot reached some of the most CXCLUOICO(UoUth POSSLUC, NO, eKrLk0(eOlfrOKtCOILAOCIttDA, OIRCto
attkRoleAV601 toabuLtIl to read Amdwrite. The EdkoatLomOo-orol"torpL4rposeLU ptct the KILOstwkAoled
d dýýuLt ý, the as theU LmpoSSLUCto tea0h AvA CKtmuvLeto the oVerturelOf av. -Ws ooto prooramme were
the eo(L'toatio"Lprooess.
M) it was as If the olravoA Oames ksed for Oroup Awaremm- av%.d VerbaL avýd wovL-WrbaLcovKvttAA. EpAtW6
svrpassed awd method that the prLSový-eO("CatEOVý-ClepaYtMCKthad Of WPLVVJWEth 11,40h CfffVkLt UORths.
ThEs to, tRm Ls strovto ao(vocacUfor ustKýOthe arts wýtý the most voludeol of prýsmers- T'he abMtb to
tmpaots, c,ovv. K&t4K: Loate, pavtLoýpamt tv-voLvemevut av-dworle4-., O W. a Ormp were the "st obvtov4 sootaL
but far wre ttmt was MOO Wkh Surh a dtffiCuLt OrotApto brWu3oLd Creal:WtU AVA seLf-rowRdevLce-
Tlle projeot tried to eeLwLth the eolLkc-atiov6oltpartmewt 4.,6 tem&s of fLtttKO tv6totketr cmryýmLkm- The
olavýoerof thLs ýs tkiat Et K&aUbeoome OUPtated bU Such a proeess,CIKA W-01 Lip worlp'tVLOwtth eoluwtiov-A
be for thLS TKS becawsethose wkh wrt refvsenýýp cmd mLd -seem,as vsefuL oateooro. WASt4nfortu"te
eolur,atto- civo( abMtU couLd beweýt oovsWcyabLUEm terms of &xpresstvu3th6r oreatLvko.
150 v) i-k erewas anJmpUoatLov%, tkattkc eat4cattovt4LfactLLttaprovWeoIwereemovoý for tkosebetter adjusted be prýseomrs,wKoý uvOervi&Uý-esvoLuvtard partWLpatýovk, preveottvLý) tkose wýtk a YeAtnterest to
ýývoLveo(.Tke Lade of tmerestskowm bU tke partýotpamtsntao kave beemexacerbated bU tke oompuLsood
"ture of tke projeot.T-ke Wea tkatprtsoKers kave a saUtv%, wkat tkeUdo amo(malze, Ls aLL a part of tke empowerýý prooess,a Astav-u from tke cwforOeOleduoatLoý%AL prooranOwe ov%, offer, but the IzWswere
because sokoottkUolren., a KA subjeot to oompuLsorý educattow. 1ý.utjust tkeOrovp was umoleri6 Ad vot
bo tketr mcaA, tkat oovl,.seKt dW vot kave to be OLvev%. tkem, as tke project was covcerved wkh Roldresstm3 bekavýokr.
Vt) Tke mkmberstýOltoavu be ClOCOMMOOlatedov6tkLSpyqjer_t Were rtLattveLo sKoL4 espeoýaLLUas thed were a verUAffio"Lt Ormtp,but aLSObecavSe tke ectL(tpMentVSed reqUtreS Mkck A" EntemsWe
a 4A, E)OMMt to vU) TkelQeU slzUs nee"a ýsanotker Area to eXpLore,Evý,termS of A0( VOC.t0 tke pro eolUC,atý00, ýCPAK-MeKU tV%,?rLSOW. SWýOClre rIALed bU SROý C,0ASWerCltW-S- Metkertke? YOOrCIkUK4.eWaAts to OetLvvvoLveo( tvi,thýs area avoi to wýoitextent meols to beAscumsed. 1-k sýKlkeo skUsl reftr to
IT', 4, APPUCAtLOV. Of "Kkber, WorktvýoWttk Otýers, "d of probtau SDLVLV. O, civto( Kprovtm,, 3
Lectmlvý.Oand perf6rv"n-". TketkLv-kEvLO skULs, aeevola L4"erpLv6v. Lnt3 thLs tv-voLva luvowtvg 'how'
a" lwýatlto do,av-d cav. be spUt Lv%, to fLve areas: twformattovqrooesstwo, reaso4vo, evw(i4tT, orentLve
IA'r tKoJztmo,and evaUatýovL- proo rantmescav. IzeU 4Ato mavLb of tkse arms,am ol Et aouW aolo(sLaý
toits a&,6a0eiAda promotýovv,.
better tKteorateol 14kto LK) Týeprojeot Was fCtr from StACUSSfuLavw( ctLthmiek tke prEui& ree"t, Et had
beeK.approprýated bo tk edLaatiov-olepa rtmem for thdr eKo(s.
7.9 The Report Writing and Outcome
Over29 monthsas External Evaluator (April 1999- Aug 2001),three reports were prepared. An interim 12 in the 2000, in 2000/1 final in Autumn 2001 Besides report summer another the winter and report .
12 seeAppendix 3
151 observationalnotes, written feedbackforms from tutors and participantswere utilised from eachproject.
Extra evidenceincluded someinformal interviews of prisonerson audio. Qualitative information given by participantsand othersinvolved was recordedverbatim and utilised descriptively.This bricoleur method enabledmost of the evidenceto be included in someway. The reports included the voice of thoseinvolved using direct quotationsas well as statisticaldata collated from eachproject. Documentaryresearch was also undertaken,which was presentedin the reports, in order to better advocatedie position of IAT to their funders.
The OD askedfor the final report to be re-written, which it was, as he was unhappywith its content.This was partly due to a misunderstanding,in as much ashe wantedit to reflect the whole programme,but also becausehe consideredit too negativeand failed to link the advocacyto IAT potential. The final report thereforeincluded an overview of the completeprogramme as well as a sectionconsciously advocating the position of the organisationand needfor artsbased activity in prison.
The outcomeof the internal and externalevaluation was mixed (Insight Arts Trust 2002). Becausethe funding from the major sponsor,the Lankelly Foundation,was specifically, 'for a three year project' there was no further funding available.But the OD was under the impressionthat, 'an application for a future project would be welcome'. A copy was sent to anotherfunder, the Associationof London Government IAT's without reply. subsequentnew three-yearprogramme funded by the Community Fund, considered in 'Sleepers' the report terms of the suitability of the programme,and duly concentratedsolely on the more 'North-South' This structured programme. new project addressedkey skills as a good marketing tool as
well as accreditation,which were identified in the report. It also openedup a debatewithin IAT about, 'the best way to get responsesfrom participants'. Lastly, a new funder, the EsmeFairburn Foundation,asked to
seethe report, to help them with their own researchentitled, 'Rethinking Crime and Punishment'.
7.10 Conclusion
The casewas had both instrumentaland intrinsic qualifies, although inducing generality has to be treated
with caution.But such primary material is valuable for understandingthe applicationof evaluationin in practice,particularly the highly excludedprison environment.7le narrative methodallowed a greater
152 insight into the practical difficulties andhopefully better engagedthe readerwith the context.
The role of External Evaluatorneeded to be clarified, prior to working, It was originally considered possibleto combinethe two roles of evidencegatherer and advocatorwith integrity. The caserevealed the limitations of this methodology,which in practicewas adverselyaffected by a rangeof uncontrollableand unpredictablefactors.
Therewas no doubt that the programmewas successfuland valuedby the participants,but the claim by the organisationthat it meaningfully addressedoffending behaviouris contestable.The biggest problem and
,stricture against this, was its short length and lack of continuity. As for rehabilitative effect, it neededto be betterlinked up with other prison activities,projects and educationalcourses. But there is a paradox,as it is also important that such an approachdoes not compromiseits own particular agendaand impact.
Programmeimpacts concerned individual expression,group awarenessand communication,and creative methodsof relieving boredom,in line with conceptsof dynamic security. Prisonersneed to be meaningfully occupiedin order to allow the smoothrunning of the regime and ensurethe safety of all involved 13
This caseis testimonyto the recreationalbasis of suchworkshops which were voluntary by nature,and are primarily foundedin a framework of play, solidarity and celebration.7berefore to isolate the secondary
factor of addressingbehavioural concerns as the overriding evaluativerationale, risks making delivery less
effective. But such an understandingis further confusedand somewhatambiguous in prison, which has
traditionally been concernedwith punishment.
The role of externalevaluator, as determinedby the Directors of IAT, was primarily a meansof enhancing
the profile of the organisationwith its funders.It was not coincidentalthat its ren-k of 'addressing
offendingbehaviour', reflected wider DCMS cultural policy and supportfor the instrumentaluse of the
arts,befitting its social inclusion agenda.Neither was it coincidentalthat IAT's major sponsorfor the 14 insisted PAT 10 programme on an external evaluation , again reflecting recommendations.
IAT contendedthat the aestheticquality of the programmewas of primary importance,as social utility
13 the conceptof dynamic security is explainedin IIA. 5 14 as explainedin the original job interview
153 naturallyresulted. But as it is impossibleto prove that a unilateral four day coursehas any effect on offendingbehaviour, the whole rationaleof the evaluationwas basedon an unrealisticpremise, again in
15 The feedback for responseto PAT 10 and the needfor robust and appropriateevaluations . sheets prisonersand tutors suppliedplenty of information, asdid the diary, with complimentaryinformal questioninguseful. Nonetheless, despite the unavailablity of greaterdepth of opinion and evenbiographical details of participants,what such a programmecan achieveis limited.
There was also an issueof how the internal and externalevaluation process combined, which was neither pre-specifiedor resolved.The powers of the External Evaluatorneeded to be mademore transparent, particularly asthere was initial reluctanceby the PD to accommodatethe evaluatoror contemplatea changeof working practice.This lack of independence,encouraged compliance, very different from an evidentialremit showing that the programmeaddressed offending behaviour.This presentsan argumentfor evaluationfunding to be directedthrough anotherthird party organisation,to enablea more objective appraisaland analysis.But this could be expensive.
The advocatorialnature of the evaluation,coupled with the contextualnature of the workshops,makes any form of standardisationveryhard to achieveor relevant.Each observationwas an intrinsic casestudy in itself. Becausemost of the data collectedby the evaluatorwas qualitative, and in order to comply with the wishesof IAT to discover 'harder' evidence,this necessitatedthe use of basic social auditing techniques.
But this quantitativeneed was contradictedby the lack of accommodationof before-and-aftcrand interaction-processanalysis methods supplied by the evaluator.It showedthe difficulty of re-focusing artistic direction in order to accommodateevaluative needs and questionedthe credibility of a formative evaluation-drivenprogramme. But maybethat is realistic and proper, as overall direction and responsibility for the programmelay with IAT directors. Moreover, writing critical reportscould have adverselyaffected the funding of the organisation.Such awareness of the wider ramificationsof the reports,was integral to the evaluativeprocess.
But three on-site observationsand ten placementswere too small a number of workshopsover three years.
is thesePAT 10 recommendationsare set out in 3.32
154 This was due to cancellationsand problemsin acquiringplacements. Also The 'North/South programme wasnot observedin its best light, and a fully structuredworkshop gearedtowards addressing offending behaviournot witnessed.Other placementswere more successfullycompleted, which questionswhy there wasno observationof theseprogramme, particularly in female establishments.That IAT was concerned with validating the less structuredand morerecent 'Sleepers'programme, had a bearingon this. The evaluatorhad no authority in termsof visiting projects,which were determinedby the PD and OD.
Nevertheless,the PD still failed to notify either tutors or participantsabout die initial observation,which createdan awkwardness'andair of deception.
Participantswere also not fully informed as to the natureof the programmeIn termsof its agendato modify behaviour,hence there were ethical issuesregarding consent, as well as problemsof transparency.It was consideredtactless to discusssuch issues, as theseinhibited the needto get participantson board, which is further testimonyto the inappropriatenessof such an agenda.
Therewas one constant,and that was the opinion of the prisonersinvolved. On every occasion,the feedbackfrom them was excellent.But it could be arguedthat such a constituencyis so bereft of interest and stimulation that they would accepteven the worst projects.The difficult nature of many of the participantsand trying circumstances,required immense skill and much energy from the PD and tutors, who were adeptat enabling the prograrnmesto work successfully.
One of the aims of the organisationwas to work regularly with a client prison, which it had done on occasion,without long-term success.Continuity with the groups and participants,would have better enabledthe possibility of showing rehabilitative effect. But it is not easyto ascribeany one specific variableas the catalyst for change(even if prisonerscan be trackedthrough their sentences).Whether the artscan deliver rehabilitative social impactsis neither proved or disprovedby this case,even though they were unableto do so in this context. If such dramatic techniquesare usedto facilitate behavioural transformation,they also require and enablethe changedindividual to impact on the environment,which is 16, impossibleto realise in a prison context,denying this natural two-way process and arguablyreal
16 as advocatedby Boal seecase study 93
155 17 drivers that empowerment, emancipation and enfranchisement , the address social exclusion.
7.11 Summary
A casestudy concerningevaluation in practicewas the basis for this chapter.
Firstly, it describedthe background considerationsto the case.This included the methodologicalposition of the researcher,and use of biographicalnarrative. Accordingly a casestudy methodwas investigatedto determinethe extent to which this specific casewas of both an instrumentaland intrinsic nature.The prison context also necessitatedan analysisof issuesof consentand deception,which encompassedthe ethical pitfalls surroundingparticipant observation,collusion in a culture of control, secrecyand confidentiality.
The history of IAT and the creationof the externalevaluation position were also documented,as was the contentof the 'ConnectingLines' programme.Ile IAT understandingof artforms with regardsto rehabilitative objectiveswas revealed,and particularly of applying dramato effect bchavioural change.
Preliminary evaluativemethods were discussedand preparationsfor on-site non-participantobservations.
This included a before-and-aftertechnique, and a systemof interaction-processanalysis. Besides the triangulationof opinion and reýwrittentutor and participant feedbackforms, a diary was designedto elicit more details from the workshops.
Secondly,using the first personvoice, threeobservations of the programmein action were written into a
diary narrative.Field notes included participant and tutor opinion, as well as collated evidencefrom
feedbacksheets, all re-editedfor the sakeof clarity. Theseobservations described the difficulties of
working in a prison environmentand extent to which the theory and advocacyof suchprogrammes
contrastedwith the practical reality.
The feedbackfrom the participantswas excellent, and the workshopssuccessful as dramatic fun and games.
It was very much the ability and application of the PD and tutors that enabledthe successof the
programme.But its short length and lack of continuity madeit impossibleto prove that it had madeany
impressionon offending behaviour.The impact of the programmewas in terms of dynamic security.
17 as explainedin 11.2
156 The role of externalevaluator lacked clarity. This was firstly in terms of its relationshipto the internal system,and secondlyin termsof its function, as it was difficult to combinethe two roles of evidence gathererand advocatorwith integrity. The observationsby the evaluatorwere perceivedby the PD and tutors as an additional inconveniencein an alreadystressful workshop environment, with someevaluatory recommendationsimplemented. But its influencelacked authority, hencethe caseshowed the political characterand ramifications of the evaluationprocess.
As for the outcome,although the evaluationfound little conclusiveevidence to prove that the programme addressedoffending behaviour,the resultantreport advocatingthe successfulwork of IAT was sentto prospectivefanders. This contradictoryposition related In part to an inability to prove or disprovecausal effect The 'Sleepers'programme was consideredby subsequentfunders as unsuitableand replacedin whole by the more structured 'North/South'.
157 PART III - Cultural Exclusion
for betterand for worsethe majority of peoplehave been admitted into thegeneral audience for
culture. For worse becausethe majority have not had the opportunity to develop their knowledge and
Hence industries fortunes by understandingof the arts - and much else. the rise of cultural which make
exploitinginexperience
(Shaw1987: 80)
Ray believed that modernism was baýsedon hollow myths and syllogisms, (art is about aestheticrealm,
the aestheticrealm exists independentlyof content or context, therefore content and context are
irrelevant) and precious notions of individuality, uniquenessand freedom. Artists were free to pursue their research,without constraint, as long as they acceptedthe modernist reductivist view of history, as
unilinear progression,one movement leading directly to the next, one artist supersedinganodier.
Modernism was, in fact, a tyranny
(Butler describing the artist Ray Walker, 1985: 45)
158 Part Three explores the complex conceptof cultural inclusion/exclusion,and the relationship and contradictionsbetween cultural and social inclusion/exclusion. Whereasthe first two parts concerned social exclusion and evaluation methodsthat can be applied to arts programmesin order to show social impact, the researchnow critically investigatesthe arts, gathering a discoursearound wider cultural frameworks.These include: aesthetictaste, cultural democracyand popular culture.
To understandaesthetic taste, the researchsets out definitions of the term culture, and then introduces
Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital to illustrate its class-basedconstruction. Notwithstanding, this can be criticised in terms of a rigidity of tastecategories and for not fully appreciating the effects of multi-ethnic and minority cultural influences,as well as a certain disdain for 'popular' culture,
A casestudy is presentedon Outsider Art to show the extent to which cultural capital can be at die expenseof'Social inclusion, and the inconsistencieswithin the 'high' art canon. It is die very social exclusion of certain artists and their freakish spectacle,which allows them to be culturally included. In order to be a member of this exclusive club, artists have to be fully institutionalised. The sociafly excludedpossibly do not want to be included as disabled and sick artists, unable to gain die parity they seek.Such an 'outsider' categorisationis a parody of the exclusive 'high' art establisliment, where a biography of psychological and emotional problems symbolisesand replacesthe artist's Curriculum
Vitae.
The investigation then assessescultural democracy.Using die arts instrumentally, for the purposesof addressingsocial and cultural exclusion, necessitatesthat they are accessible.Paul Willis' concept of a
'grounded' 'common' importance beyond aestheticand culture stressedthe of a wider culture the arts, that better enablesthe excluded to expresstheir creativity. He perceived die arts as exclusive and inaccessible.Cultural accessis also explored with referenceto the discoursesurrounding the Arts
Council's traditional concept of democratising 'high' culture and the more democratic Community
Arts Movement instigated in the late 1960's, which challengedits hegemony.The issuesexplored then about cultural democracyand the political manifestationsof culture, are very relevant today.
A casestudy is constructedaround the Brazilian dramatist Augusto Boa], whose 'Theatre of the
Oppressed' tackled such issuesand utilised methodsof social and cultural inclusion within his participatory dramaturgy. It shows how theatrecan utilise a Freirian pedagogy to addressissues of social exclusion and oppression,which was realised in the third world, and Latin America in particular. 159 Boa], demonstratedthat participation in drama-basedactivity could empower, enfiranchiseand encourageparticipants to realise their rights as citizens and help to changethe social structuresthat had createdthe oppressioninitially. This use of drama for the poor and oppressedin the third world was an enabler that used theatrical method to educateand raise political awareness.
Finally 'popular' culture is studied. It is the most obvious vehicle for cultural inclusion, both in terms of its function of democratising 'high' culture and as a meansof direct accessand participation in the arts. The politics of different conceptionsof 'popular' culture is set out, to better frame an understanding.Issues of multiculturalism and identity are also explored. But inclusive policies can be designedto integrateor assimilatecultural difference, hence the dangersof homogeneity, moreover multiculturalism can become tyrannical and inflexible.
How 'popular' culture reflects theseconcerns and contradictions, is explored through a casestudy of
ReggaeMusic. It illustrates the elasticity of popular music, and how an exclusive music basedon an obscureminority religion, was an inclusive medium for black British youth in die late 1970s,a banner of injustice to rally round. The music is easy to play, with catchy melodies and rhythms, therefore highly participatory. The caseshows how issuesof inclusion and exclusion are a related reaction against the cultural hegemony,which was expressedthrough a specific reggae youth subculture.
Inclusion in this minority culture was originally exclusive, but the identity of this music changedover time to representa general theme of oppressionfor a much wider constituency,albeit commodified, hence the confusion, complexity and interrelatednessof inclusive and exclusive terms.
All three casestudies revolve around the complicated and contradictory relationship between cultural inclusion/exclusion and social inclusion/exclusion.They allow the thesis and discourseto broaden out beyond the narrow confines and agendaof governmentcultural policy. The Outsider Art Case,directly illustrates the contradictory and mutually exclusive nature of the two terms within a particular context,
how and the medicalisation of life influences perception. The Theatre of the OppressedCase, shows a wider political understandingof how drama can emancipateand empower thosemost oppressed,and the extent to which social and cultural exclusion are allied and reflect powerlessness.The Reggae
Music Case, allows an exploration of ethnicity and cultural identity. By so doing, the symbiotic and mutable relationship of the terms of inclusion and exclusion is revealed.
160 Chapter 8. Taste
8.1 Introduction
Aesthetic taste is embeddedin a particular paradigm of culture, hence definitions of the different and competing conceptsof culture is set out. Cultural inclusion is a vague term predicated to a large extent on an emic understandingof such taste,which is partly accumulatedin terms of cultural capital. Such incrementalknowledge allows a conceptionof die arts associatedwith die 'high' art canon.This follows the seminal thinking of the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Therefore the researchdelves into his structuredworld and discourseof distinction with an accompanyingcritique. The casestudy concerns the categoryof Outsider Art and illustrates the contradictions betweenissues of social and cultural inclusion.
81 Culture
Terry Eagleton(2000: 1), viewedthe heterogeneous and disputed term, 'culture' asone of die 4most complexwords in theEnglish language'. Traditionally, the term has been defined as a broadbased and holisticanthropological definition and way of life, or asan elite bodyof artisticand intellectual work.
Eagletondistinguished between these versions by describingthe formeras 'culture', andthe latter
'Culture' (with a capitalc). Arguably,it is not possibleto makesuch a cleardistinction, as, 'Culture' is a way of life for some.He laterreferred to theculture wars and a four-comeredfight between'culture
identity.... [and] (2000: ascivility, cultureas cultureas commercialism .... cultureas radical protest' 129).
This investigationuses the termslightly differentlyand more traditionally, but not without referenceto
Eagleton'sculture wars. Roger Scruton (1998: 14) distinguishedbetween 'high, 'popular' and
4common'culture, which is thestarting point for this research.An academic'high' art andcultural
domain,reflecting taste preferences; mass and popular culture concerning the cultural industries; and a
pluralisticunderstanding of a commonculture of interests.These definitions are mutable and overlap,
accordingto context,but theresearch tries not to losesight of thesethree axis points.
Thatthe arts are a powerfulingredient and driver of cultureand not necessarilyof die 'high' variety,
alsoshows their contestednature. The conceptof culturalexclusion, refers to exclusionfrom 'high' 161 culture, as well as from participation in creative expressionand realising identity. Cultural inclusion can consequentlybe understoodbilaterally in terms of democratising 'high' culture and die need to respecta wider cultural democracy.
8.3 Cultural Capital
Bourdieu devised the concept of cultural capital, which reflected both inherited and learned aspectsof taste(Bourdieu 1984: 53-4; 70-1). The culturallyexcluded are thereby those with little culturalcapital or thosewith a limited rangeand quality of suchcapitall. The sociologistVera Zolberg (1990: 158) describedits intricate nature:
As with financial capital in the economic arenaor power in the political arena,people are
endowedwith more or less, higher or lower quality of cultural capital. Their ranking in
each of thesekinds of capital, its volume, and the careerpattern of their statusare related
in a complex manner to particular kinds of aestheticpreferences.
is The term therefore contextual with both qualitative and quantitative aspects.That 'high' art cultural capital designateda 'natural aristocracy,, and 'mass culture' cultural capital a plebeian taste,better describeshow cultural exclusion is intrinsically linked to the socio-economicfabric in which the perceivedquality of culture has a political manifestation.Furthermore, Bourdieu related cultural to economic capital as, 'the accumulation of a cultural capital (whether or not educationally
be by sanctioned).... can only acquired meansof a sort of withdrawal from economic necessity' (1984:
53-4), but was similarly pursued to determine statuspositions. His structuresprovide a Marxist perspectiveof culture in which the 'high' arts, an exclusive 'aristocracy of culture', supports the hegemonyof the ruling class.
8A The Arts as Distinction
Bourdieu conceivedthis accumulationof culturalcapital to symbolicallybestow distinction, and
I see3.4 162 consequently,'art and cultural consumptionare predisposed,consciously and deliberately or not, to fulfil a social function of legitimating social differences' (1984: 7). 'High' culture was exclusive and naturally presentin those from a particular socio-economicbackground. Such cultural capital could also be acquired through education,but was not generally accessibleto other lower socio-economic categories:
The confessions with which manual workers faced with modem pictures betray their exclusion ('I
don! t understand what it means' or 'I like it but don't understand it') contrast with die knowing
silence of the bourgeois, who, though equally disconcerted, at least know that they have to refuse -
is betrayed by or at least conceal - the naive expectation of expressiveness that the concern to
'understand'. (1984: 43)
Henceculture bestowed distinction and status, through a hiddencode of understanding.Bourdieu explained:'thus theencounter with a work of art is not "love at first sight" asis generallysupposed and
[it] decoding impliesdie theact of empathy.... presupposesan act of cognition,a operation,which implementationof a cognitiveacquirement, a culturalcode' (1984:3).
This 'culturalcode', which reflectedand determined artistic taste, was socially determined through die habitus,an original ideathat referred to ingrainedattitudes and understanding that conditioned each individualat an earlyage in a seeminglyunconscious manner. It wasa, 'spontaneitywithout consciousnessor will opposedas much to themechanical necessity of thingswithout historyill mechanistictheories as it is to die reflexivefreedoms of subjects'(Bourdieu 1990: 56). Cultural
consumptionwas thereby controlled by thehabitus, a setof classificatoryschemes and values, which
weremore fundamental than consciousness or language.Each individual habitus was determined by
historicaland social conditions. Bourdieu saw it asan internalisedclass condition which, 'As an
free acquiredsystem of generativeschemes .... makes possible the productionof all thoughts,perception
andactions inherent in theparticular conditions of its production- andonly those'(1990: 55).
Thereforethose whose habitus reflected popular or massculture were excluded from high culture.
Bourdieudistinguished the popular aesthetic from 'high' art, asit was,'based on theaffirmation of
continuitybetween art andlife, which impliesthe subordination of form to function' (1984:32). 163 Crucially, he viewed this as a hostility of thosewith least cultural capital, towards experimentation:
'Their reluctanceor refusal springs not just from lack of familiarity but from a deep-rooteddemand for participation, which formal experiment systematicallydisappoints, especially when, refusing to offer the "vulgar" attractionsof an art of illusion' (1984: 32-3).
Bourdieu deconstructedthe Kantian notion of pure disinterestedtaste. lie attackedthe contenfion that tastewas a naturally occurring, insteadof an acquired phenomenon:
The unconsciousmastery of the instrumentsof appropriation which are die basis of familiarity with
cultural works is acquired by slow familiarization, a long successionof 'little perceptions'....
Connoisseurshipis an 'art' which, Me the art of thinking or die art of living, cannot be imparted
in the form instinction, to it entirely of preceptsor and apprenticeship presupposes.... repeated the And, just disciples die contact with work .... as studentsor can unconsciouslyabsorb rules of by themselves iL lovers by in way arL... giving up to ...so art can, abandoningthemselves some to the
work, internalize the principles and rules of its construction without there ever being brought to their
consciousnessand formulated as such. (Bourdieu 1993: 228)
This 'legitimate' taste,was part of his 'Lhrce-zone'classification of culture, followed by 'iniddle-brow' and 'popular' taste,key ingredients towards the creation of social identity. Furthermore, 'legitimate' tastedisguised the enculturalisation process,as if such carriers had inherited it, hence die 'cultivated naturalness'of their personae.'Legitimate' tasteharked back to Kants distinction and, 'opposition betweenthe "taste of reflection" and the "taste of sense'....the antithesis betweenculture and bodily pleasure(or nature) rooted in the opposition between die cultivated bourgeoisie and die people' (1984:
489490).
Bourdieu developedhis theorieson the concept of symbolic power, and his socio-historical analysis revealedthe role of culture in reproducing social structuresand correspondinginequalities. He
explained this as,
the way in which unequal power relations, unrecognisedas such and thus acceptedas legitimate,
in are embedded the systemsof classification used to describeand discusseveryday life - as well as 164 for by cultural practices - and in the ways of perceiving reality that are taken granted membersof
society. (Johnsoncited in Bourdieu 1993: 2)
Accordingly, he perceived that the canonisationof the arts had affected the claims to power of the dominant class through its better grasp of certificated knowledge. Hence the need to understandthe rules of art, not merely in order to appreciateit, but as a meansof perpetuatingdie cultural hegemony.
Tastewas in effect the principle through which an individual occupied a certain social space.But within the 'legitimate' category of taste and dominant class, there was a binary frission between the bourgeoisieand intellectual/artists. Whereasthe former, 'demand of art a high degreeof denial of the social world and incline towards a hedonistic aestheticof easeand facility, die [latter] dominated factions have inclined to all artistic .... affinities with the ascetic aspectsof aestheticsand are support revolutions conductedin the name of purity' (1984: 176).
Hence Bourdieu saw the role of the artist as either a prophet of doom and visionary or one of privileged
lifestyle, and conformity to professional etiquette.
But although he demystified the artistic process,lie held out less and less hope for die greater
democratisationof the arts. He perceived 'popular' art to be an oxymoron, as it was an intellectual
illusion that failed to recognisethat natural aesthetictaste was a social construction and determined 2 over years through the habitus. 'Popular' culture was thereforea counterfeit driven by commerce
Notwithstanding, Bourdieu defied crude economic determinism from both right and left-wing
perspectives,as he recognisedan autonomy in modem art 'The pure intention of die artist is that of a
producer who aims to be autonomous,that is entirely die master of his product, who tends to reject not
only the "programmee' imposed a priori by scholarsand scribes,but also-the interpretations
superimposed.a posteriori on his work' (1984: 3). Beyond such artistic intention, he recognisedthat,
'threats to autonomy result from the increasingly greater interpenetrationbetween the world of art and
the world of money' (Bourdieu cited in Cook 2001). He did not treat the 'high' arts reductively, as he
consideredthem to contain intrinsic importancebeyond class signification.
see9.2.2.
165 Bourdieu perceived the modem artist as fighting for autonomy against the commodification of art on in be one hand and the historical construction of the canon on the other. The paradox was that order to (the an artistic prophet, free to play the important modernist and social role of critic prophet effecting
habitus struggle against the dominant hegemony),the artist had to fight against this ingrained and sequentialmaterial success.Therefore to realise autonomy, the artist had to be poor and excluded, firee from the constraintsof the market and success.But such a romantic conception,was also a paradox.
Being poor and outside of thesecultural parameters,ensured ignominy.
8.5 A Critique of Bourdieu
Bridget Fowler (1999) criticised Bourdieu for failing to recognisefully the male domination of the cultural field and the feminist position, which in turn reflected a lack of reflexivity over his own
position and consequentialcomparative analysis. Also he had no feel for 'popular' culture within
modem urban society and was disparagingabout it. His two positions of the arts as popular or avant-
garde,were oversimplified. She suggestedthat, 'from the point of view of die sociology of culture,
three main problems exist: descriptive statusin relation to relevant comparisons,conception of die
canon and the controversy over popular arf (Fowler 1999: 8).
Richard Jenkins (1992) critiqued him for similar reasons.Firstly, becauseBourdieu failed to account
for thosegreat shifts in artistic production or consumptionwhich challengeddie cultural statusquo, for
instancethe changesthat were instigatedand set in motion by Pablo Picassoor Elvis Presley: Miere is
somethingprofoundly social going on here - explained by neither the critical marketplacenor the
'intrinsic' power of individual 'genius'.... but Bourdieu never quite gets round to broaching die topic.
There is rebellion in his model, but alas, no revolution' (Jenkins 1992: 136-7).
Secondly,another criticism concernedhis edinocentricity. Although steepedin anthropological
method, his model of taste was deemed,'valid beyond the particular French caseand, no doubt, for
every stratified society' (Bourdieu cited in Jenkins 1992: 138). Also Jenkins highlighted his elevated
academicposition and condescensiontowards the working classes,thereby revealing his own taste as
conformist and conservative:
Leavingaside the matter of whetheraesthetic response may in someway be innate,the questionof 166 the role of individual psychology in the creation of tasteand aestheticpreference has some
significance, if only insofar as it may help to account for the non-confon-nistaesthetic impulse....
how in Bourdieu's schemeare we to understand,for examplemodernism? As in the rest of
Bourdieu's work, conformism is of the essence.There is little room for innovation or deviance
except insofar as they representlimited manoeuvreswithin an overall framework of stability.
(1992: 149)
Bourdieurecognised that thearts were directly political andsymbolised social inequality, moreover, cultureand education thereby legitimised the existingrelations of domination.But fie still condemned thoseshort on culturalcapital and determined by a particularhabitus, to a non-creativesideline, whose interestin participationand function, affected any involvementin experimentation.lie remainedrooted 3 a 'high' art there Abraham Maslow's Theory Needs within paradigm, and are similariUes with of , which also failed to fully recognise creativity in certain constituencies.
Dereck Robbins (1991) criticised Bourdieu for his inaccessibility. He is difficult to read, which is not just due to transladon, as he, 'consciously facile adopted .....a presentational strategy which resists any assitrdlation to the preconceived opinions of readers and resists being compartmented in relation to the latest fashionable "-isms", to "movements", or to "schools of dioughC" (Robbins 1991: 1-2).
Ironically, Bourdieu has a highly coded language and gaze not dissimilar to the 'high' arts that lie deconstructs. Robbins, when assessing Distinction, made the wry comment thatý 'readers of die book who were invited to reflect on their own cultural practice would be likely to be precisely those people who would have the power to use their awareness of the mechanisms of "distinction" to develop better strategies for preserving ie (1991: 128). Hence this highly academic language and style does little to engender change or attract interest in these issues outside of those exclusive few already involved. This flaw, backs up the earlier charge that Bourdieu had no empathy for popular culture, conforming to typical 'high' culture disdain. The irony, is that using such an exclusive language to critique the exclusivity of the arts, does little to create a more inclusive discourse.
This posidon is further enforced with regards to artistic autonomy. His position was steeped in the ideal
setout in 113.1 167 that 'high' art could or should be autonomous,free from the interferenceand control of patrons and commerce.This is a questionablehistorical reality, as the art critic Clement Greenberg(1965)
develop basis And in the the famously commented:'no culture can without a social .... caseof avant- garde,this was provided by an elite among the ruling classof that society of which it assumeditself to be cut off, but to which it has always remainedattached by an umbilical cord of gold' (Greenberg
1965: 8). The avant-gardeare the storm troopers of cultural exclusivity which has ultimately been driven by the marketplace.Bourdieu recognisedthat modem an had ceded to fetish value consumedby thosewith sufficient cultural and economic capital, but it is the extent to which it has been commodified that is widely disputed.
John Street (1997) acceptedthat tastecould be determinedby material and class circumstances,but
is determinedby arguedthat, 'the objects of taste- what is acceptable,what unacceptable- are not
This business The judgement tastehas econon-dccircumstances. was the of politics .... sociologý of and
to have an accompanyingpolitics' (Street 1997: 174). The politics of judgement had an obvious
ideological foundation which Street reducedto, 'no more than die disputesthat traditionallyanimate
politics, albeit conductedwithin Cultural Studies' (1997: 174). Hencejudgement was belief basedand
changeable.Such an understandingrejected both relativist and absolutestances, emphasising the
contingencyof values. In which casethere were no absolute standardsand not all judgements were
equally valid. Furthermore, people were highly discerning and not mere passiveconsumers of culture.
He went on to profess that it was the political processbehind what was considered'good' as against
'bad' that embeddedacceptable taste. These aestheticdecisions made by powerful cultural gatekeepers,
pre-determinedall other considerationsof taste,bestowing acceptability and prestige upon certain
cultural products. Hence Street commentedthat, 'The decisionsreached by those who preside over arts
prizes or arts policy, those who decide what to promote and what to ignore, are die products of political
processes4.They are not simply or solely the result of such processes,but they cannot be understood
independentlyof them' (1997: 183). Bourdieu had not emphasisedthis consciouspolitical reality,
although it was integral to his understanding.
explained further in 10.2 168 8.6 Case Study: Outsider Art
Much interest has been shown by the art establishmentin Outsider Art and work createdby those
Gallery inside prison and psychiatric hospital. The prestigious 1996-7 exhibition at the Hayward entitled Beyond Reason.Art and Psychosis.Worksfrom the Prinzhorn Collection showed work producedby inmates from the Heidelberg Mental Asylum. This followed on from a previous exhibition at the Hayward in 1987 entitled In Another world: OutsiderArt, and die earlier OulsiderArt exhibition in 1979. This casestudy investigatesthe extent to which 'outsiders' cati be included through their art, and the extent to which their art is a visible spectacleand indication of abnormality.
8.6.1 Foucault: Art as Disernpowerment
Mark Gisbourne(1996) introduced the Prinzhorn Collection, artwork, produced by thoseincarcerated in
Germaninstitutions, by showinghow it hadhelped construct a statusfor thepatients involved, but was analysedas a scientificobject of study.Accordingly, 'mad' art or 'creativemark-making', the creative productsof thoseinstitutionalised, 'were usedfor diagnosticpurposes in theclassifying of different
stagesof mentalillness and as examples of degeneracy'.
MichelFoucault researched into thehistory of madnessand punishment (1977,1993) with an
underlyinginterest in thepower systems endemic within socialmechanisms involved in constructing
normality.He contendedthat the 'gaze'of thedoctor and ability to seedisease in die patient,
empoweredthe medical establishment, but disempoweredpatients. The, 'Analysisand die clinical
decompose in thatis die itselr gaze.... compose and only orderto revealan ordering naturalorder (1993:94). Similarly,the gaze had, 'the paradoxicalability to beara languageassoon as it perceivesa
spectacle'(1993: 108).Therefore, such a classificationof artworkprimarily reflected psychological
perspectivesin termsof illness,not aestheticconsiderations.
Foucaultcontended that contemporary western societies were disciplinary in nature,and institutions of
incarcerationwere the realisation of theboundary and division between normal and abnormal
behaviour.He arguedthat both hospital and prison were legal mechanisations of socialcontrol, where
nonconformingbehaviour was reformed by controllingtime andspace, thereby classifying patients or
prisonersthrough their illnessor crime.
The exhibitingof OutsiderArt is voyeuristicand strangely contradictory. Although it attemptsto, 169 in speakof a simple human compulsion to make things, or to try and express some way ....a set of
personalmeanings, an attempt at some form of self-reconciliagon....Paradoxically, perhaps,
because this, often feel a senseof psychotic art remains somethingof a private world ....and, of we
anxiety by our exclusion. (Gisbournel996)
In a letterfrom RogerCardinal (who first utilisedthe term Outsider Art) to MauriceTuchman, he discussedthe problem of categorisingsuch arL alluding,
to the creator's social or mental status....[which] seemsunsatisfactory in as much as not every
creator we want to recognise fits so readily into a social or psychological category. I feel strongly
that to label works in a way that stressesthe eccentricity or oddnessof their maker tends to divert
attention from aestheticimpact onto the biographies. (Cardinal cited inTuchman &EIiel 1993: 11)
Such categorisationsas Maverick Art, Isolate Art, SchizophrenicArt, Visionary Art, Inspired Art, Folk
Art and Psychotic Art are used to describeor delineatethese types of art.
8.61 A Social Aesthetic
Whether the work of those institutionalised is comparableto thoseoutside, with both evaluatedin a
similar aestheticmanner is a highly subjective and thorny problem. Notwithstanding, the use of the 5 is highly term, The term 'outsider' is term social aesthetic a cmodvc with welfare connotations . a rigid
classification and signifies that such work has been created whilst removed from 'normal' society.
Tuchman (cited in Tuchman & Eliel 1993: 12) supposed that, 'many well-known artists may appear to
be outsiders due to their alienation; however, alienation alone does not constitute outsidemess'.
Therefore biography, far Erom, 'diverting attention from aesthetic impacC determines any impact, as it
has to conform to strict 'outsider' regulations. This inflexible categorisation included professional
artists only if, 'they fell into illness and became estranged from society'. Correspondingly, this
5 theproblem of consideringsocial or aestheticimpacts was discussed in 5.6.1 170 supposedprivate world aestheticis not obvious in terms of quality or style and cannot alone prove outsiderness,and the defensivenessof such a classificatory procedureshows how vulnerable the quality of such art is.
The aestheticis social in as far as the validation refers to the extremenature of die outsider life and traumasignified by the biography. It alone cannot prove worth, only the accompanimentof die life story validates the quality of the product. But such a social aestheticcharacter can also be seenas a wider critique. Outsider Art is a window into the rubric of the art world, as 'high' art is validated in a similar manner,not through the quality of the aestheticalone, but through tile filter of
CurriculumVitae, which enablescertain people and disables others.
8.63 Parody: Ilie Visible Spectacle as Deterrent
The mythologically excluded and often exclusive artist (supposedlycreating 'autonomous' art) resides on the fringes of society and normality, hence 'outsiders' who have the most extreme amountsof such experienceor capital fit the label, but as a parody.
Colin Rhodes (2000) took a wider definition of 'outsider'. which still retained a conformityand symmetry:
The artist outsidersare, by definition, fundamentally different to their audience,often thought
of as being dysfunctional in respectto the parametersfor normality set by the dominant culture....
the emergenceof a heterogeneousgroup has been made possible which includes those labelled as
dysfunctional through pathology because be in ...or criminality ....or they appearto some way
anachronistic,or are seenas un(der)developedor often simply becauseof a cultural identity and
religious belief that is perceived as significantlydifferent. (Rhodes2000: 7-8)
This processof labelling the 'outsider', has other historical connotations.
Foucault referred to the growth of public works in l8th and 19th century France, set in motion in order to occupy the time of criminals and as a pay back to society. The miscreant worked in slavery for the public good to atone for misdemeanours.The social debts of prisoners were therefore re-paid in terms of labour. By putting prisoners to work in public places, this acted as a visible deterrent to anyone else 171 in society intent on a life of crime. He understoodthat such forced visible labour was intended to humiliate:
A secretpunishment is a punishmenthalf wasted.Children should be allowed to come to the
placeswhere the penalty is being carried out; there they will attend their classesin civics. And
grown men will periodically relearn the laws. Let us conceive of placesof punishment as a garden
of the laws that families should visit on Sundays. (Foucault 1977: 111)
The high visibility of such 'outsiders, made them a conspicuousspectacle. The exhibiting of Outsider
Art has the same function. The traditional circus freak show of midgets, beardedladies and deformity, to be mocked but also held up as examplesof degeneracy.Ironically, 'high' artists are also parodied in a similar fashion.
8.6A Art Brut and Access to the MaInstrearn
JeanDubuffet (Morris 1993: 79-87; Dubuffet 1992: 593-5) was die original champion of Artl3rutin the 1940's. He believed in the natural rawnessof this art (as againstbeing culturally cooked) and its random, unplannednature, which reflected somethingprimordial about the artist, who was a sliaman, expressingpure undiluted vision. Ironically, the less acceptableand excluded they becamein
society, the more pure their work. Such inverse (or perverse)logic exposesdie art world in its never-
ending searchfor novelty and extremism. Outsider Art is the epitome of monological self-refercncing
art, paralleling the exclusive modernist canon.
Colin Rhodesgave the example of Albert Loudon, an English self-taught artist and,
by the Outsider Art because Loudon recent casualty of rejection orthodoxy, of artistic ambition....
found himself subject to the fate of many marginal artists; as he seemingly "came W' from the
outside, his old support dwindled, while mainstreamacceptance failed to materialise.... his critics
arguedconveniently that his interest in his own successwas deemedto have adversely affected the
quality of his production. (2000: 17-20)
172 The paradox wasn't lost on Rhodes.By 'outsiders' engagingwith the art world and society, they may be lifted out of their social categoryof 'outsider', to a category of 'ordinary' and the anonymity that accompaniesit. Again biography that determinesthe aestheticquality of artistic output, the aesthetic itself bears little weight. Hence engagingwith society can be a mixed blessing.
There are parallels with other categoriesof the socially excluded.For instance,die statusof being a criminal or drug addict may be more appealingthan an 'ordinary' lifestyle. In which casesocial exclusion can securesocial prestigeand distinction.
8.6.5 A Welfare Model of Outsiders: Art Works In Mental Ilealth
In oppositionto theOutsider Art phenomenonof incorporatingartists from hospitaland prison into the
'high' art pantheon,there is a welfareorientated attitude and framework. This waswell illustratedby
theArt Worksin MentalHealth Programme 2002. This travellingexhibition was designed to,
4showcasedie work andthereby increase understanding of die role of art andartistic expression in die
livesof people....affected by mentalill health'.It visitedfive galleriesin London,Glasgow, Leeds,
Cardiff andB irmingharn(artworksinmentallieal th.co. uk 2002).
In this exhibition,artists were not treatedas artists but asmental health patients who werecreative.
This wassymbolised by the lackof biographicaldetail given about eich artistwhose pictures lacked
evena title. Eachexhibit was titled solelywith thename and number of eachartist, empliasising die
institutionalisedframework and foundation of theexhibition. The exhibitionin Londonwas held
adjacentto thethe Dali Universeexhibition and personality cult of die deceasedSpanish surrealist
SalvadorDali. This wasin starkcontrast to thelack of personalitiesin die An Works in MentalIlealth
exhibition,which waseven held in two roomsentitled Space 2 andSpace 3. It wassardonic that a
'high' artistusing madness as a themewith quotessuch as, 'The fact thatI myselfdo not understand
themeaning of my paintingsat the time I am paintingthem does not meanthat theyhave no meaning'
(SalvadorDali 2002),was exhibited adjacent to an exhibitionpurporting to promoteinclusiveness for
thementally ill.
The exhibition'sadvertising slogan, 'The Only Thing You NeedTo Bring Is An OpenMind',
contrastedwith the styleof curationwhich was totally impersonal,further distancing the artists from
theaudience. Whereas there was little biographicaldetail concerning theartists (for the stated 173 protection of artists), there were displays describing the work of the National Health Service Trusts and mental health creative networks, information about the institutions that enabledthe exhibition to occur.
Furthermorethe exhibition was sponsoredby Pfizer Limited, a multi-national drugs company, involved in supplying die National Health Service with the very medicines used to help alleviate the condition of the artists. There was a host of information explaining the company and promoting it.
The exhibition containedmuch interesting and original work, this multi-arts format included creative writing as well as a range of visual artworks. The quality of die work was exceptional in cases,and only the curatorial policy of presentingsuch artwork within the framework of mcntal health, signalled to the viewer that it was not 'high' art.
With regardsto issuesof social exclusion, one poem by Anthony Fisher 03189, encapsulatedthe problem:
We don't want to be here,
Neidierdo we want to be
Out there.
In here
We suffer
In silence. (Art Works in Mental Health 2002)
The mentaUyiU may not want to be included into mainstreamsociety, nor excluded in a long-term
institution. They want a third way.
8.6.6 The Conundrum
Thesetwo perspectives,'outsiders' as high artists or as patients with an artistic side, was an issue and 6 conundrumrepresented by the disabled actor Matt Fraser(2002a), in his play Sealboy Freak.
The dilemma was whether as an actor Fraserwas more empoweredas a monster in a freak show or as a
6 andsubsequent Television programme entitled 'Freak' 174 I be disabledartist pitied by the audience,'Clearly, there's a problem. As a disabled actor will ever seenas just an actor, or will I only ever be seenas a freak who actsT (Fraser2002b). In his television programme,he sought to answer this questionby researchingthe American freak shows, and particularly Stanley Berent, an entertainerwhose stagename was 'Sealo'. He had the samecondition as
Fraser,phocomenia (short arms). The routine he wrote into his play, which was shown at die 7 Edinburgh Fringe 2001, and later in London
Fraser contended that, 'The mainstream will only see a disabled performer in die same way that they
view a performing sea], very clever, butjust mimicry. No, no it can't be like that anymore, we've all
moved on, people are no longer more fascinated by how I do things rather than what I'm saying. I am
an actor not a fucking freak' (2002b).
He was obsessed with this problem as to whether lie was an actor or a freak, lience lie wrote a one-man
play which revolved around two characters, Sealo and Tam, the first based on Bervit, a freak in a
freakshow, the second a disabled actor trying to find work. The point made was that there was little to
separate the audience that watched theatre, from die one that watched die freakshow. Th6reforc Fraser
had 'performers limited in they're to do [whereas] a problem with theatre, as, are what allowed .... a
freakshow still appears to be the only stage where we can take the leading role' (2002b). Irrespective of
how the disabled actor performed on stage, the audience looked at die physical difference. lie
that, 'Freak for beyond the disability, I thavs for to concluded or actor ....as seeing the actor reckon you
decide, for you to work out what it is that you want to see, so go on, use your imagination' ( 2002b).
Interpretation and the framing of art and culture, are beyond the bounds of individual artists, such
structures are socially determined and condition individual choice.
8.6.7 Insider, Outsiders and the Power of Society
From a Foucauldian perspective,the historical emphasison the utility of work and education in die
transformationof institutionally based 'outsiders', back into socially acceptable'insiders', was not
concernedwith the needsand aspirationsof the individual. It reflected the power of society to engineer
a 'normalisation' and the punishmentsand cures it could legitimately carry out to achieve this. Hence
7 at the Oval House Theatre (Fraser 2002a) 175 his use of the term 'docile bodies', to describethe powerlessnessof this constituency.Foucault explainedthis in terms of criminals, although the disabled inherit a similar penalty, wrapped up in the inadequacyof the physical body or mind, for which they are also punished:
We must rid ourselvesof the illusion that penalty is above all (if not exclusively) a meansof
reducing crime and that, in this role, according to the social forms, die political systemsor beliefs,
it may be severeor lenient, tend towards expiation of obtaining redress,towards die pursuit of
individuals But die or the attribution of collective responsibility.... we can surely accept general
proposition that, in our societies,the systemsof punishment are to be situated in a certain 'political
body it is body is issue die body its forces, economy' of the .... always the that at - and their utility and
their docility, theirdistribution and their submission. (1977: 24-5)
Accordingly, Outsider Art represents'Outsiders' as 'normality in die way that society and particularly
the art world wants them portrayed. It is a categoryof exclusion, irrespectiveof die wishes of
audiencesor artists, that denies such people accessto die mainstream.Success is conditioned by their
freaky spectacle,which is a deterrent to others.This social role is far removed from any principle
concerning their social inclusion.
8.6.8 Conclusion
There are two frameworks utilised for understandingart createdin hospital and prison.
Firstly, the 'high' art model and category of Outsider Ar4 with highly prescriptive and elitist rules as to
who is allowed entry into this hallowed society. Notoriety is dependenton die cult of personality and
thereforebiography determinesthe authority of die artwork. This is a parody of die mythologically
excluded 'high' artist.
Secondly,there is a welfare model, in which the personality of artists is negated,and subjugatedto the
welfare organisationsthat permit and enablethem to createar4 whilst looking after their interests.The
implication, is that the art helps to normalise thesepeople for re-integration back into society. The
former systemis gearedtowards cultural inclusion within the 'high' art canon, the latter is predicated
on social inclusion into society. Unfortunately, they appearto be mutually exclusive. 176 in Fraserencapsulated the conundrum,as did not want to be patronisedas a disabled actor, limited what he was seento be able to do, unable to take a leading role in theatre,hence his fascination with freak shows, which he felt were empowering. But, unfortunately in both situations, the disabled were
'visible' through their disability, not ability. As the poem from Fisher described,such a constituency wanted a third option.
Foucault describedsuch 'outsiders' as 'docile bodies', powerlessto control or influence public perceptionsor their own normalisation, occupying a position within society as a spectacle,that functioned as a deterrent to others.
8.7 Summary
This chapterinvestigated cultural inclusion and the concept of taste.This wasgrounded in Pierre
Bourdieu'stheory of culturalcapital, which concernedboth theinherited and leamt qualitative and quantitativeaccumulation of culture.Through his anthropologicaland sociological analysis of culture andaesthetic judgement, he claimedthat notions of beautywere socially constructed. He likened artistictaste to culinarytaste, in which intrinsicdifference in preferencewas due to enculturisationand prestige.Underlying this simpleanalogy were far morecomplex propositions. His centralproposal was
thatthe categorisationof cultureinto 'high', 'middle' and'low brow' tastereflected class liabitus or
ingrainedattitudes. Accordingly, this gavea sociologicalperspective on therelevance and
inaccessibilityof the 'high' artsfor thosewith low culturalcapital, die sociallyexcluded for instance,
andthe importance of educationin allowingmobility of taste.In orderto be includedinto the art world,
therules of art hadto be leamt.He recogniseddie interpenetrationof this world with thatof finance,
whichundermined its autonomy.He wasconcerned with die role of culturein reproducingsocial
inequality,especially as 'high' art wasan exclusivecategory, inaccessible to the majorityof people.
But Bourdieuwas highly critical of 'popular' culture,and failed to realisethe importance of other
culturalperspectives, hence his fundamentalassumption that 'high brow' hadmore value.
Unfortunatelyhis intellectualgaze and language are highly inaccessible,reflecting his binarylogic.
Criticsattacked him for failing to acknowledgethe male domination of thecultural field, andlack of a
pluralisticperspective. Similarly, his distastefor 'popular'culture and cultural diversity, illustrated an
understandingwhich wasoversimplified and clumsy. Neither could his modelexplain die changesthat 177 have occurred within the western canon,or the effect of particular artists or movements,on boa, popular and 'high' art evolution. Also, arguably, this canon has never been autonomous,hence this position has more to do with cultural mythology than reality. B ut most scathingly, it was his academicismand style of languageused that paralleled 'high' culture, and although he deconstructed the arts, he seemednot to want to affect change.The 'high' arts remain exclusive and not for all.
The casestudy researcheddie 'high' art taste category of Outsider Art, portrayed by three major exhibitions at the Hayward Gallery. It explained the exclusive 'outsider' regulations, which mimicked and parodied 'high' art classification, where biography supportedclaims of artistic quality. The problem was the extent to which the exhibition of such work was perceivedas freakish spectacle,or die pinnacle of monological self-referencingart. But the 'outsider' artist Loudon was an example of how increasedsocial inclusion and normality was at the expenseof cultural status. His rejection within die category,was directly related to his artistic ambition.
The casethen explored Foucault's understandingof the power systemssurrounding the mechanismsof constructingnormality, and how abnormality (in this instancedie art category) had been used as a it visible deterrent. was an artificial construct, in which aestheticappreciation was socially determined and the arts were disempowering,denoting illness. This welfare model was exemplified by die Art
Works in Mental Health Programme2002, which treatedthese artists primarily as patients.
The conundrum for disabled and institutionalised artists was expressedby the disabled actor Matt
Fraser,who railed against the limitations imposed on him as an actor, suggestingthat performing in a
freak show was more empowering than working in the theatre,as lie was perceived by audiencesas
limited becauseof his disability. He neither wanted to be patronisedas a disabled actor, or gawked at
as a freak. In terms of inclusion, this was not possible on his terms.
The 'outsider' or disabled artist as a social spectaclereflects die boundary betweennormality and
abnormality revealing issuesof power and social control. Hence the relevanceof a Foucauldian
analysisof society which exposedits power to engineer 'normalisation', and helped expressand
explain the difficult relationship betweencultural and social inclusion/exclusion.
178 Chapter 9. Cultural Democracy
9.1' Introduction
The accessibility and relevanceof the arts is the primary considerationof cultural democracy.The historian, Robert Hewison (1995: 310) expressedthe, 'need to make contemporaryculture more representativeof contemporarysociety' reflecting its pluralistic character.The researchtherefore investigatesa cultural democracyaround which a more inclusive agendacan be gathered.It covers a discoursesurrounding the importanceof democratising die 'high' arts, die accessibility of die cultural industries,and die importance of a 'common' culture steepedin massconsumerism. It reassessesdie historical antagonismbetween the Community Arts Movement and die Arts Council in light of die current governmentagenda of social inclusion. Finally, it presentsa casestudy constructedaround
Boal's 'Theatre of the Oppressed',to exemplify how drama can be utilised to enablecultural democracy.
9.2 The Cultural Industries
There is much debateas to whether the cultural industriesaid the processof dcrnocratising 'high' culture, or are a threat to its survival.
92.1 As a Driver for Dernocratising Culture
Traditionally the 'high' art canon has been selective about democratisingculture, encapsulatedby such writers as Kenneth Clark and die Classical School Eromthe right, and Theodor Adomo and die
Frankfurt School from the left. The common ground was die protection of the 'high' art canon from die
influencesof massculture and its driver, the cultural industries.
In contrastAugustin Girard (1981) took the position that the cultural industries, by making 'high'
culture accessibleto more people, aided the processof democratising it. Furthermore,that there was an
inevitability about this processas, 'the ways in which culture f aids expressionand die developmentof
its content and to be increasingly determined by industrialization role are seen ... the of the systemsof
production and dissemination of cultural messages,whether in die form of products or of services'
(Girard 1981: 11).
179 Thesechanges have been brought about by 'cultural machines' and the resulting technological explosionof the past thirty years.He arguedthat although the cultural industries were at the epicentre of cultural life, cultural policies had been lopsided due to the traditioniii 'high' arts antipathy to diem.
Hencethe need to develop a relationship betweencultural policy-making and the cultural industries.
Although there has been somemovement in this direction in the past twenty years, 'This process....cannot be advanced,or even embarkedupon seriously, unless it is basedon information and facts that make it possible to get away from die antithesisof businessand culture, or art and industry, which is as false as it is facile' (1981: 25). This dialectical position had allowed the 'high' art idiom and canon to control policy whilst remaining aloof from die wider culture, preventing any real synthesis.
Girard contendedthat the cultural industries disseminatedculture beyond a minority audience,and becausetheir products were relatively inexpensive,were an accessiblestarting point for generating interest in 'higher' culture, thereby promoting, democratisingand decentralising it. Moreover, fie arguedthat the term 'quality' was underpinnedby intellectual snobbery,which was a contributory factor towards the 'high' 'a kind from die bulk why arts encountered, of resistance of people.... whereas thosevery people [were] receptive to other messagesaffecting their life - styles and consumption patterns' (1981: 26). He arguedagainst cultural policy basedon this exclusive agenda,as it served,
&onlyto give a little more to those who are already the "haves" as regardsculture and money' (1981:
26). Such a viewpoint acceptedthat there are many different cultural worlds, but that 'high' art was predominantly alien to the majority.
Howard Becker (1982) coined the term 'art worlds' in order to understandthat 'arf had to be viewed in a wider and coHectivemanner, as there was a proliferation of different types of artistic circles (in die broadestsense of the phrase),some related, others disparate.Different artists were embroiled in a highly complex network of people: suppliers, critics, dealers,consumers and curators for instance,who all helped 'produce' the work of art. He also included the audienceas part of this world, therefore dissolving the distinction between artist and audience.His interest was in the collective nature of
artistic creation, refusing to consider the individual artist as any more than another worker. Art was
shapedby the activity of all the relevant agentsin a particular relationship of networks. Any
understandingof the arts thereby remained tied up with an awarenessof the wider social system which 180 createdand defined it, and the culture within which it operated.He maintained that,
Though the basic idea seemscommonplace, many of its implications are not. Thus, it seemsobvious
to say that if everyone whose work contributes to the finished art work does not do his part, the
work will come out differently. But it is not obvious to pursue the implication that it then becomesa
problem to decide which of all thesepeople is the artist, while die others are only support personnel.
(Becker 1982: x)
He questionedthe traditional humanistic and aestheticorientation of analysis, in terms of taking die artist and work of art as the focus of investigation. He also rejected die idea that any particular art was intrinsically better than any other.
His conceptcan be expandedto include all art forms and styles, and by including the audience,a particular constituency that relates to a particular 'art world'. Obviously theseconstituencies overlap,
for instancea jazz lover, may also enjoy and relate to Slavonic Folk Music, Baroque Music and Punk
Rock. It could also transverseart form. Such ajazz lover may have pluralistic tastesthat include an
interest in Classical Ballet, Art Deco, Morris Minor cars, and television soap operas.This postmodem
'pick and mix' menu reflects a consumersociety with preferences.The cultural industries play a huge
part in this, as they allow accessto these 'art worlds' through reproduction. By assessingculture and
the arts in such a fashion, from a wider collective and audienceperspective, the traditional obsession
with individual 'high' artists and their intention lessensin significance.
922 As a Ilireat to IlIgh Culture
The argumentagainst die cultural industries is typified by a fundamentaldistrust of die profit motive
which trarislateseverything into a form of entertainment.Accordingly, massculture has been accused
of devaluing the creative act, threateningand 'dumbing' down culture.
Theodor Adorno (1991) who precededGirard (writing in the mid 20th century), used a Marxist
template,insisting that culture would regressunder the influence of commercial product. This he
considereddehumanising and alienating as it too readily supportedthe cultural consensusand did little
to advancethe arts, modernism or progress. 181 in 1947 He is alleged to have invented the term 'culture industry' with his colleagueMax Horkheimer
(Adomo 1991: 98). His argument that massproduced artefacts refer back, 'to the standardizationof the
thing itself (1991: 100) and that the, 'total effect of the culture industry is one of anti-
[which] impedesthe development autonomous,independent individuals' (199 1: enlightenment.... of
106), reflected the view that cultural products were tailored for consumption,and lacked a productive
creativity and spontaneity. He warned that they should be distinguishedfrom popular 'low' art
by production basedon creativity not consumption,which had been increasingly appropriated the
cultural industries.
By transferringprofit onto cultural forms, the culture industry was an extensionof capitalism, driven
by economicsrather than aestheticautonomy. Hence he consideredthat, 'The concoctionsof the
culture industry are neither guides for a blissful life, nor a new art of moral responsibility, but rather
exhortationsto toe the line, behind which stand the most powerful interests.The consensuswhich it
propagatesstrengthens blind, opaqueauthority' (1991: 105).
His elitist 'high' art stanceand revolutionary Marxist interest in overcoming capitalism (and its
representativethe culture industry), seemscontradictory. Jay Bernstein (1991) encapsulatedthis
problem by referring to the, 'evident strain involved in a thesiswhich claims autonomous,bourgeois art
is what sustainsthe true universality of the claims of the oppressed,while the arts produced for the
masses,is critiqued as the reproduction of the alienatedneeds of masssociety' (Bernstein 1991: 7).
But Adomo is important as he presentedanother angle on cultural democracyand democratising
culture, illuminating the instrumental agendasunderpinning the arts, connecting them to wider socio-
economicand political frameworks. Therefore he pursuedthe ideal of autonomousart and artists, free
from such restrictions and determinants', a Bolshevik avant-gardemovement behind which the masses
followed.
93 A Grounded Aesthetic
This investigation explores the exclusive perception of the arts and contraststhis with a relevant
inclusive 'conunon' culture. In contrast to the traditional 'high' arts formulation, an aestheticfamework
1a widercritique of capitalismand autonomy can be foundin 12.4 182 groundedin the reality of life, re-connectingit to lived culture, is explored. But arguably, the simulated lost. natureof culture disqualifies a 'grounded' aesthetic,as the reality principle has been
9.3.1 Art as Exclusion, Culture as Inclusion
It can be argued that the arts are exclusive whilst culture is inclusive, The evaluation researchon the 2 by Glasgow University for SAC found the for a arts and social exclusion conducted the , need
in champion to advocate the arts, as they were not generally perceived as relevant the context of inclusion. Evidence that the 'arts' are narrowly conceived in terms of the 'high' arts, was also indicated by the Arts Council's own Public Attitudes to the Arts. This showed that fewer than 30% of those questioned recognised rock music, fiction, digital arts and circus skills as art forms. That the traditional
'high' arts were perceived by over 75% as constituting the arts, further embedded this opinion (Arts
Council of England 2000: 34).
Paul Willis (1990) researchedyouth culture in terms of constructing and providing an argument for why, 'The institutions and practices,genres, and terms of high art are currently categoriesof exclusion more than inclusion' (Willis 1990: 1). He concludedthat art had becomeseparated from culture, and had becomeinstitutionalised. He referred to this as a, "'hyperinstitutionalization" of "arf' - the completedissociation of art from living contextswhere the merely formal featuresof art can become
the guaranteeof its "aesthetic!', rather than its relevanceand relation to real-life processesand
concerns' (1990: 2-3). Underpinning this position was the, 'myth of the special artist! fighting the
Medusaof massconsumerism, and maintaining an elitist position for the arts.
Willis 'high' had, 'lost its dominance [and] also assertedthat the elitist culture .... now the very senseor
pretence,of a national "whole culture!' and of hierarchiesof values, activities and places within it is
breaking down' (1990: 128). Young people were disinterestedin this conception of the arts, but had a
thriving and relevant culture. This he called the 'common' culture.
93.2 The Common Culture
This 'common' culture consistedof much cross-referencingof the symbolic resourcesof mass culture.
2 see6.3 183 For instance:TV, video, computers,films, advertsand magazines.Willis also included style and fashion, and especially music in terms of home recording, latest musical styles and black music. He went further, including pub culture and street survival as part of a lived in culture. Creativity was symbolic and vested in signs of massculture. This abstractbricolage concept of re-interpreting, or re- taking visual or aural signification, he termed as 'grounding' the aesthetic,making it relevant. He acceptedconsumerism and the commodity culture, as it referred to the, 'dynamic and living qualities of everyday culture' (Willis 1990: 18). On one level, it taps into life, but on another it is driven by a particular ideology and simulated reality, a hyperreality which is far from attainable.
The cultural theorist Jim McGuigan (1992: 10) understoodthis 'common' culture to be a form of
Such discovery 'romantic to Classicism [and] break cultural populism. a was a, reaction .... attempt to with excessivelyformalistic, dry and unernotionalart'. There was a sentimentality attachedto the ordinary people, 'their apparentspontaneity and disregard for propriety, their "naturalness"'. Such idealism was steepedin a recoveredand re-created,'organic past in contrast to a "mechanicar' present'..Moreover, as McGuigan dryly attested,the conceptof popular culture was the creation of the very sameintellectuals of culture, not the ordinary people. Hence it was central to a clash of ideologies within the cultural field and beyond.
But there are obvious similarities betweenpopular culture and the 'high' arts. All the symbols are mutable, re-interpretableand re-translatable.The signs of 'high' art have been utilised by the advertising industry, and much modem art usesmass produced materials. There is no clear-cut de- lineation between this 'high' art canon and the wider culture. Possibly,jazz has been more transparent in its re-cycling of ideas, which is why it has traditionally sat awkwardly between 'high' and 'popular'
Arguably, culture. massculture is driven by the new ideas appropriatedfrom the 'high' arts (a cynic could argue theseroles in reverse).Each appropriating from the other.
Accordingly, Paul Duncurn (2001: 103) confirmed that, 'The once clear distinction betweenhigh and low longer culture no holds' and eachartist or musician freely borrows from wherever he or she can.
The 'high' art canon may have been appropriatedfor exclusive concerns,but the images and styles associatedwith the canon have becomediffused into the generalculture, a form of leakage.The art institutions far are from hermetically sealedoff from life, and the 'high' art produced, createsyet more symbols and meaningsfor the pool of signs from which the 'common' culture is determined. 184 933 Real and Simulated Culture
It is important to investigatewhether culture can be groundedin reality, as set out by Willis and his
'grounded' aesthetic.Also, to assesswhether the wider culture is in tune with living contexts, or if it too, like the arts, is 'hyperinstitutionalised' and removed from real life processes.Arguably, if a
&common'culture dependson and utilises signifiers and symbols from massculture, this leavespeople strandedin a morassof advertising signifiers. It would follow that increasedsimulation increases exclusion from real life.
Baudrillard (1988) took the position that the real world had been reduced to a simulation and constructedthree historical orders of simulacra,culminating in today's hyperreal society. There was no reality principle, as one simulacrurn referred to another,without referenceto it. He attackedAmerican culture and commodification in particular:
Disneyland is there to conceal the fact that it is the 'real' country, all of 'real' America, which
is Disneyland Oust as prisons are there to conceal the fact that it is the social in its entirety, in its
banal omnipresence,which is carceral). Disneyland is presentedas imaginary in order to make us
believe that the is It is longer false (ideology), rest real.... no a question of a representationof reality
but of concealing the fact that the real is no longer real, and thus of saving the reality principle.
(Baudrillard 1988: 172)
He arguedthat we desperatelyneeded an analysis of imagesand ideologies, in order to save this reality pnnciple:
today, reality itsey'is hyperrealistic. The secretof surrealismwas that the most banal reality could
becomesurreal, but only at privileged moments, which still derived from art and the imaginary.
Now the whole of everyday political, social, historical, econon-dcreality is incorporated into the
simulative dimension of hyperrealism; we already live out the 'aesthetic' hallucination of reality.
The old saying, 'reality is s=ger than fiction, ' which belonged to the surrealist aestheticizationof
life, has been surpassed.There is no longer a fiction that life can confront, even in order to surpass
it; reality has passedover into the play of reality, radically disenchanted. (1988: 146) 185 Reality had becomea fiction, and the 'common' culture was just anothermanifestation of this. But there is a breakthroughpoint or thresholdbeyond which the re-interpretationof the signifiers of mass culture can be taken back into a public reality and ownership, for instancein terms of youth subcultures 3. and their lifestyles The simulated fiction is re-incorporatedback into the 'reality principle', but on different terms and within a paradigm of meaning that is relevant to those involved. But Baudrillard took a bleak and nihilistic attitude, whereby once simulated and within a field of simulacra, reality was lost, locked in its own fantasy.
To dissimulateis to feign not to have what one has. To simulate is to feign to have what one
hasn't. One implies a presence,the other an absence.But the matter is more complicated, since
to simulate is not simply to feign..... Thus, feigning or dissimulating leaves die reality principle
intact: the difference is always clear, it is only masked;whereas simulation threatensdie difference
between 'true' and 'false', between 'real' and 'imaginary'. Since the simulator produces 'true'
symptoms,is he or she ill or not? The simulator cannotbe treatedobjectively either as ill, or as not
ill. (1988: 167-8).
Simulation is therefore like a virus that imitates reality, but ultimately works against the needsand health of the organism, or in this casethe society or culture involved. But Baudrillard ignored the human and individual representationof reality, as though it was createdbeyond and outside of individuals in an objective manner.Whether reality is simulatedor not, individuals createtheir reality which refers to their needsand experiences.This may be phoney in some way, but this does not deny individuals making it personal and relevant and a 'reality' for them. There are relative degreesof hypefferality, but always a representationof some degreeof reality albeit wrapped and mixed up in the distortions and simulacra. Baudrillard despairedof the world to the extent that he included everything into his paradigm of fiction: 'when the real is no longer what it used to be, nostalgia assumesits full meaning.There is a proliferation of myths of origin and signs of reality-,of second-handtruth,
3 see 10.5.6 and the casestudy on ReggaeMusic 186 (1988: 171). But objectivity and authenticity. There is an escalationof the true, of the lived experience' one of the problems, as Baudrillard himself contested,was the impossibility of distinguishing and isolating simulation from reality as it is inextricably tied up with it. By stating that everything was veering towards simulation he repressedany possibility of reality peering through in some way, an extremeposition borne out of his nihilism and dialectical reasoning.
BecauseBaudrillard had come from a radical Marxist position he desperatelywanted, 'to re-inject realnessand referentiality everywhere,in order to convince us of the reality of the social, of the gravity of the economyand the finalities of production' (1988: 179), as a strategyagainst this invidious invasion of simulacra,hence his obsessionwith simulation and the loss of the reality principle.
There are certain experiencesand emotions in life that are atavistic and primeval, theseartists have continually attemptedto capture,and they are entwined in a rubric and network that is partially simulatedand a partial reality. Those massiveuniversal life events,the birth of a child, and death of a loved one for instance.Such reality sits adjacentto the massof simulacra. Here the arts become a bridge betweenthese positions, bringing togetheran understandingand reconciliation of fact and fiction, reality and simulation, yin and yan, the individual and society. In which casethe arts can be seenas a reality injector, enabling people to be in touch with themselves,their community and a wider humanity. In practice, this was well illustrated by the Community Arts Movement, which was designed to enablethose excluded from the 'high' arts to actively expressthemselves artistically through a
&common'culture of interestsand experiences.
9.4 Ile Community Arts Movement
The Community Arts Movement, had an altogetherdifferent cultural and socio-political understanding of the arts beyond conceptsof spreading'high' art aesthetics.It was spawnedin the 1960sas a democraticattempt to make the arts relevant to a wider constituency.To some extent it was a reflection of a new youth culture rebelling against official traditional formats. It was unasharnedlyexperimental and counter cultural, but still steepedin the creative arts. It arguably failed to recognisecultural diversity, steepedin issuesof class rather than etlinicity.
187 9A. 1 History of Antagonism
The Arts Council investigatedthe phenomenonof 'community' arts, through the Baldry Report, published in 1974. On the one hand it viewed the movement as, 'A new developmentin the arts', but on the other it asked: 'Should the Arts Council be involvedT (Arts Council of Great Britain 1974: 7-9).
It recognisedthat it poseda challengeto Arts Council hegemony,but also that the more experimental areascould be re-incorporatedinto the 'high' art cannon.
The Working Party was undecidedas to whether 'community art producedacceptable art, but agreed that it neededsupport. It decided,
be [but] The that community arts should treatedas a separatecategory ... concern of community
artists with processrather than product, with the effect of their work on the community rather than
the achievementof standardsacceptable to specialistsin the various art forms, sharply differentiates
their aims and activities, and consequentlythe criteria by which they should be assessed,from those
expectedin other categoriesthrough which the council operates.In addition there are severalother
ways in which community arts work cuts acrossdistinctions and patternsof thought which
underlie most of the Council's work.
It cuts acrossthe distinction betweenparticular art forms..jand] as a group they pay little or no
to the boundariesbetween forms It distinction between attention art .... cuts across professional,
and amateur....[and] The division betweenexperimental and non-experimentalis also scarcely
acceptable. (1974: 134)
That 'community' arts did not fit into Arts Council categories,cutting as it did acrossdifferent media and the artistic boundariesthat it had determined,which supportedJohn Pick's criticism of the Council as being overly bureaucraticand controlling. His claim was that 'it is the bureaucracythat must respondto arf (Pick 1991: 103), not the other way round. But crucially, the Community Arts
Movement evaluatedits work, in terms of the, 'effect on the community rather than by the standardof an end-product' (Arts Council of Great Britain 1974: 16), which allowed the Arts Council to dismiss such projects as lacking sufficient aestheticvalue. Ironically, it was precisely those community based projectswith an experimentaldynamic that were the most challenging to its hegemony.Hence 188 dcommunity'art was kept a distinct category away from 'high' art, in order not to devalue the cannon.
Owen Kelly (1984) recognisedthe problems describedin the Baldry Report, in terms of the extent to which the Community Arts Movement had been misrepresented.He showedhow the Association of
Community Artists (ACA) had sold out to the Arts Council in order to garner funding and resourcesfor the movement.He paraphrasedand ridiculed Iord Gibson, then chairman of the Arts Council, who viewed the aims of 'community' arts as enabling, 'people to be creative solely so that they can learn about art from the inside, find out how much they have been missing, pull themselvestogether and start attending galleries, theatresand concert halls' (Kelly 1984: 19).
Kelly perceived the Community Arts Movement as therefore,
fashionedby its desire to seek funding, and by its willingness to ignore die price that was extracted
for that funding - in the progressiveloss of control over the direction of the movement and its ability
to construct a programme to put its aims into practice.... more and more groups [were] organised
around the criteria espousedby the funding agencies. (1984: 24)
Such funder control re-establishedthe cultural hegemony,away from issuesof cultural rights and
democracy,where creativity was a driver for empowering and emancipatingthe culturally excluded.
Therefore, historically, the Arts Council has not been inclusive in its policies or understanding,so there
is more than a touch of irony with regardsto its interest and concern to put social inclusion at the heart 4- of its policy today
9.42 Problems with the Community Arts Movement
Kelly (1984: 18) set out the difficulties describedby the Baldry Report.
Firstly, thesewere political, due to the fact that the movement was in opposition to 'high' art and
critical of the Arts Council's elitist, 'few but roses' attitude. Hence its slogan of, 'let a million flowers
bloom'.
Secondly,because of, 'the difference betweena belief in collective creativity and a belief that creativity
asset out in 3.5 189 is essentiallyand necessarilyindividual'.
Thirdly, an emphasison processand active participation, as it was,
not what was being done that is interesting but how it was being done. In fact it was precisely in
the areaof technique (in the usual sense)that community artists were breaking new ground. They
were devising methodsof working which were basedaround groups, and they were trying to develop
ways in which the groups could draw upon the strengthsand weaknessesof the people involved, and
in which every member could make a contribution without feeling debarredby the stronger or more
confident members.
Fourthly, becausethe projects were run by 'animateurs', a term that refers to facilitator-come-artists,
with relevant social skills. They were neither amateursor professionals,so they could not be classified
by existing structures.This was a radical departurefrom and challengeto Arts Council classification of
art worthy of subsidy.
Lastly, the activities were socially and culturally inclusive, on the terms of those participating. Kelly
assumedthat,
The intentions of those who had started the community arts movement had been to enable working
people to be creative in ways that would make their creativity socially effective... they believed that
people's new-found effectivenessin the areaof creativity would raise their morale and lead them to
seek to empower themselvesin other areasof their lives... it was everybody's right to participate in
the shaping in the world in which they lived. (1984: 21-2).
But the Arts Council saw, 'no basic contradiction or dichotomy between 'community' arts and
establishedarts. Support for the one should not, and need not, involve hostility towards the other. The
two should be complimentary' (Arts Council of Great Britain 1977: 9). Furthermore, it expandedon
this themeconfuming that part of its, 'purpose [was] to ensurethat a larger portion of the population
enjoys some worthwhile form of artistic experiencethan at present' (1977: 9), which was an admission
that its policies thus far had been unsuccessfulwith regardsto involving die majority of citizens. Kelly 190 likened this attitude to, 'herding community artists into reservationsin the barren areasof the establishedterrain' (1984: 21), with a total lack of consideration for context.
Interestingly, it was in referenceto the 'community' arts that the use of the word 'evaluation' was first used in its reports (Arts Council of Great Britain 1974; 1977). This was in contrast to traditional subjectivejudgements made of the 'high' arts, which lacked transparency.In which case,the use of 5 evaluation is symbolically steepedin a struggle and methodology of control
9.43 The Arts as Excellence, Entertainment or Reflection of Community
The Arts Council 1976-7Annual Report insisted that the quality of community art projects had to be assessed.It also suggestedthat 'The word "excellence!', so long usedin Arts Council parlance,is an affront to those who think (quite wrongly) that it involves a rejection of popular arts in favour of the grandestand most expensiveart forms' (1977: 9). And yet, there was little transparencywith regardsto how it arrived at determining what was 'excellent'. The report went on to lecture about policy with pertinent and emotive argument:
At its worst, democratic cultural policy assumesthat 'the masses'will never be capableof enjoying
the best in the arts, and so must be provided with a secondbest, or less. Surprisingly, Mathew
Arnold detectedthis trend over a century ago when he wrote that:
'Plenty of people will try to give the masses,as they call them, an intellectual food preparedand
adjustedin the way they think proper for the actual condition of the masses'.This is sometimes
called 'giving the public what it wants', but it really meansgiving the public what it can most easily
be persuadedto accept. (1977: 10)
It cleverly referred to the providers of the, 'poorest kind of massentertainment' asjoining hands with
the art populists in terms of, 'underestimatingpeople'. This obfuscation enabledthe Arts Council to
smear'popular' art forms with being overtly commercial ones, which was not always the case.It also
ruled out the possibility that commercial, 'mass entertainment!might have quality.
5 the history of evaluation is explained in 4.2 and its wider use as a political tool in 4.6 191 import for There was little recognition of the extent to which the 'high' arts were an the majority of people and alien to their culture and community.
Su Braden (1978: 167). writing about 'community' art schemesin the 1970s,saw them as functioning
'artists [to] to the needsof contemporarysociety. She to enable, and the arts.... relate more closely recognisedsuch projects as enabling a personaljourney that each individual could make within a
'People It is to do and social particular community or tradition: make culture.... with self-expression
It is be lived than to be appreciated' (1978: 174). She compared needs. active not passive.... to rather ....
'high' art which was inactive, asocial, aestheticand middle class,with 'community' art which was active, social, relevant and working class.
The Community Arts Movement was highly political and the apotheosisof Arts Council elitism. It was involved with traditionally non-aestheticconcerns, and was explicit about the social role of die arts
(that of encouragingcultural democracyand as a foil to the cultural hegemony).Furthermore, die
Council movementwas complicit in holding a mirror to the 'high' arts, and the Arts their major institutional supporter,in terms of its role and relevancein society.
Firstly, the Arts Council had a particular take on what the arts constituted.As Pick (1991) described,its subsidisedart world culture becameBritish culture. Secondly,and equally contentiously, it could be arguedthat it feared a de-mystification of the 'high' art canon.This could reveal the extent to which it had been appropriatedby international capitalism, and could be reducedto an arm of commerce.Hence
'excellence' could be seento be determinedby the marketplace,not aestheticquality.
That the arts could be embeddedin the community necessitateda different framework of understanding
that challengedtraditional aestheticsand notions of entertainment.
9AA Education Into High Culture or Cultural Democracy, A Political Framework
Roy Shaw, SecretaryGeneral of the Arts Council in the 1980's, viewed educationas the vehicle for
democratising'high' culture. He respondedto Braden's view that 'high' art culture was an irrelevance
for most people: 'The Arts Council, she alleges,is founded on the, "'artistic deceptioif' that this culture
is for to it [but] potentially all, and needsonly more education make actually available to all ... one of
the commonestfallacies in approachingserious arts is to assumethat they must be immediately
accessible'(Shaw 1983: 8), hencethe need to utilise educationas a mediator to make, 'accessible 192 been directed excellence'. He justified decadesof Arts Council policy and the extent to which it had towards the minority educatedbourgeoisie:
The difference betweenmany middle classpeople who enjoy the seriousarts and many working
classpeople who don't is not that the arts are bourgeoisbut that they are difficult and that most
middle classpeople have had more opportunity to study them and become familiar with them, not
only through formal education,but most importantly through the almost subliminal educational
influence of a cultivated home background. (1983: 8)
What Shaw did not recognise,was the extent to which this was a partial and culturally specific view of
the arts. He had failed to seebeyond Arts Council propagandaand his own axiomatic argument.By
starting off with the premise and establishedview that the 'serious arts' are difficult and inaccessible,it
proves their exclusivity and more relevantly, validates a consequentialpolicy. There are other artworlds
and artistic paradigms.The arts therefore, in order to be 'serious', had to be rubber-stampedby the Arts
Council, in which caseit was dictating (not responding) to them, as Pick suggested.
Kelly viewed the demise of the Community Arts Movement in the 1980's as, 'herald[ing] its arrival as
one of the caring professions' (1984: 36). He reckoned that the need for professionismand training in
the movement,was proof that it had becomea neuteredentity, filtered through establishmentprocesses.
He explained the need for a political framework for the 'community' arts in order to re-attach them to
their roots and make them meaningful and radical. His position was that the Movement was an
important counterbalanceto the centralisationand dominanceof the establishedstate and cultural
hegemony.
In order for the 'community' arts to be radical, he argued for self-direction and control to be vestedin
participants,which encouragedthe empowermentof thosewho most neededit. But cultural democracy
sat uneasily with the highly centralisedArts Council, which pursueda partial attitude to culture,
moreover its pursuit of the democratisationof culture could also be perceived as a chimera and illusion.
Kelly arguedvehemently in favour of the Community Arts Movement, as the, 'The knowledge that
arisesfrom such participation is much more likely to lead to those collective understandingswhich I
have termed [as formally but fragmented' primary .... against] secondary understanding; recognised 193 (1984: 100). The 'primary'. reflecting cultural democracy,lived experienceand participation, the
'secondary' democratisingculture and passively viewing the values and culture of odiers. He explained further:
The current argument in favour of the 'democratisationof culture' goes hand in hand with the tightening of professional control over the production of cultural outputs, for it suggeststhat what we need is more of what we already have, given to us by better trained versions of tile people who
to it Cultural democracy, the hand, is idea are currently trying give to us..... on other an which revolves around the notion of plurality and around equality of accessto the meansof cultural production and distribution. It assumesthat cultural production happenswithin the context of wider
social discourse. (1984: 100-1)
The 'democratisationof culture' agendawas therefore not just aboutpersuading people of thevirtues of the 'high' artsand furthermore, that they were the cornerstone of civilisation,but of engagingin the,
'systematicdowngrading of otheractivities, which have been shunted into categorieswhich aretreated asthough they were automatically, and self-evidently, of a lowerorder' (1984:55). Kelly contrasted the 'lessserious' popularity of Countryand Western music with thatof 'worthy' Opera.All art forms area partof a particularheritage, but suchclassifications in termsof value,as Bourdieu attested, have beensocially constructed.
Willis took the line thatpeople had an inherentcreativity which related to culturerather than the arts.
Thereforehe rejectedthe assumption of both the 'high' art democratisationand 'community'arts fraternities,that creativity could only be realisedthrough an introductionto thearts. His 'common' culturewhich related to accessibleconsumer goods and styles, was truly culturallydemocratic and affirmed,'our activesense of our own vital capacities'(1990: 12), irrespectiveof thearts.
This a vital areaof contention,and dependant on definition.That the artsare a creativedriver of culture,embeds them into theterm. They are both steepedin historyand separate from it, which allows 6. them to expressHall's two conceptsof cultural identity They have the capacity to be appropriatedfor
setout in 10.4 194 a range of uses,allowing a rich, varied and diverse cultural democracy.Therefore to dissociatea
'common' culture from the arts altogether,reduces the extent of this variety.
9A. 5 Cultural Diversity
Kwesi Owusu (1986) when expressingthe struggle for Black Arts in 1980's Britain, similarly argued that even the well-meaning Community Arts Movem6nt failed to view itself objectively and understand cultural diversity. Although, 'its fifteen or so year history has espouseda tradition of seeking to address inequalities and discrimination, [it] has also failed to challengethe real issuesof racism' (Owusu 1986:
42-3). He blamed this on white activists perceiving black people as victims in a patronising manner,
without understandingthe dynamics of culture and the authority behind such culture. He criticised the
Community Arts Movement for leaning too heavily on Eurocentric art forms and culture. He argued
for, 'establishing a new democratic hegemony' (1986: 44) as British conceptsof ethnicity and ethnic
arts minimised and belittled 'black' AM subordinatingit to 'high' art in terms of importance and
quality. Hence the need for, 'Black cultural liberation' (1986: 46). But he realised the extent to which
'black' arts were determinedby socio-economicand political contexts,and how such art is sustained
by the community it serves:
In effect, 'ethnic' arts policies were the translation of colonial policy to the metropolis. The 'natives'
of Jamaicaor India becamethe ethnics of Britain, and funding bodies saw it as their duty to help
them their identities If in between preserve cultural .... there was any change attitudes the colonial and
post-colonial periods, it was the new atmosphereof liberal benevolence. (1986: 29)
This active understandingof art and culture, in which those involved were struggling to express
themselvesand their culture, is inherently political.
RasheedAraeen (2000) illustrated the problems in her discussionwith the black artist Eddie Chambers
about an alternative 'black' Art, which was, 'Producedby black people largely and specially for the
black audience,and in which, in terms of its content addressesblack experience' (Chamberscited in
Araeen2000: 240). Araeen wanted such an art to addressthe whole of society. Her cýncern was that by
incorporating 'black' art into the mainstream,'it would be very difficult to distinguish betweenblack 195 art as a specific historical formation and the generalcategory recognised and promoted by the establishmenf (2000: 242). In terms of 'black' aesthetics,due to the overarching hegemonyof western and 'white' aesthetics,neither consideredthere to be an essentiallyblack visual art, unlike 'black' music. One of the possible reasonsfor the demiseof a consciously 'black' art was because,'as a radical movement [it] is no longer there' (2000: 253). Chamberssuggested that not all black artists created'black' Art, which addressedthe history of slavery, imperialism and racism in order to challengethe white establishment.Araeen agreedthat such a paradigm marginalised it and limited its audienc(P.Diversity was broader and more heterogeneousin nature, incorporating presentrealities.
9A. 6 The Relevance Today
It is important to recognisethe historical relationship betweenthe Arts Council, determinedto a large extent by governmentpolicy, and participatory 'community' arts programmesinitiated by the
Community Arts Movement. Arguably, the control of funding in the 1970's and 1980's, had a detrimental affect and neuteredtheir radical capability. This is pertinent today. That the empowerment and self-managementof the culturally excludedwas consideredby Kelly to necessitatea political framework and understandingthrough the medium of the arts, challengesMatarasso's new 8 pragmatism7 as well as wider cultural in the key by PAT 10 policy, embedded nine principles set out .
What is also revealed through analysing the Movement, is the tension between competing frameworks of culture, in terms of class and ethnicity, established and youth culture.
9.5 Case Study: The Theatre of the Oppressed
This casecentres, around the Brazilian dramatist Augusto Boal, and how he transformed theatre from a passivespectacle, to an active and engagedinteraction, that related to issuesand agendasforemost in the fives of those excluded people involved. His 'Theatre of the Oppressed'was a social and political use of theatre,designed to help correct poverty and injustice, which understoodas its first principle that anyonecould act, challenging traditional westerndramatic conceptsand aestheticattitudes. Key was
6 see10.4 and Kruper's tyranny of multiculturalism 7 setout andcritiqued in ch 5 8 setout in 3.3.1 196 his double use of the word to act, in terms of performing and talcingaction on and off stage.Theatre was a stageto enact ideas and try out changesin lifestyle and thinking.
9.5.1 Historical Precedent
Boal (1979; 1992) basedhis method on orature, a non-westem all-encompassingholistic art form used by pre-literate cultures of the world, and still utilised in parts of Africa, Asia, and South America.
Orature was an opportunity and forum for all thosemembers of the community to voice their opinions and problems. Historically, it had utilised the spokenword, through a cultural event and a traditional communal use of creativity. Such a framework did not distinguish betweenart forms or between the arts and other non-aestheticconcerns. Therefore the arts were both unified and practised within die wider socio-political arena.
9.52 Boal's Political Position
Boal's theory of theatrewere set out in his, 71eatre of the Oppressed(1979). Boal did not eschew professionaltheatre, but conceivedof many diverse forms that it could take. Initially, it was conceived as a rehearsalfor revolution, to inform, educateand influence, as well as incite to action. He perceived theatreas too often a plaything of the rich, and wanted to return it to being a meansof popular communication and expression.Therefore, his work with the Arena Theatre of Sao Paolo in the 1950's and 1960's took theatreout to the poor areasof Brazil, where it was utilised as a tool of liberation, influenced by Freire's (1970w,1970b) pioneering work of utilising languageand literacy for the same ends.He recognisedthat: 'Theatre is born when the human being discovers that it can observeitself; when it discovers that in this act of seeing,it can seeitself - seeitself in situ : seeitself seeing' (Boal
1995: 130). This mixture of observationand reflection had to be realised within wider socio-economic and cultural frameworks, hence it was a form of politicisation.
9.53 Three Formats of the Theatre of the Oppressed
I-fis 'Theatre of the Oppressed'had three progressiveformats which could be overlaid:
Firstly, 'Invisible Theatre' which took drama out of the theatreand into public places and situations. It was invisible becausethe audiencewas not aware of its intention. The settings were in public and drew 197 an audienceof inquisitive people. Boal called them spect-actorsas they were drawn into issuesthat the dramaplayed out, unawareof the theatricalnature of the drama. It was realist theatre,relating to issues of interest and concern to the audience:
Invisible Theatre consistsof rehearsinga scenewith actions that the protagonist would like to try out
in real life, and improvising it in a place where theseevents could really happen and in front of an
audiencewho, unawarethat they are an audience,accordingly act as if the improvised scenewas I real. Thus, the improvised scenebecomes reality. Fiction penetratesreality. What die protagonist
had rehearsedas a plan, a blueprint, now becomesan act. (1995: 184-5)
He also called this simultaneousdramaturgy., The spect-atorwould be drawn into the drama,
'encouragedto intervene in the action, abandoninghis condition of object and assumingfully the role of subject' (Boal 1979: 132). Hence such drama took place where an unsuspectingaudience could be engaged.For instancein a restaurant.The actors would enter for a meal, sit down and prepare to eat, then start to argue.Such a scenariowould have been pre-arrangedand stage-nianaged,with the other diners unawarebut soon embroiled in the dr
Secondly, 'Image Theatre' in which, 'The spectatorhas to participate more directly' (1979: 135) in a I seriesof drama exercisesand gamesplayed out through imagery. Boal thought that image was more accessiblethan languagewhich excluded many poor and illiterate people, and those who had different dialects. It was a more universalist medium:
ImageTheatre is designed .... to uncover essentialtruths about societiesand cultures without resort
in the first instance,to spoken language- though this may be addedin the various 'dynamisations'
of the images.The participaiits in finage Theatre make still imagesof their lives, feelings,
experiences,oppressions: groups suggesttitles or themes,and then individuals 'scu1pVthree
dimensional imagesunder thesetitles, using their own and others' bodies as the 'clay.
(Jacksoncited in Boal 1992: xix)
Boal's method was to teach a seriesof exercisesand gameswhich would be used as ice-breakers.Once 198 the spect-actors,were warmed-up,he would encouragethem to createtheir own images.He saw this form of theatreas, 'one of the most stimulating, becauseit is so easyto practice and becauseof its extraordinary capacity for making thought visible. This happensbecause use of the languageidiom is avoided' (1979: 137-8).
Thirdly, 'Forum Theatre'. This required, 'the participant....to intervene decisively in the dramatic action and changeit' (1979: 139) and was a more advancedform of theatre,usually requiring a warm up using one of the previous categories.The audienceis posed unsolvedproblems and encouragedto solve them:
Forum Theatre consists,in essence,of proposing to a group of spectators,after a first
improvisation of a scene,that they replacethe protagonist and try to improvise variations on
his actions. The real protagonist should, ultimately, improvise the variation that has motivated him
the most. (1995: 184)
Forum Theatre allowed everyonea voice and input into the drama, to put different points of view as in a debate.The scenewould be re-enactedaccordingly, 'stagedexactly as it had been the first time, but now eachspectator-participant would have the right to interveneand changethe action, trying out his proposal' (1979: 140). The event would be presidedover by a facilitator or intermediary, 'called the
"joker", 'whose function was to ensurethe smooth running of the game and teach the audiencethe rules' (Jacksoncited in Boal 1992: xxi). But the joker had no intrinsic power and could be replacedby the spect-actors,if deemednot to be doing the job properly. There was no imposition of ideas onto the spect-actors,therefore Forum Theatre avoided being preacherly,dogmatic and manipulative. Boal went further to ensurethat,
The joker's function is not that of facilitator, the joker is (in Boal-speak)a 'difficultator',
undermining easyjudgements, reinforcing our grasp of the complexity of a situation, but not
letting that complexity get in the way of action or frighten us into submissionor inactivity.
(Jacksoncited in Boal 1995: xix-xx)
199 Invisible Theatre allowed the spectatora window into the drama. Image Theatre was highly accessible and inclusive as it utilised a universal languageof symbolism and imagery. Finally Forum Theatre used more complex and language-orientateddrama. This progressionfrom Invisible to Forum Theatre, increasinglyallowed the spect-actorsto engagein discourse.
9.5A The Rainbow of Desire
Boal's Theatre of the Oppressedwas an evolving phenomenon,and after experiencing working away from the South American dispossessed(particularly in Europe and its psychiatric institutions in the
1980's), he aimed at unlocking the therapeuticpotential of drama.The Rainbow of Desire (1995) was a handbookof exercisesto enablethis. His earlier emphasison the collective and political causesof oppressionturned more individualistic. This move from external to internal oppression,still had die samereference point of empowermentand enabling participants to createand formulate their own futures. This changeof emphasisfrom the socio-polifical to the psychological reflected Boal's realisation that hitherto, his method contained inadequacies.These he explained through examples.
One such instancewas being confronted by a former participant Virgilio, who accusedhim of not literally practising the revolution he preached:'it was difficult to explain - both to Virgilio and to ourselves- how we could be sincere and genuine and true even though our guns wouldn't fire and we didn't know how to shoot' (1995: 2). Virgilio could not understandwhy Boal wanted him to spill his blood, but not his own or that of his company.
Another instance,concerned the anger of a Peruvian woman participant, sparkedoff by the inability of an actor in her view, to realistically portray how a woman scornedwould react. Boal later confessedto having learnt a great deal from theseexperiences:
With Virgilio, I had learnt to seea human being rather than simply a social class; the peasantrather
than the peasantry,struggling with his social classand political problems. With the big Peruvian
woman, I learnt to seethe hunian being struggling with her own problems, individual problems,
which although they may not concern the totality of a class,nevertheless concern the totality of a
life. And are no less important for that. (1995: 7)
200 Boal's original socio-political conceptsand solutions were idealistic and failed to understandthe complexity of human relations. His later revised, 'Theatre of the Oppressedhad three main branches- the educational,the social and therapeutic' (1995: 15). But he still utilised all of the earlier arsenalof techniqueshe had devised, dependingon the situation encountered.
9.5.5 The Social Role of Theatre
Boal saw theatreas, 'the most perfect artistic form of coercion' (1979: 39). It referred to major events in life, social occasionsand mundaneeveryday living, and allowed humans, 'to observethemselves in acdon'(1992: xxxvi).
He studied classical Greek theatreand especially Aristotle's coercive systemof tragedy, and deconstructedhow the tragedy functioned. This revolved around the extent to which the hero of die dramawas at odds with the ethosof society, and how the mechanismsused to pitch the hero against society, altered the hero's destiny and ensuredthe sympathy and empathyof the spectators.The initial conflict of hero pitted against society was then resolved through the drama, and the purification and cleansingof all anti-social traits. This theatrical socialisation of the hero becamea template for drama.
Boal to it as, 'a intimidation to its basic task: referred powerful systemof ....working carry out the purgation of all antisocial elements' (1979: 46). Such a conservativeuse and form of drama was in opposition to Boal's more progressiveconcepts. He saw such classicalmethods still used today.
this systemappears in disguised form on television, in tile movies, in the circus, in the theaters.
It appearsin many and varied shapesand media. But its essencedoes not change:it is designed
to bridle the individual, to adjust him to what pre-exists.If this is what we want die Aristotelian
systemserves the purposebetter than any other; if on the contrary we want to stimulate the
spectatorto transform his society, to engagein revolutionary action, in that casewe will have to
seekanother poetics. (1979: 47)
Boal understoodhow inherently political the theatrewas. It servedvested interestsbut was also a mechanismand precursor for change.As his interestslay with the oppressed,drama becamea vehicle for political objectives that reflected their needs,to servea more radical and democratic interest 201 critiquing those very norms that subjugatedthem. Theatrewas thereby a rehearsalfor changeand revolutionary action. He contendedthat it was vital for participants to, 'create it first in the theatre,in fiction, to be better preparedto createit outside afterwards for real' (1992: 39). His dislike for dramatic techniquesused for television and theatrewas, for instance,reflected in how actors fictionalised reality through empathy or osmosis:
the juxtaposition of two universes(the real and the fictitious) also producesother aggressiveeffects:
the spectatorexperiences the fiction and incorporatesits elements.The spectator-a real living
person- acceptsas life and reality what is presentedto him in the work of art as art. Esthetic
osmosis. (1979: 113)
Therefore the real life situation of the spectatorwas subjugatedto and dominated by the power of die fictional scenario,which experiencewas transferredthrough theatre.Boal reversedthis processthrough a realist theatrethat reflected the life of the spect-actor.He set out his cosmology.
In the beginning the theaterwas the dithyrambic song: free people Sulging in the open
air. The camival. The feasL
Later, the ruling classestook possessionof the theaterand built their dividing walls.
First, they divided the people, separatingactors from spectators:people who act and
Secondly, people who watch.... among the actors,they separatedthe protagonistsfrom
the mass.The coercive indoctrination began.Now the oppressedpeople are liberated
themselvesand, once more, are making the theatertheir own. The walls must be torn
down. First, the spectatorstarts acting again: invisible theater,forum theater,image
theateretc. Secondly, it is necessaryto eliminate the private property of the individual
actors. (1979: 119)
Ms method of working contradicted classic dramaturgy. Participation was crucial, working outside the walls of theatrein everyday public places. Subject matter had to relate and reflect the concerrisof the oppressedin order that they participated voluntarily. That being the case,drama was returned to its 202 naturalposition as part of carnival, away from the artifice of theatre.
His later move into more psychological territory and a therapeuticindividual understandingof people and drama,was a political move away from the Marxist line he had previously taken. This showed a,
'dissatisfaction dogma [and] to humanity' (Jackson in Boal 1995: with .... essentialallegiance cited xxi). His interest was in tackling injustice, with the key aim of delivering happiness.By recognising that addressingthe socio-political conceptof oppressionfrom the outside had to be accompaniedby a recognition of internalisedoppression (which he called the 'cop in the head'), he thereby tried to embed the individual within the collective. Artistically, this related to the tradition of orature.
9.5.6 Orature
Boal's dramatic method was basedon the inclusive tradition of orature. Owusu showed how such an holistic understandingof the arts and culture embodiedin orature, was anathemato a Eurocentric notionof culture:
Creativity was not an entirely separaterealm of intellectual activity, but one which was
integratedto an organic structure of production. This was an important premise of orature, one
which constantly challengedand resistedtrends and tendenciestoward 'art' as purely decorative,
toward individualism, and the separationof an forms. (Owusul986: 140)
He acknowledgedthat orature as a method, was a meansof redressingissues of cultural appropriation.
He wanted oraturists to re-establishsuch traditions which had survived precisely, 'becausethey have always been part of popular resistancemovements against western culture' (1986: 141-2). He saw orature as vital for the survival of 'black' culture in Britain, an alternative hegemonic structure based on traditional creative principles practised in a more visibly democraticand inclusive manner. Besides a commitment to the, 'unity of, art forms', it was the collective nature of orature, in terms of the,
4quality of collaboration' through active participation, that was the basis for this counter-culture.He concludedthat, 'We do not "bring" culture to the people: nor do we, in some patronising way, aim to
64givepeople the meansof artistic expression". By aiming to break down the distinction betweenartists and public, producer and consumer,we submit ourselvesto the service of our communities' (1986: 203 162).
Oraturetherefore, provided a framework for harmonising the arts in a holistic fashion into multi-arts, as
well as a recognition of individual creativity within A collective dynamic, in a manner that the highly
stratified and structuredwestern cannoncould not.
9.5.7 Participation and Language
Boal madesimilar observationsin dramaturgy.He comparedbourgeois theatre,in which the passive audiencewere objects who watched politely, to the theatreof the oppressedwhich was active rehearsal-theatre,in which the spect-atorswere subjectsencouraged to participate. Therefore,
'Contrary to the bourgeois code of manners,the people's code allows and encouragesthe spectatorto ask questions,to dialogue, to participate' (Boal 1979: 142).
He realisedhow theatrewas a microcosm that symbolisedand representedthe inequality and oppressionof the wider society. Therefore the structural changesrequired to tackle oppressionin society, had to be representedby structural changesin the theatre.
He was indebted to Freire's pioneering work in literacy, and the conceptthat structure and soundsof the languageleamt, influenced thinking. Similarly with drama, the structure,method utilised and subjectof the drama effected cognition. Boal referred to his ALFIN literacy project in Peru, which taughtnot only literacy in both first native Indian languageand Spanish,but the languageof the arts; for example,puppetry, theatre,photography. This also included an understandingof self in the community and greater awarenessof wider socio-economicand political factors.
Freire 0 970a; 1970b) understoodthe role of educationto be a processof liberation, not a 'banking' of facts and figures. It too readily becamean instrument of oppressionin which the teacherimparted educationto a passiveaudience, a praxis of dictation from expert was repressive.He criticized,
'Education [as] from .... suffering narration sickness' (Freire 1970a:45) and his remedy was a problem- libertarian solving education, in which both studentand teacherlearnt from the process.He rejected an based educationsolely on the expressedneeds of learners,it had to include the oppressivecauses and problems unearthedthrough the process.This he reckonedenabled the, 'discovery that both they and their dehumanization. oppressorsare manifestationsof Liberation is thus a childbirth, and a painful (1970a: one' 25). Educationwas therefore an act of participationand cognition, not a transferof 204 knowledge.This required an ability to think critically and creatively, which empoweredthe individual and could then be transferredto the wider group, thereby encouragingthe transformation of the community. This raising of individual and collective consciousnessand consequentialtransformation 9. had an overtly political tone
Freire maintained that the processof learning 'language' was allied to an understandingof culture and the socio-historical situation the studentsfound themselvesin. Adult literacy was part of the broader processof cultural action: 'Becoming literate, then, meansfar more than learning to decodethe written representationof a sound system.It is truly an act of knowing, through which a person is able to look critically at the culture which has shapedhim, and to move toward reflection and positive action upon his world' (Freire 1970b: 205)'. The methodology utilised emanatedfrom the experiencesof learners who were encouragedinto a liberating critical dialogue, by the teacher.Hence,
thesolution to their problemis not to become'beings inside of, but menfreeing themselves; for, in
reality,they are not marginalto thestructure, but oppressedmen within it. Alienatedmen, they
cannotovercome their dependencyby 'incorporation'into thevery structureresponsible for their
dependency.There is no otherroad to humanization- theirsas well aseveryone else's - but
authentictransformation of thedehumanizing structure.
Fromthis lastpoint of view, the illiterateis no longera personliving on the fringeof society,a
marginalman, but rathera representativeof thedominated strata of society,in consciousor
unconsciousopposition to thosewho, in thesame structure, treat him asa thing. (1970b:211)
Freire understoodEurocentric culture as a tool of oppressionand control, hence the relevanceof an
alternative and re-firamedcultural hegemony.
Correspondingly,Boal advocatedthe need, 'to changethe people - "spectators", passivebeings in the
theatricalphenomenon - into subjects,into actors, transformersof the dramatic action' (1979: 122).
Here acting referred to action on society in order to transform it, where drama was the rehearsal,a total
role play that awakenedthe critical consciousnessand openedup discourse.But within this framework
9 see 112 which concernseducation as a tool for transformation, emancipationand empowerment 205 of an alternative culture that reflected collective needs,he never subjugatedthe individual spect-actor to dogma or ideology, keeping a healthy respectfor difference. This he showed through his dramaturgy.For example, the exercisecalled, 'pushing against eachother' in which two spect-actors faced eachother, holding eachother's shoulderand pushing with all their strength.The aim of the gamewas to remain upright in balance.He commentedthat: 'This is exactly what a player must do during a forum session:neither give way to the intervening spect-actor,nor overwhelm him, but rather help him to apply all his strength' (Boal 1992: 66), and aptly describesthe symbiosis of self and other.
As The Arena Theater of Sao Paolo progressedit, 'closed its doors to Europeanplaywrights, regardless of their high quality' (1979: 162), enabling specifically Brazilian cultural issuesto become the focus, which were better expressedthrough the use of native languageand artists. This also encouraged
identity 10 is key issue inclusion, for both solidarity and an exploration of participant , which a of group and individual.
Both Freire and Boal understoodthe structural and ideological implications of 'language' (whether verbal, artistic or symbolic), and the need to escapedehumanised structures of dependency,through a dynamic participative processthat engagedand helped transform those very structures.
9.5.8 Oppression and Social Exclusion
There are four particular issuesthat Boal revealedthrough his working method, which refer directly to utilising the arts for purposesof social exclusion.
Firstly, that the separationof actors from spectatorsis a false one, and setstheatre up to be subjugated to the needsof controlling interests,the culture of oppression.
Secondly,that the 'language' usedhas to be understood,relevant and owned by all.
Thirdly, that it is important to understandthe relationship betweenthe individual and collective, and the need to transform dehumanisedsocial structuresof dependency,in order to liberate individuals and communities.
Fourthly, a recognition that poverty and illiteracy are the twin pillars of oppressionwith educationthe radical liberator that transforms society.
10 the tenn is discussedin 10.4 206, Moreover, the languageof 'exclusion' today denotesthat the individual is out of kilter with the social machinery, whereasthe term 'oppressed'intimates a victim of wider social structures.Such terminology de-politicises this reality, and puts the onus onto the individual to fit back into the system.
9.5.9 Conclusion
In drama the separationof actors and spectatorswas understoodby Boal as false. In order for die oppressedto transform their lives, they neededto participate actively (hence to act) as against passively consumingart. Drama was a rehearsalfor social and individual change,the basis for his 'Theatre of the
Oppressed',which was participative and enabledpeople to observethemselves and prepare to play out theseinjustices, which could be actedon for real in their lives and communities. Boal recognisedthat this natural utility was determinedby the art form, and could not be artificially imposed or added.
Traditionally, classical theatrehad been utilised to re-inforce social norins, which were antithetical to the needsof the oppressed.Therefore he converteddrama into a vehicle for criticising the nonns, based on the non-westem concept of orature.
Influenced by Freire's educational theoriesof literacy, he recognisedthat the structure and comprehensionof 'language' determinedparticipation and cognition, which was not a transfer of knowledge from the expert to the student.Boal therefore encouragedactive engagementas against passiveacceptance, based on a Freirian pedagogy.This included the need to alter the dehumanising structuresof dependencythat createdthe oppression.He first recognisedthese in terms of collective socio-political forces from the outside, then later in terms of the individual psychological forces from within. Therefore transformation had an individual as well as a collective dimension, but crucially the former was embeddedin the latter. This allowed a truly 'joined-up' holistic approachto tackling oppressionand injustice, which when applied to theatre,realised cultural democracy.
Boal is persuasive,he re-engages;the arts with a 'common' culture in a dynamic and radical manner.
But the extent to which the spect-actorsreally determine the direction of the drama can be questioned,
as it is his ideological agendabeing played out. Moreover, there are practical issuesas to the extent to
which it is possible to fully implement this particular theoretical dramaturgical framework. But his
polemical understandingbacks up Kelly's argument that the 'community' arts need to be consciously
political, as it is impossible to engagewith the arts for purposesof addressingexclusion, without there 207 being an understandingof causality. But Boal's move towards a more psychological therapeuticterrain, also bearswitness to Kelly's criticism of suchprojects showing the arts as a caring profession, wrapped up in conceptsof welfare. Which is yet another techniqueof subjugatingthe oppressedto normative frameworks
9.6 Summary
Firstly, the chapter looked at the cultural industriesas a driver for cultural democracy.Augustin Girard, contendedthat they were integral to democratising 'high' culture, allowing accessfor a wider audience.
He also argued that cultural policy had for too long reperesentedthe interestsof this exclusive minority constituency,at the expenseof the majority, giving more to those who already had sufficient money
and culture. Theodor Adorno argued that the cultural industriesprevented aesthetic autonomy and
standardisedartistic production, driven by the profit motive, 'dumbing' culture down. He revealedthe
instrumental socio-economicand political agendasunderpinning the arts.
Secondly,it assessedthe extent to which the arts are perceivedas exclusive, and how the inclusive
conceptof a 'common' culture and 'grounded' aesthetic,re-earthed and blended them into everyday
life. The Arts Council's own researchshowed the extent to which public opinion conceived the arts
within a 'high' arts paradigm, with 'popular' art forms not generally recognisedas art forms.
Willis researchedyouth culture and discoveredwhat little part the traditional 'high' arts played. He
consideredan active moving 'common' culture which embracedconsumerism and was steepedin the
symbols of 'popular' culture, as the resourcefrom which the youth createdtheir own culture. This
centredon a postmodernpick and mix attitude to the shifting signification of symbols and signs.
Arguably, this can be seenas a romantic reaction against the rigid and formalistic classical western
cannon.Nevertheless, the arts are also a part of the pool of symbols from which the 'common' culture
is created.
Baudrillard referred to a simulated culture steepedin consumerism,lacking any democratic basis,
which disqualified a groundedaesthetic. He perceivedculture as a hyperreal fiction and dissociated
from the reality principle. His nihilism discountedthe possibility that such a simulation could
11 this foucauldian perspectivewas describedby the Outsider Art casein ch 8 208 germinatereality. But the arts can be a very relevant vehicle for thoseuniversal aestheticexperiences of life and death, which reconnectpeople with the primal forces of humanity.
Thirdly, it looked historically at a specific 'common' culture in practice. The Community Arts
Movement through its fraught relationship with the Arts Council, provided a window into the disputed territory of cultural democracyin the arts. The 'community' arts concerneda radical unleashingof cultural discontent and youthful rebellion, in opposition to the traditional Arts Council policy of 'raise and spread', democratising 'high' culture and educating thoseculturally excluded into the canon.This included questioning passivity, as well as the individual and aestheticbasis of creativity. Ultimately, it wanted to break the cosy elitism between the 'high' arts and class.But it was no panacea,as it failed to accommodate'black' arts, leaning heavily on Eurocentric notions, and was accordingly accusedof racist practice. Traditionalists would also claim that it took a patronising attitude to people by assuming they were not able to assimilate the 'high' arts. But this is itself culturally specific.
This historical situation is highly relevant today. Kelly expressedthe need for a political framework and understandingthrough the medium of the arts, to engendercultural democracy.He showed how the funding control of theseparticipatory arts programmeshad a detrimental affect and neuteredradical capability, including the ability of participants to self-manageand empower themselves.This challengespresent government frameworks of utilising the arts to addresssocial exclusion.
The casestudy of the Boal's 'Theatre of the Oppressed', illustrated how drama has been used to enable cultural democracyand inclusion. It explained his radical political position and die three progressive dramatic formats utilised: 'Invisible Theatre', 'Image Theatre' and 'Forum Theatre'.
After visiting Europe, this evolved into three main branches:the educational,social and therapeutic.
Here he tried to addressthe balanceof the individual within the collective, by considering psychological problems, the 'cop in the head'. Fundamentalto his method was the double meaning of the term to act, and the engagementof all participants whom he termed 'spect-actors'.
Through deconstructingclassical theatre,Boa] distilled its coercive essenceand social role. By working outside of theatreand re-positioning it as carnival, this enableda more natural dramaturgy.
He was indebted to Freire's pioneering work in the field of literacy, challenging pre-conceivednotions of 'language' utilised as a meansof control. Through a critical awarenessof how 'language' could be usedto determinea wider cultural understandingand action, the socio-economicand political 209 implications of oppressioncould be challenged.Boal recognisedpoverty and illiteracy as key to oppression,with education as the radical mechanismof liberation. lEs use of theatrewas as a popular medium of communicationand expression,based on the non- westernconcept of orature. Such a method was both culturally and socially inclusive. On the one hand it allowed everyone to participate using a common language,on the other, it empoweredand enlightened.
210 Chapter 10. Popular Culture: Politics, Participation and Identity
10.1 Introduction
Following on from and connectedto cultural democracy,consideration is given to 'popular' culture as an inclusive driver. A framework of different political understandingsof such a culture is constructed to emphasiseits wider importanceand influence on society. Also how participation in the arts and especiallymusic is embeddedin 'popular' culture. It investigatesissues of identity and how this is relatedto broader themesof multiculturalism and diversity. The researchoffers a historical casestudy of ReggaeMusic, which was highly inclusive, popular and participatory, a vehicle through which black
British youth were enabledto forge their particular identity.
10.2 Politics of Popular Culture
Street (1997: 147-162) explained 'popular' culture in terms of political characteristics,and the extent to which it was perceived as a form of manipulation or populist self-expression.He took two crude dimensionsof culture. Firstly popular and elite, secondlyradical and conservative.He cross-referenced both dimensionsto createfour political views of 'popular' culture.
'Conservativeelitists' eschewed'popular' culture as it lacked discrimination. There was no place for it within the classical canon of the arts as it actively subvertedand underminedthis tradition and the moral order that it represented.
'Conservativepopulists' reflected the populism of the tabloid press.They presentedthemselves as democraticpopulists, 'legitimated by the the [but they evidenceof market were] .... engagedin interpreting 'popular' culture and taste in particular ways. It is creating rather than reflecting the
"people!' and their pleasures' (1997: 152). So it was groundedin and celebrateda particular experience, bound up in nostalgia, defending a particular cosmology that all too easily reflected popular prejudice.
'Radical elitists' understoodthe potential of culture to changesociety, but viewed 'popular' culture as the manifestationof reactionary forces that wanted to prevent change,or to use changefor other agendas.Their position reflected the views of Adomo and the Frankfurt SchoolI There three . were
I setout in 9.2.2 211 strands:'One strand comparespopular culture unfavourably with "folk culture; the secondmakes an high unfavourablecomparison with the avant-garde;and the third setsit below traditional classical or culture' (1997: 154).
'Radical populists' respondedto the elitism of the Frankfurt School and were grounded in the
Birmingham Centre for ContemporaryCultural Studies (CCCS). They believed that the people themselvesknew best, and their tasteand creativity neededto be respected.Willis, re-framed the productsof massculture into what he labelled the 'common' culture, which consistedof re-taking the signsof masscultureý. This lived street culture, took as its starting point the audienceand consumer.
The relationship between 'popular' culture and politics set out by Street, took the position, 'that if we fail to take popular culture seriously, we impoverish our understandingof the conflicting currents and aspirationsthat fuel politics' (1997: 6). He also recognisedthe extent to which this understandingwas wrappedup in issuesof identity: 'Popular culture's ability to produceand articulate feelings can becomethe basis of an identity, and that identity can be the sourceof political thought and action. We know who we are through the feelings and responseswe have, and who we are, shapesour expectations and our preferences' (1997: 10). The claim by Street that 'popular' culture and politics used similar terms of reference,and are weaved together within the fabric of society, underpins their inter- dependenceand importance. 'Popular' culture was dominant, it helped organiseand construct our valuesand identities, hence the importance of discrimination and criticality within this canon.
103 Participation
'Popular' music in particular, is participatory and inclusive. Therefore the nature of participation in
practice is examined.
Harland et al (1995) researchedinto this phenomenonand the attitudes associated.They cited a
definition of participation in the arts, in terms of three interconnectingsystems: 'a making system (i. e.
producing acts, actions or artefactsas creator or performer); a perceiving system (i. e. concernedwith
discriminations and distinctions as a critic); and a feeling system (i. e. dealing with the affect as
audiencemember)' (Harland et al 1995: 14). They researchedthe extent to which negative attitudes
2 setout in 9.3.2 212 obstructedparticipation, and constructeda raft of different attitudesassociated with participation and non-participation.
Anthony Everitt (1997) researchedspecifically into the participatory capacity of music and identified threelevels of engagement:
The first is comparatively inert joining in - singalongs,moving and clapping to gospel music and
chantsat football matchesare examples.The secondinvolves a certain degreeof reflection. One
thinks of Victorian families singing and playing music to eachother during their long television-less
eveningsor, to come up to date, the activity of choral societiesand brassbands. Choices are made
about'when', 'how good', 'what kind', 'who with' and so forth, but such choices are probably
basedon instinct and taste rather than analysis.The third overlapswith die secondlevel, but is no
longer simply a question of music-making but of discussingmatters of taste,quality and style and
of becoming knowledgeableabout the material to be played or sung, its history and context. We are
talking here not just of practice, for the sakeof it or for the fun of it, but of die conscious
developmentof critical understanding. (Everitt 1997: 20-1)
Thesethree levels also reflect Harland et al's 'making' and 'perceiving' systems.
'Popular' music encouragesthe initial engagementwhich circumventsmuch of the negative attitudinal barriers to participation, but it can also involve more complex and contoversial issuesof taste and discrimination. It is both an initial staging post in terms of confering identity and its only expressionfor the vast majority.
10.4 Multiculturalism and Identity
Conceptsof identity are embeddedin various discourses,not least ethnicity. Willis recognisedthis in his fieldwork, specifically in terms of Caribbeanand Asian traditions. The youth from these
communities, 'use their cultural backgroundsas frameworks for living and as repertoires for symbolic
resourcesfor interpreting all aspectsof their lives' (Willis 1990: 8), a recognition of the ethnic minority
communities within the larger culture that sustain them. In terms of diversity, thesedistinct cultures
may reflect ethnicity, nationhood, genderor a specific subculture,but the processis one of identifying 213 with a minority culture at odds with the wider cultural consensus.
Hall (1990) an important driver of the CCCS, consideredtwo different conceptsof cultural identity:
'The first position defines "cultural identity" in terms of one, sharedculture, a sort of collective, "one true self'.... which people with a sharedhistory and ancestryhold in common' (Hall 1990: 223). This consistedof a sharedbody of cultural codes,from which his own Caribbeanperspective, was a
&oneness'or 'caribbeaness'of black experience.This understandingwas rooted in die black Diaspora and post-colonial attitudesblack identity. The secondbut related position,
recognisesthat as well as the many points of similarity, there are also critical points of deep and
significant difference which constitute 'what we really are'; or rather - since history has
intervened- 'what we have become'.... cultural identity, in this secondsense, is a matter of
'becoming' as well as 'being'. It belongs to the future as much as to the past. (1990: 225)
This double positioning of identity was describedin the introduction to this text. The first position was an idealistic and contestedportrayal of history, as black experiencehas been ordered and positioned by colonial and negative regimes of representation.The secondposition was more realistic and mutable.
Hall was interestedin how the arts (and in particular cinema), representedthese issues of cultural identity. Modem multi-cultural society was heterogeneousand diverse, with hybrid cultural identities, createdby a mixing and blending of taste.He accepted,
that identities are never unified and, in late modem times, increasingly fragmentedand fractured;
never singular but multiply constructedacross different, often intersecting and antagonistic,
discourses,practices and positions. They are subject to a radical historicization, and are constantly
in the processof changeand transformation. (Ha111997:4)
The complexity of identity (and identification) preventsany simplistic or fixed conception, as it is
steepedin differing discoursesand perspectives,which themselveshave been melded by ideological
and historical forces. Choice helps to formulate individual cultural perception, and this can be basedon
misconceptions,which only adds to its mutability. 214 The educationalistJoachim Knoll (2001) in his researchinto multi-cultural education,recounted how minority cultures are caught betweeninclusion and exclusion. He distinguishedbetween assimilation and integration, by comparing the social policy of different countries.The definition of assimilation in the United States,'is understoodto mean complete absorption into the new society. This implies that the initial double identity is to give way to a single, American identity' (Knoll 2001: 72). Whereasthe term integration as employed in Canada,'is intended to indicate that die state and non-governmental
framework if they to do organizations.... should provide a within which minorities can, wish so, retain their own language,religion and culture and relate to their culture of origin' (2001: 73). With regardsto cultural exclusion, he perceivedassimilation as the inclusion of minorities into the mainstream,but distancing them from their indigenousor inherited culture. Whereas,integration, included minorities
through acceptingtheir minority culture, but helped exclude from the mainstream,hence the paradox of homogeneityand diversity-
The discrepancybetween the desire for national and political homogeneity and the actual
experiencesof minorities still persists,so that there is as yet no answer in terms of modem state
actions and political self-perception to the question of the degreeto which minorities must adapt
or remain separate.It is undisputed that there are no guidelines that can be applied throughout
the world. (2001: 82)
The anthropologist Adam Kruper (2002) arguedthat multiculturalism was tyrannical, and the idea that
any person was beholden to, or determinedby a culture was misconstruing the term. Although identity
was wrapped up in notions of cultural diversity, fixed in a particular past, the danger was not allowing
a freer understanding,internal debateor even rebellion against a particular cultural position.
Multiculturalism, particularly when practisedby the state,was basedon the premise thatý'you've lost
your culture so you have to be forced back into it. Never mind that you have learnedsomething new,
that you have kicked over the tracesof your parents; you're told that you have lost your way' (Kuper
cited in Kuper & Taylor 2002: 11).
The dangerof such labelling, was that it directed people into a way of perceiving and conceiving the
world with the hidden threat or guilt that by not doing so, they had denied their ancestry.By accepting 215 this position, they thereby d6ied, 'part of their possibilities; part of their options' (2002: 11). In many ways this is Hall's secondposition of cultural identity, but whereashe saw this as a necessaryaddition and related to the first position of sharedancestry and history, Kuper saw it as more in opposition to this ancestry,which denied and preventedthis reality.
Both the terms multiculturalism and identity are surroundedby contestedclaims. Such positions can be on the one hand fixed into an historical framework, but also be of a more mutable persuasion.
10-5 Case Study: ReggaeMusic
This casestudy on ReggaeMusic shows how identity can be formulated through popular music which can help embeda specific subculture.This imported music had an energising effect on the Afro-
Caribbeanyouth culture in this country in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Ironically, it was culturally inclusive and accessible,although rooted in the specific religious concept of Rastafarianism,which was exclusive and espousedblack superiority. This was the first time that a rebellious youth subculture in this country had been initially basedon black as againstwhite youth.
10.5.1 History of Reggae
Historically,
Reggaehas its roots in the Jamaicanfolk. In fact, its history is so closely bound up in the
Jamaicansocial and cultural experiencethat genuinereggae music has remained largely defiant
imitation. Most Jamaicans Pamela of outside cultural swamping and ....would concur with
O'Gorman when she says: 'I really do believe that there is something in the so-called myth that
Europeanscannot play reggaemusic. I think they can get the basic things out of it, they can
reproduceit to a certain extent. But it is never going to have that touch of authenticity about it.
(Johnson& Pines 1982: 46)
Howard Johnsonand Jim Pines (1982) showed that there was a direct lineage of music from Mento
(Jamaicanfolk music) of the late 1940's to 50's; to Ska dancemusic (a combination of Mento and rhythmic American R& B) of the late 1950's and sixties; to Rock Steady(a less severeand slower 216 rhythm than Ska) of the late 1960's; to Reggae(a combination of Ska and Rock steadywith a simplified rhythm and powerful bass) in the 1970's. This culminated in the 1980's with the huge international successof Bob Marley and the Wailers.
There has also been a strong religious and socio-political elementto the music and lyrics of this tradition. The early Mento music was strongly influenced by a non-conformist Afro-Christian
Pukkuminareligion, 'Ska representeda consciouseffort to shakeoff the Europeaninfluence in
Jamaicanpopular music' (1982: 48), whilst Rock Steadywas embroiled in the gangsterishlifestyle of the Rude Boys (best capturedby Jimmy Cliff in the film 7he Harder 77teyCome) and life in the
Kingston ghettos.The Reggaemovement as Dick Hebdige (1979; 1984) recognised,was influenced by all of these,but in particular by the Rastafariansand their religion:
Reggaedraws on a quite specific experience(the experienceof black people in Jamaicaand
Great Britain) It is in in language its JamaicanPatois, that .... cast a unique style, a of own -
shadow-form, 'stolen' from the Master and mysteriously inflected, 'decomposed' and reassembled
in the from Africa to the West Indies [this] to passage .... proved singularly appealing working class
youth both in the ghettos of Kingston and the West Indian communities of Great Britain.
(Hebdige 1979: 304)
Such an experiencewas re-lived by black and white youth in the 1970sand 1980's, which historical period included the race riots in urban Britain. Techniquescreated by the Reggaetradition (Toasting and Dub Poetry for instance)were the foundation for the 'black' music of today.
10.5.2 Rastafarians
The Rastafarianmovement originated in Jamaicaduring the 1930's and was a continuation of the Afro- religions as expressedby the Maroons and especially the Pukkumina religion. The belief was that the
Emperor Haille Selassieof Ethiopia was God the Returned Messiah.This in itself was the fulfilment of
a prophecy madeby the legendaryMarcus Garvey to, 'look to Africa, when a black king shall be
crowned.For the day of deliveranceis near' (Garvey cited in Hebdidge 1984: 8).
Lloyd Bradley (2000), whilst researchingthe history of Reggae,stated that in 1959 Jamaica,'an 217 Rastafarian, estimated100,000 Jamaicans- roughly one in twentyý.five of the population - were with loose many more openly sympathetic' (Bradley 2000: 63). A Rastastate had earlier been created,a communeof 1600 at Pinnacle in the Jamaicanhills. But this had been forcibly dismantledby the law on an anti-drugs raid in 1954. Thesepebple drifted into Kingston and most endedup in the city's overcrowdedshanty towns, hence the large concentrationof Rastafariansin the capital, and later recording studios.
Rastafarianismwas an individualised religion in which knowing Jah (God) was actually being him.
Followers made themselvesdistinct by growing their hair into dreadlocks(hence their name
'locksmen'), and smoking the 'holy herb' marijuana, which possibly accountedfor the high number of visionaries and prophets.They, 're-interpreted the bible in Black terms; they reversedthe meaningsof the biblical themesand symbols which had been projected by the dominant European-Christian tradition. "Black" now symbolisedpurity and good, while "white! ' representedevil' (Johnson& Pines
1982: 79-80). Rastafariansespoused Black superiority, as the black person was an exiled and re- incarnatedIsraelite. This tied in with the mythology of the Israelite migration (carrying the Ark of die
Covenant) from Solomon's Temple and Jerusalemto Ethiopia (heaven)to escapeBabylon (hell). Such a scenariofitted the black Diaspora and Jamaicanslaves transported from Zion (Africa), longing to return to their spiritual home. Hence repatriation to an African homelandwas a recurring themeof
Rastafarianism.It was a millennial cult, with a return to an idealised homeland for a better life,
rejecting Babylon and 'white' Europeanculture. These 'locksmen' becamean exotic elite with high
religious capital, and low economic capital. They wore red, green and gold (the colours of the
Ethiopian flag), tended to be vegetarian,shunned alcohol, and had a distinctive languagewhich made,
&extensiveuse of metaphorsand parables' (1982: 82). They had great influence over the rebellious
young unemployedof Kingston and Jamaica,as well as those of Jamaicandescent in Britain. High
unemploymentnationally and even higher among the ethnic minorities in Britain was a breeding
ground for discontent, and the messagewas transmitted through Reggaemusic.
10.53 TheMusic
Hebdidgeperceived Reggae music to be polymorphous, ' transmogrified American soul, with an
overlay of salvagedAfirican rhythms, and an undercurrentof pure Jamaicanrebellion. Reggaeis 218 transplantedPentecostal. Reggae is the rasta hymnal' (Hebdidge 1984: 18).
The RastafarianBob NestaMarley had the greatesteffect internationally and arguably on disaffected
Song black youth. Titles such asAfrican Herbsman,Get Up Stand Up, and Redemption contained
Marley's Rastafarianteachings. He befitted the role of prophet, icon and star, with his long locks, physiqueand looks. He and his band The Wailers, 'were the most popular (and commercially successful)exponents of this tradition, spreadingthe Messagein terms which were intelligible to wider
South in audiences'(Johnson & Pines 1982: 63). Their last concert was at Crystal Palacein London
1980. Marley died of cancerin May 1981 aged 36, which only added to his status(Marley 1984: sleeve notes).
Bradley quoted Danny Sims, an associateof Marley who suggestedthat,
like our leaders,like Marcus Garvey, like Malcolm X, like Martin Luther King, Bob Marley was one
who, once he knew he had something to get acrossto the world, couldn't rest becauseof his
he for for those To a generationBob Marley vision .... was searching an acceptance visions.... left the he loved for. was.... a true revolutionary and a man who never people and struggled
(Sims cited in Bradley 2000: 421)
Reggaeand in particular Marley, becamethe vehicle for expressingsocial comment and injustice as
well as spreadingthe Rastafariangospel around the world: 'Its difficult, of course,to properly
understandBob Marley's music without consideringRastafari..... It must be stated that Rastafari was
at the very core of the Wailer's music' (Marley 1984: sleevenotes).
Simon Jones(1988: 93-4) acceptedthat Marley had, 'rendereda more radicalised yet musically
cosmopolitanform of Jamaicanmusic for masswhite consumption', but that for many blacks this
signalled the end of his political and musical credibility. Yet the highly subversivePunk Rock of the
late 1970's appropriatedmuch from Reggae,including its authenticity, opposition to mainstream
culture and political ideology. It too addressedthemes of the everyday,poverty and protest, but mainly
for a white audience.
219 10.5.4 The effect of Reggae and Racial Inclusivity immigrants in Jonesrelated the racism that operatedin the housing and job markets for Afro-Caribbean
Britain, in the early days of post-war settlement,to racism in the leisure and entertainmentsphere:
'Faced with such exclusion, blacks were forced to rely more heavily on their own institutions of entertainmentand recreation' (1988: 33). Ironically, social exclusion thereby helped shapeand Ska conservetheir musical culture, which becamethe framework that enabledthe exposureof later and
Reggaemusic to its public. This embeddeda subculturethat was at odds with eurocentric values and
custom.
6rge identity for Reggae in particular had a dramatic effect on black youth in Britain. It helped to an
many, including them into a black culture and religion. The music expressed themes of alienation,
the by spirituality and overcoming subjugation, which was reflected in Britain at time a growing
disaffection and joblessness, a time of conflict between black youth and society.
Hebdige explained that besidesPunk Rock, Reggaehad been appropriatedby a new form of music
known as 'Two-Tone': '[This] transmogrified ska.. presenteda total packageof sound and image so
thoroughly integrated that the multiracial "message!' could be inferred - without being explicitly
1988: 214). Such rendered- by a broadly sympatheticaudience' (Hebdige music allowed solidarity
betweenblack and white youth. But there was a certain amount of inverted racism towards thesebands,
especiallyregarding poor musicianship.Bradley referred to it as the, 'English One lirop' (2000: 435),
which within the black community was looked at with disdain and humour.
Jones,researched the dialogue betweenblack and white youth, and assessedthat by the end of the
1980s,Jamaican popular music had had a profound impact and,
provided white youth with the raw material for their own distinctive forms of cultural
Through discourses Rastafari, has expression.... the political of reggae provided young whites with
a collective languageand symbolism of rebellion that has proved resonantto their own
predicamentsand to their experiencesof distinct, but related, forms of oppression.
(Jones1988: 231)
This illustrates the contradictions inherent in terms of inclusivity and exclusivity, and how related and 220 relative such terms are. The 'Two-Tone' successand that of Rock Against Racism (RAR), symbolically managedto incorporate socially excluded youth into a particular subculture.But ironically pure Reggaewas uncompromisingin its black message.Its identity and cosmology were always at odds with the wider European(Babylon) culture, from which it wanted to be excluded.
Hebdige agreedthat,
The transposedreligion, the language,the rhythm, and the style of the West Indian immigrant
guaranteedhis culture from any deep penetrationby equivalent white groups. Simultaneously,
the apotheosisof alienation into exile enabledhim to maintain his position on the fringes of
society without feeling any senseof cultural loss, and distancedhim sufficiently so that he could
undertakea highly critical analysisof the society to which he owed a nominal allegiance.-
(Hebdige 1977: 152)
Although it reachedout to the disaffected, and Marley was a huge commercial success,British culture
was unable to assimilate the Reggaecult. Like other subcultures,the social role of the music was to
enabledisaffection, giving solidarity to that cause.
10.5.5 Musical Participation
Reggaeis a highly inclusive music form. Firstly, it is participatory, and well-known songscan be
readily copied. This is due to the simplicity of the chords (basic majors and minors), firm and
consistentrhythm, and catchy melodies. Such a musical form is ideal for a range of participants. As a
learning tool for exploring keyboard and guitar, the formation of basic chords is vital. Similarly with
the bass,there are simple lines that can be learnt and a wealth of ideas to explore for drumming and
percussiondue to the heavy rhythmical element. As regardsvocals, there are opportunities for lead and
harmony backing, that can be experimentedwith or leamt.
Secondly,Reggae allows opportunities to createsongs, explore lyrics and melody. It is a simple format
and framework for writing, exploring and expressingviews. It has all the accessibility of pop music,
but with an addeddimension, in that it representsa particular culture of the oppressed.Participants can
investigatetheir own attitudes to religion, society, politics and life in general.Today new forms of 221 black music (Rap, Hip-hop, Garageand Ragga), are rooted in Reggaeand the sound system culture.
The lineage is direct.
3 With Harland (1995) referred to; enjoyment, skill regards to participation , et al's concept development, socialising, comfortability, self-identity and aesthetic attitude. These are all met through
favour participating in 'making', 'perceiving' and 'feeling' Reggae. 'S elf-identity' would obviously
those from similar ethnic backgrounds, but the music is more inclusive than that, and because it
touches on issues of oppression, can be felt beyond this immediate culture. 'Comfortability' is about
the extent to which participants feel at ease with the music. This is highly subjective, but overall
Reggae contains accessible melody and rhythm, and 'life-related' lyrics. All the other attitudes referred
to are met intrinsically by the music.
As for the negative attitudes that result in non-participation, Harland et al perceived theseto be; a talent
barrier, lack of comfortability, boredom and lack of relevance,bad image among peers,and
psychological discomfort. The 'Went barrier' and 'psychological discomfort' are easily overcome, as
the framework of Reggaeis simple and tunesaccessible. 'Boredom and lack of relevance' and 'bad
image' would be more likely and obvious today than twenty years ago, when Reggaewas more
fashionable.
Participation and thereby inclusion, as already expressedby Everitt, moved from a culturally
democraticposition to a more critical one, increasingcultural, educationaland social capital for those
involved. Reggaemusic is a perfect medium, as it can be used to include participants initially, in a
singalongmanner; then in accordancewith Everitt's secondlevel of engagement,as a teaching
medium, actually playing and creating the music. And with regardsto his third level of engagement,it
can be utilised as a tool through which to learn about black history, religion and culture, even the more
abstractconcepts of social exclusion and oppression.
10.5.6 Reggae/Rastafarianismasa Subculture
The arts have always had a role in terms of portraying the cracks in society, the extremes,the
unsuccessftil,the outcast and exploited. There are clear needs for membersof society to relate and
setout in 10.3. 222 identify with eachother through a 'common' culture, but it is impossible for everyone to be included within a particular systemof communicationor culture.
Hebdige explored youth subculturesand the extent to which objections to the consensualhegemony and apparentlynatural order were expressedthrough them. Such counter cultural phenomenaas Teddy
Boys, Mods, Punks and Ravers,have expressedthe cultures of those excluded working class white youth from the 1950s onwards.Reggae music similarly and initially expressedthe angst of disaffected black youth. Besidesmusic, thesesubcultures found expressionthrough dance,drugs, fashion and a specific style associatedwith that particular subculture.They were a reaction to die dominant culture and taste.Hebdige explained:
Style in subculture is, then, pregnantwith significance. Its transformationsgo 'against nature',
interrupting the processof "normalization". As such they are gestures,movements towards a
speechwhich offends the 'silent majority, which challengesthe principle of unity and cohesion,
which contradicts the myth of consensus. (1979: 18)
He understoodsubcultures not as an expressionof some sort of revolutionary ideal or greater truth, but a meansthrough which those subjugatedmembers of society could rise above their situation and expressthemselves. Furthermore, thesemovements were not led by the market, although bound up in the culture industry. As Simon Frith (1984: 39) remarked,'Styles dependon commercial teen culture
(pop music most obviously) but weren't createdby it - ted and mod and punk and skinheadstyles certainly weren't dreamedup by businessmen'.Deviancy in terms of style has very working-class roots, a statementof solidarity, 'us' against 'them', a riposte to bourgeois values.
The subcultureexists on the fringes of society, where the excluded youth can sharetheir values and identity. Some will eventually be incorporatedback into the wider culture, others maybe not.
Frith researchedsubcultural theory in terms of delinquency, and resistanceto the dominant culture. It was the music which solidified the identity of such groups. His interest was not in, 'how a particular piece of music or a performancereflects the people, but how it producesthem, how it createsand constructsan experience-a musical experience,an aestheticexperience - that we can only make sense of by taking on both a subjective and a collective identity' (Frith 1996: 109). He took this further, 223 relating back to issuesof re-interpretation.He saw the processas less well defined and more complicated in nature than model youth subculturegroupings. It was,
not just the familiar postinodernpoint that we live in an age of plunder in which musics
made in one place for one reasonare immediately appropriatedfor another place for quite
anotherreason, but also that while music may be shapedby the people who first make and
use it, as experienceithas a life of its own. (1996: 109)
Frith suggesteda, 'mobile' identity, an experienceand processtriggered by sound: 'music, an aesthetic practice, articulates in itself an understandingof both group relations and individuality, on die basis of which ethical codesand social ideologies are understood' (1996: 111). The listener participated in die music identified with the subculture,which allowed his or her self-expressionand encouragedgroup solidarity and identity. Reggaeas a music form, took on a'mobile' identity, as it was appropriatednot just by the cultural industry, but also by those without any connection to its Jamaicanroots. White youth grew dreadlocksin order to imitate and identify with the Rastafarianethos, others enjoyed and consumedthe music purely for its rhythms and melodies, despite its roots.
In terms of social inclusion, Reggaewas able to include different people for different reasons,beyond the original influence and intention of those musicians involved.
Frith form saw music as the most vital art as it was, 'best able both to cross borders - soundscarry fences across and walls and oceans,across classes, races and nations - and to define places; in clubs, scenesand raves, listening on headphones,radio and in the concert hall, we are only where the music takesus' (1996: 125). But he stressedthe importanceof distinguishing 'good' popular music from
'bad', in order to createa more critical awarenessof the medium, as understoodby Everitt's third level of engagement.
10.5.7 Adolescent Rite of Passageand Incorporation
The need for an adolescentto be included within a youth subculture that is excluded from society (and
into eventually re-incorporated the mainstream),can be perceivedas an individual, 'rite of passage'.
This was a term coined by the anthropologist Arnold Van Gennep (1960: v) in his classic study of, 'the 224 life'. He analysisof ritual behaviour in its relation to the dynamics of individual and group studied life small-scalepre-literate societiesand how they ceremonially dealt with adolescent crises through incorporation. the 'rite of passage'.He distinguished three different phases:separation, transition and
In many societies the ritual would take the form of removing certain age-groupsfrom the wider social This group and physically isolating them in order that they leamt adult ways and understanding. meditative transition phasecould involve teaching from a wise sage,and be accompaniedby taking
hallucinogenic plants in order to learn important mysteries and cosmologies.A more modern
Matus, his representationof this phasewould be Carlos CasteneMs meeting with Don Juan and
initiation into deeperunderstandings (Casteneda 1990). Similarly, there is a relationship between the
life. wise sageand aged Rastafarian,which incorporatesan older myLhopoeficunderstanding of
Eventually, those wiser and better educatedadolescents would then be re-incorporatedback into
society on different terms. Van Gennepexpressed that his, 'analysis of rites of incorporation is valid
for understandingthe problems associatedwith the "alienated" and "unclaimed" of modem societies'
(1960: x). There is a need for exclusion at specific life crisis points, in order for such groups to be re-
included later. Without a mechanismand framework for adolescentexclusion (die subculture), the
likelihood of inclusion later is reduced.
Not unconnectedto this conceptof incorporation, John Storey (1998b) studied the American West
Coast youth countercultureof the 1960s,and how this alternative social vision challenged the
prevailing hegemonyand particularly the war in Vietnam. It moved from resistanceto incorporation, as
the commercial potential of the movement becamemanifest and exploited. There is a similar processat
work, of exclusion from the mainstreamin order to be re-bound into it. Similarly, 'The collapse of the
West Coast counterculturefollowing the incorporation of its music' (1998b: 233) has parallels with the
Reggaesubculture. But this countercultureconcerned middle class and educatedsections of American
society, the future leadersand apologists for the next generationof American society. Hence the
pressingneed for incorporation of the culture. Such a simplistic analysis cannotbe so easily applied to
the Reggaesubculture, as it concerneda minority and disenfranchisedconstituency. Here the actual
commercial successof Reggaeis an example of the hegemonicaccommodation of opposing values,
which in turn links the cultural sphereto the body politic. This is what Tony Bennett (1998) in his
analysisof 'popular' culture, expressedas, 'the processesthrough which the ruling class seeksto 225 negotiateopposing classcultures on to a cultural and ideological terrain which wins for it a position of leadership is is ideology' ....what thereby consentedto a negotiated version of ruling-class culture and
(Bennett 1998: 221). Arguably, that may be the case,but the romantic counter cultural hippy idiom, which is a, 'utopian.... subversiveBohemian variant of bourgeois individualism' (Storey 1998b: 226), is more readily incorporatedand assimilatedthan a subculturesteeped in a minority ethnic culture, as it relatesbetter to the white bourgeoishabitus. Hence there is a much more uneasyrelationship with
Marley's revolutionary and redemptive lyrics.
10.5.8 A Feminist Perspective
There are other perspectiveson Reggae.Carolyn Cooper (2002) comparedthe conservatismof Marley with the more recent outspokenmusic of ShabbaRanks. She assessedrepresentations of female sexuality through both setsof lyrics from, 'the two major directions of contemporaryJamaican popular music: reggaeand dancehall [raggal. Both performershave achievedinternational superstarstatus as exponentsof Jamaicanmusic and articulators of the cultural values embeddedin the music' (Cooper
2002: 347). WhereasRanks was misogynistic and sexually explicit, Marley was the conventional male chauvinist romantic, 'overtly political and covertly sexual' (2002: 348). Although visionary, anti- establishmentand revolutionary in song, rights for Marley were perceived in socio-economicterms, whereasfor Ranks they were in terms of sexual equality, (albeit using a particular languageshocking to middle classears and values). Cooper assertedthat the changein lyrics reflected the evolution of
Jamaicansociety, 'from a rural, peasant-basedagricultural economy to an urban, wage-eaming economy' (2002: 356). Most tellingly, she related the chauvinism of Marley directly to, 'the conservative,biblically groundedpeasant values of his rural origins' (2002: 356) and the Rastafarian religion, which particular understandingof freedom was bound up in a male hegemonyand exclusivity.
10.5.9 A Virtual World
The anthropologist Barry Chevannes(1994) explored the roots of the RastafarianMovement. Its deliverance back out of captivity and to Zion, was basedon an idealisation of Africa that culminated in the Ras Tafari (Emperor Hails ascentof Salassie1). He ascendedthe throne of Ethiopia at the same time born that the movement was out of the troublesome1930's in Jamaica.The authenticity of the 226 Reggaeexperience through the Rastafariancult can be similarly critiqued.
Such an idealisation of place was a theme taken up by Andy Bennett (2002) who researchedinto this
relationship betweenmusic and location. He chose the 'Canterbury Sound', experimental music created
in the late 1960sby bands associatedwith Canterbury in Kent. These included the Wilde Flowers,
Caravanand Soft Machine. His intention was,
to add anew dimension to our understandingof the relationship betweenmusic and place by
consideringhow recently developedmedia, notably the Internet and digital recordings, are
enabling new constructionsof this relationship. Using the exampleof the Canterbury Sound, I
have examinedseveral ways in which fans of the latter have usednew technologiesas a meansof
building a retrospectiveand 'virtual scene'. (Bennett 2002: 98)
The CanterburySound has therefore becomean urban myth, and Canterbury an urban mythscape.The
music is a blend of folk with jazz, using very English phrasedand spoken lyrics, which has helped
constructa fictional interpretation of urban spaceý.This linking of musical styles with specific urban
spaces,has a history ( for instancethe Beach Boys with California, and Nirvana with Seattle), but
this Englishnesshas becomeweaved, 'Into the city's tourist gaze' (2002: 90), and an alternative to the
cathedralas an attraction.
The identification of Canterbury with this music has a lot to do with marketing, as has the promotion of 5. Jamaicathrough Reggaemusic But whereasCanterbury is associatedwith 1960's experimentation
and collectivity, this mythological Jamaicanlandscape belongs to a Christ-like Marley, the prophet
who easesthe suffering for the excluded. Not unsurprisingly, one of his later albums was entitled
Legend (Marley 1984).
10.5.10 Conclusion
The Reggaesubculture which had massivepopular appealboth in Britain and worldwide, was far from
4 the conceptof simulation was discussedin 9.3.3 5 The JamaicanTourist Board (2003) hasused Marley's 'One Love' as the theme for its advertising campaign 'Spirit of Jamaica. 227 a normative consumptionof standardised'popular' music. Although the music was an example of a culturally inclusive art form, easyto singalong and perform, it was highly contradictory.
The music originally expressedreal-life sentimentsthat allowed disaffected and alienatedblack youth in particular, a culture to identify with, giving solidarity to their cause.Its religious roots and message embeddedin the exclusive black Rastafarianreligion (an inversion of traditional religious symbolism), were disseminatedthrough its musically inclusive nature. Bob Marley, its greatestexponent, expressed the angst and injustice of life, with which the black youth identified. But such social inclusivity within this black constituencyand subculture,did not necessarilyapply outside of it, even though the music was commercially successful.In terms of social inclusivity, it is therefore paradoxical; on the one hand the music had a huge effect on breaking down racial barriers, on the other it was seenas die preserveof a Black culture. This is a good exampleof the related, dependentand contextual nature of social and cultural inclusion/exclusion, and the contradictions inherent. That the black community in Britain had historically been excluded through racism, ironically allowed a specific black Jamaicanmusical heritageto prosper, unassimilated,which createdthe framework for its promotion in Britain. It is also an exampleof how the signs of a minority culture can be appropriatedby majority culture, and the mutable and mobile nature of culture in which the understandingof its symbols changesover time and context. Although a popular form of music, the critical and revolutionary style of lyrics exemplify somethingbeyond its commodification.
10.5 Sunimary
Firstly, the chapter ventured different political constructionsof understandingpopular culture. Street, dissectedit into two dimensions.The first of which revolved around the axis of elitism and populism, the secondaround radicality and conservatism,yielding four political perspectiveswhich impact on understandingcultural inclusion. These showedpopular culture as a form of manipulation or meansof self-expression,factor of social changeor endorserof the statusquo. This necessitateda political understandingof how eachposition allowed people to determine and participate in their own culture.
Secondly,it assesseddifferent perspectivesof identity and how thesewere determinedby notions of multiculturalism and diversity. Such a position challengesprevailing fixed multicultural perspectives, which fail to perceive the more postmodernreality and choice with regards the interpretation of cultural 228 symbols.Identity is mutable and the significators can be re-interpretedin different ways, hence the shifting hermeneuticbasis of culture. Stuart Hall enunciatedthe importanceof cultural identity in terms of displacementand the black Diaspora.He formulated two conceptsof cultural identity, one in terms of ancestryand the past, the other regarding the reality of being different and the future. Joachim Knoll showedhow minority cultures are trappedbetween inclusion and exclusion, and the extent to which they are lost through assimilation into mainstreamculture, or savedthrough integration moreso on their own terms. Adam Kuper argued that multiculturalisin was tyrannical, dictating cultural terms in a way that was not necessarilythe reality for many, which actually hindered and restricted their own options for development.
Thirdly, it presenteda casestudy of a highly accessibleReggae Music, from a long tradition of
Jamaicanmusic, which helped the black British youth to forge a particular identity. It traced its history and that of the Rastafarianreligion. Due to its participative nature, it is a highly inclusive form of music, which satisfiesboth Harland et al's negative reasonsfor non-participation and Everitt's positive levels of engagement,respectively.
As a subculture,it was the first in this country to be 'black' orientated,but was appropriatedfrom its exclusively black religious roots, to encompassmore general issuesof oppression.This allowed a more mobile identity. There are similarities with the American West Coast Countercultureof the 1960's, but whereasthe Reggaesubculture retained its Rastafarianidentity, this resistantculture was assimilated.
That both were appropriatedinto the commercial mainstream,is anotherexample of the hegemonic power of popular music.
The Reggaesubculture can be situatedwithin the framework of Van Gennep's 'rite of passage',which conceivedthe need for adolescentsto be separated(excluded) from society for a transitional period, before being incorporated (included) back into the mainstream.He understoodthis functional framework of exclusion used in pre-literate societies,as an acceptedaid to inclusion in the longer term.
The music can be critiqued as overtly male in orientation and for creating an idealised image of the world, in which the identification of place (Jamaica),was far from reality driven. Overall the casewas a good example of the interconnectedand contradictory relationship between social and cultural inclusion and exclusion.
229 PART IV - The Arts: Individual Need and Social Function
One of the most moving narrativesof modemhistory is the story of how men and women languishing
undervarious forms of oppressioncame to acquire,often at greatpersonal cost, the sort of technical
knowledgenecessary for them to understandtheir own condition more deeply, and so to acquiresome of
the theoreticalarmoury essentialto changeit. It is an insult to inform thesemen and women that, in the
economicmetaphor for intellectual life now prevalentin the USA, they are simply 'buying into' the
conceptualclosures of their masters
(Eagleton1996: 5)
Rationalizationis at onceenervating disenchantment and enlighteningempowerment. It has led to
increasedfreedom and at the sametime facilitated internal and externaldomination on an unprecedented scale.This ambiguity is intended.Rationalization is at once a terrible condition, the worst evil, and the only
humanpath for liberation
(Alexander 1987: 187)
It wasn't so much the having to work that depressedus, but the thought that this would changeus. We wantedto believe we could go out to work and still keep our desertisland intact. But we knew, underneath,
that work would turn us into the sort of creatureswho went to work: puppetswho only owned half their
lives
(Swift The Tunneb
230 PartFour tries to determineboth from an individual and collective anglehow the arts relate specifically to causalfactors that enableinclusion and more generallyto society. It concernsthe education,empowerment and needsof the excluded,as well asthe social ftinction and location of the arts.
With regardsto the excludedindividual, it considersconcepts of personaltransformation, emancipation and empowerment,need and motivation. It assessesa Freirian educational pedagogywhich concernskey factorsthat may help addresssocial exclusion.Such creativeand heuristic learning, is both transformative
and democratic,with the self as agentof social change.The arts and creativity can permit a more
spontaneousand participatory learning, allowing truly empoweredand democraticcitizens.
AbrahamMaslow constructeda 'hierarchy of needs'which is set out and critiqued. He stipulatedthat only
after primary physiological drives had beensatisfied, could secondarycultural drives be realised.In
contrast,by perceiving the arts as a biological need,this presentsthem in a very different light.
A casestudy on Arts Education in Prison,looks more historically at the role of prison art educationas a
metaphorfor adult educationalpractice and lifelong learning. It illuminates the strugglebetween individual
creativeneeds and social accommodationshowing how the shifting paradigmof penal policy has
historically affectedits practice.The different rehabilitative educationalframeworks are set out around four
modelswhich have a wider application.Worryingly, the arts are increasinglyperceived as redundantin
termsof intrinsic utility.
The researchfinally assessesthe social location of the arts, a contestedarea, exploring the relationship
betweenwork and leisure. By placing them within a play or leisure ethic, this exposesand challengesa
cultural policy and strategythat utilises the arts primarily to help generateand instil a work ethic into the
socially excluded,and questionswhether the role of the arts is normative or transformative.
Increasinglysociety hasbecome involved in abnormaland deviant forrns of leisure,which is not unrelated
to this overbearingwork ethic driving ever more extreme,dehumanising and alienatingforms of capitalism.
Furthermore,it is this brand of entrepreneurialcapitalism which has both appropriatedthe conceptof
autonomyand ditched conceptsof mutual rights and responsibilities,that hashelped causeexclusion. This
rationalisationof society, that underpinsand embedscapitalisn-4 has increasinglysubjugated and
abnormalisedleisure, away from active creativeexpression and production, to passiveconsumption and
231 dangerouspursuits. The extent to which the participatory arts offer an engagedfreedom and necessary counterculture,an alternativethat challengesthis rigid 'iron cage', is thereforeexplored.
232 Chapter 11. Empowerment, Transformation and Need
11.1 Introduction
Addressingissues of social exclusionrequires amongst other considerations,an enablingof the excluded individuals, hencethe importanceof conceptsconcerning emancipation and empowerment.Similarly, thereare associatedissues of needand motivation. The researchpresents an educationalmethodology that encouragessuch concerns and createsa discoursearound personal transformation, which posidons creativity central to this process.
The casestudy concernsarts educationin prison and how educationalphilosophy hasbeen affected by extrinsic instrumentalconcerns. This illuminates the strugglebetween individual creativeneeds and social accommodation.Taking a historical perspective,it exploresfour prison educationalmodels, establishing a morepoliticised understandingof utility, a microcosmwith wider applicationto society.
11.2 Transformation of the Excluded
In order for the socially excludedto be included,this requiresa transformationof individuals and the social structuresthat encouragethe condition. That the former is embeddedin the latter, makesthe investigation ever more convoluted.
11.2.1Empowerment and Emandpation
Tom Inglis (1997) analysedthe conceptsof empowermentand emancipationin terms of how power relationsand structuresaffected the field of adult education.He challengedthe commonly held view of,
'freedom and emancipationbeing attainedthrough personaltransformation' (Inglis 1997:3). He perceived emancipationas having a more collective definition, whilst the conceptof empowermenthad been colonisedby corporateorganisations and their interests.He cited the needfor value which was central to humanity and overcomingself-interest.
Inglis perceivedempowerment as working the systemwhich, 'involves people developingcapacities to act successfullywithin the existing systemand structuresof power' (1997: 4). This has traditionally been one
233 of the aims of lifelong education,but it has increasinglybeen appropriatedby business,organisational managementand industrial training. Empowermentcould thereforealso be perceivedas a subtle and pervasivemeans of organisationalmanipulation. Emancipation on the other hand was concernedwith changingthe systemwhich, 'concernscritically analysing,resisting and challengingstructures of power'.
(1997:4). The more psychologicalemphasis of empowermentwith the realisationand reconstructionof the self, understoodeducation in termsof unblocking and unlocking capacitiesin responseto the effects of power, not confronting this process.Furthermore, there was a needto discover, 'some pre-social,authentic, essentialself. ' (1997: 7).
Inglis suggestedthat the processof self-realisationshifted the focus onto the individual, which ignored the analysisof power and the structuresthat operatedto control that individual.
11.2.2 Self-Regulatory Power and Disempowerment
Inglis was influencedby Foucault, who perceivedpower as exercisedthrough opinion and surveillance
The resultantinspecting gaze was internalisedwhereby, 'each individual under its weight will end by interiorising to the point that he is his own overseer,each individual thus exercisingthis surveillanceover, and against,hiniself' (Foucault 1980: 155).
Ibis self-censorshipcould be transferredto educationalprocesses, as paradoxically,these constraining factorswere containedin transformativelearning practices.Inglis quotedFoucault's analysis:
Insteadof producing docile, amenable, bodiesthrough forms has regulated external of control.... there
been a shift to more subtle forms of control. Through an ongoing processof externalizing,
problematizing,and critically evaluatingone's being, actions,and thoughts,a critically reflective self
is constituted.7bis self becomesthe centerof control. If properly constitutedwe no longer need the
regulatorydiscourse of psychiatry.Tbrough emancipatorylearning, we becomeour own psychiatrists.
(Foucaultcited in Inglis 1997:7)
broader a analysisof Foucault's conceptof power was set out in the Outsider Art case,especially 8.6.1; 8.62 & 8.6.7
234 Arguably, self-regulationin Adult Educationhas failed to liberateor empower,as the studenttoo readily
(and subconsciously)self-censors in order to appeasethe educator,and operatewithin acceptable frameworks.
11.23 Learning About the Self as an Agent of Social Change
Inglis perceivedlearning aboutthe self and correspondingempowerment, as excluding the necessary
analysisof oppression,the effects of power structuresand how they operatedin society.'Iberefore although
therehad been a proliferation in popular forms of psychologicalliterature, about self-confidenceand In assertivenessto help enableindividuals to feel more empowered,they were not emancipated. order to
achievethis, Adult Education teachersneeded to confront studentsto analysethe social and political
structuresthat informed our realities and, 'recognizeand challengethe structures,hierarchies, privileges, (1997: 10). This rhetoric, rules and regulationsof the educationalinstitution within which they operate'
included an analysisof power structuresin the family, workplace,society and nation. It could be too
threateningand destabilisingfor studentsto operatein practice.
Individuals neededto acquireskills and knowledgein order that they had the freedomto make informed
decisions.But this traditional accumulationof educationalcapital did not affect the underlying structuresof
oppression.
11.2A Education for Personal Transformation
Inglis assessededucation for emancipationas, 'a collective educationalactivity which has as its goal social
andpolitical transformation' (1997: 14). Therefore,education needed a theory and pedagogyof power, in
order to move beyond individual to social change.
'Ibis was in contrastto empowerment,which concernedindividuals attaining greatereconomic, political,
social and cultural capital. Here educationwas a form of investmentin a normative accumulationof power,
in order to obtain greaterrewards.
Freire had earlier critiqued such a understandingutilising the term 'banking education'.He viewed this
235 conventionalframework of educationas an act of depositing.Students were receptaclesto be filled by the educator.This,
knowledge inquiry 7be banking conceptof education-negateseducation and as processesof ...
more studentswork at storing depositsentrusted to them, the less they developthe critical
consciousnesswhich would result from their intervention in the world of transformersof that world.
'ne more completelythey acceptthe passiverole imposedon them, the more they tend simply to adapt
to the world as it is and to the fragmentedview of reality depositedin them. (Freirel970a: 46-7)
He espouseda 'problem-posing' liberational education.The processwas of vital importance,and required teachersto desist from imposing their views onto students:'Whereas banking educationanesthetizes and inhibits creativepower, problem-posingeducation involves a constantunveiling of reality. Ilie former attemptsto maintain the submersionof consciousness;the latter strives for the emergenceof consciousness and critical intervention in reality' (1970a:54).
Frcire embeddedthis praxis in the processof learning language,which was dependenton an understanding of culture and the socio-historicalsituation the studentsfound themselvesin. Adult literacy was part of the 2 Cultural literacy free process of cultural action . enabled the process of critical reflection necessary to the oppressedfrom the 'sick man' syndrome,in which literacy was seenas the medicine to cure the illness.
Suchtraditional practice ignored the real political and socio-economicstructural foundationsthat had initially causedthe problems.
Freire perceivedthat the studentsheld the solution, through their own action:
for, in reality, they are not marginal to the structure,but oppressedmen within it. Alienated men, they
cannotovercome their dependencyby 'incorporation' into the very structureresponsible for their
dependency.There is no other road to humanization- theirs as well aseveryone else's - but authentic
as shown in the Theatre of the Oppressed case study in 9.5.7
236 transformationof the dehumanizingstructure. From this last point of view, the illiterate is no longer a personliving on the fringe of society,a marginal man,but rather a representativeof the dominatedstrata of society, in consciousor unconsciousopposition to thosewho, in the samestructure, treat him as athing. (Freirel970b: 211)
Only throughraising consciousnessand the collective 'consciendzation'of thosestudents could an authentictransformation of the personin terms of humanisaflonoccur. This required an educationalinput basedon critical reflecdon and rational discourse,and a processof non-authoritarianteaching in which a genuineand respectfulcommunicadon between student and teacheroccurred. This then ideally led to action in the real world. Freire insistedthat, 'Becoming literate, then, meansfar more than learning to decodethe written representationof a soundsystem. It is truly an act of knowing, through which a personis able to look critically at the culture which has shapedhim and to move toward reflection and positive actionupon his world' (I 970b: 205). Such literacy dissolvedthe distinction betweenverbal and symbolic language,and focusedon wider issuesof cultural democracy,in order that participantswere better able to shapetheir environmentand ultimately society.
11.2.5 Transformation Theory
JackMerizow's (1991) TransformationTheory of emancipatorylearning was steepedin a Freirian pedagogy,but without the politics and social action. It was a universaleducational theory groundedin,
'rules that are implicit in linguistic competenceor humandevelopment' (Merizow 1991:xiii). He was unhappywith psychologicaltheories, particularly behaviouristassumptions, as they were so amenableto bureaucraticcontrol, and were measurableonly becausethey focusedon anticipatedbehavioural outcomes.
The missingdimension was the social conditioning that influencedhow adults mademeaning, how it was constructedand validated.
Like Freire, he saw, 'the processof problem solving [as] the mechanismby which transformationsin meaningschemes occur or new schemesare createdas we encounternew data that do not fit our preconceivednotions' (1991: 197).This necessitatedreflection on problemsand acting on insights.
237 Emancipatoryeducation was aboutawareness and could be framedwithin pre-existing fields of adult education.These included; critical reflexivity, creativity, artistic expression,personal development and therapy,conscientisation, dialectical thinIcing,consciousness raising, philosophical analysisand some forms of religious conversionand easternmysticism. Many of thesecategories concerning emancipatory educationare intrinsic to the arts.
Ultimately, throughhis TransformationTbeory, Merizow attemptedto analyseand comprehendhow adult learnerscreated meaning out of their experience.This required andragogy,which he defined as, 'an organisedand sustainedeffort to assistadults to learn in a way that enhancestheir capability to function as self-directedlearners' (1991: 199).The consequencesof which reducedlearners dependency on educators, and increasedtheir responsibility for defining learning objectivesand needs.
He saw the role of an educatoras provocateur3, encouraging alternative and rational discourses.But unlike
Freire,he alwayssaw, 'education[as] the handmaidenof learning,not of politics' (1991: 208) with,
'perspective development'(Merizow 1994:228). transformation.... the engineof adult
He assumed a benign socio-economic and political reality, and a society that wanted to nurture independent free thinking adults and decision-makers.
11.2.6 Fear of Freedom and Spontaneity
Thoseexcluded from society, may fear freedom,which can also impact on their willingness and ability to expresstheir spontaneity.
The socialpsychologist Eric Fromm (1977) arguedthat, 'Freedomfrom externalauthority is a lasting gain only if the inner psychologicalconditions are suchthat we are able to establishour own individuality'
(Fromm 1977:207-8). He perceivedthe problemsof personalfreedom and the assertionof individuality as being locked into wider social issuesas well as inner psychologicalproblemsý. Individual powerlessnesslacked
3 similar to Boal's conceptof 'Joker' in Forum Theatreas set out in 9.53 4 the externalsociological causesof oppressionand internal psychologicalfactors are describedin the Theatreof the OppressedCase in 9.5.3 & 9.5.4
238 spontaneityand led to a feigning to authority and compulsiveautomaton-like behaviour, or into authoritarianismmoreover, 'Me suppressionof spontaneousfeelings, and therebyof the developmentof genuineindividuality, startsvery early as a matterof fact with the earliest training of the child' (1977: 208).
This powerlessnessand insecurity helpeddesign a very isolatedindividual. Fromm understoodthat such isolation neededthe challengeof spontaneity:
Spontaneousactivity is not compulsive,to which the individual is driven by his isolation and
powerlessness;it is not the activity of the automaton,which is the uncritical adoptionof patterns
suggestedfrom the outside.Spontaneous activity is free activity of the self and implies, psychologically,
what the Latin root of the word sponte,means literally- of one's free will. (1977: 223)
He referredto artists as spontaneous,whose thinking, feeling and acting were expressionsof themselves.
Suchbehaviour could free the individual from the confinesof such authoritarianisolation. But therewas a dangerthat spontaneityunlocked other aspectsof characterwhich could be antithetical to suchobjectives.
He did not espouseanarchy, distinguishing between rational authority and irrational authority, the latter of which could be usurpedthrough a more spontaneousnature. Rational authority was never in conflict with the true needsof the individual. This allowed peopleto be free to find out who they were and be themselves.He espouseda philosophy of positive action:
Whetheror not we are aware of it, there is nothing of which we are more ashamedthan of not being
ourselves,and there is nothing that gives us greaterpride and happinessthan to think, to feel, and to say
what is ours. This implies that what mattersis the activity as such,the processand not the result. In our
culture the emphasisis just the reverse.We producenot for a concretesatisfaction but for the abstract
purposeof seHingour commodity; we feel that we can acquireeverything material or immaterial by buying it, and thus things becomeours independentlyof any concreteeffort of our own in relation to them. (1977: 226)
239 He emphasisedprocess in termsof activity, in favour of product.There is a similar philosophybehind participationin the arts, where spontaneityis shown through creativity. Such a creativeaxis allows the personto, 'live, neithercompulsively nor automaticallybut spontaneously....[and to be] awareof himself
individual [who] is life: as an active and creative .... recognisesthat there only one meaningof the arts of living itsey' (1977: 226-7).
HenceFromm linked up the creativeact with a self-consciousnessthat democraticallypositioned the personin oppositionto autocraticpower. Furthermore,because the excludedconstituency may lack the spontaneousnessrequired to be able to creatively express,the arts were integral to emancipatorylearning,
113 Needs
The researchassesses the conceptof need,specifically in termsof creativity.
113.1 Theory of Human Needs
Maslow constructeda hierarchy of humanneeds, reflecting his Motivation Theory (197 1). This was later
describedas his Theory of Human Needs(Doyal & Gough 1991), and distinguishedbetween the primary
and secondarydrives which determinedthese needs. The former had a physiological makeup,whereas the
latter were cultural. He concludedthat,
the chief principle of organizationin human motivational life is the arrangementof basic needsin a
hierarchy of less or greaterpriority or potency.The chief dynamic principle animatingthis organization
is the emergenceof the healthy personof lesspotent needsupon gratification of the more potent ones.
The physiological needs,when unsatisfied,dominate the organism,pressing all capacitiesinto their
serviceand organizing thesecapacities so that they may be most efficient in this service.
(Maslow 1970:59).
Only when needshad been satisfiedcould peoplepossess 'functional autonomy', 'independentof the very
gratificationsthat createdthem' (1970: 58), which allowed self-realisation,and fulfillment of latent
240 potential.
Maslow(1970: 35-58) listed five needsthat had to be satisfied.Ibis included:the primary 'Physiological
Need'at thebase of thepyramid; to secondly,a 'SafetyNeed'; thirdly a 'Belongingnessand Love Need';
fourthly'Esteem Needs'; and at theapex of thepyramid the 'Needfor Self-Actualization'.He insistedthat,
'Thereis usuallysuch an overlapping that it is almostimpossible to separatequite clearly and sharply any drive itself from onedrive fromany other. -the veryconcept of probablyemerges a pre-occupationwith thephysiological needs' (1970: 26).
Neverthelesshis argumentwas that secondary cultural needs are in generaldependant on primaryneeds
beingsatisfied (although he acknowledgedpossible exceptions). Subsistence needs such as hunger and
housing,as well asmore advanced needs related to security,stability, belonging through family tiesand
socialrecognition, had to be metto somelarge degree, before the need for self-realisationbecame relevant. 'We know less [1)have Evenso, he admittedthat with regardto aestheticneeds, even aboutthese ... and at
leastconvinced myself that in someindividuals there truly is a basicaesthetic need' (1970: 5 1).But in
general,Maslow's theory suggested that for thosewhose basic needs had not beenmet (especially the
sociallyexcluded), art activitieswere at bestan irrelevanceand at worstperverse. The priority shouldbe to
satisfytheir basic needs.
1132 Critique of Human NeedsTheory
Maslow was a universalist,and accordinglyclaimed that, 'Our classificationof basic needsis in part an
attemptto accountfor this unity behind the apparentdiversity from culture to culture. No claim is made yet
that it is ultimate or universal for all cultures.71be claim is madeonly that it is....a closer approachto
commonhuman characteristics'(1970: 54-5).
But his Human NeedsTbeory is too neat,reality is far messier,uncontrollable and unpredictable.The
chargeof cultural specificity is also hard to defendagainst. Although particularism, in line with postmodern
sensibility, is highly fashionable,universalistic argumentshold a fascination,particularly for thosewith a
scientific leaning who view humanity in a more biological manner.
Len Doyal and Ian Gough took a more relativist position. For example,they assertedthat, 'Some people
241 seemfar more concernedwith their self-actualisationthan their safety' (Doyal & Gough 1991:36) and questionedMaslow's typology. They wanted to separatethe universalelement of his NeedsTheory from humanmotivation and drive. They challengedthe instinctual drive behind it as, 'we can strongly desire
things which are seriouslyharmful and, in our ignorance,not desirethings which we require to avoid such harm' (1991: 49). With regardsto 'functional autonomy, they conceivedthis to be a basic need,and
distinguishedbetween primary and secondarydrives in terms of, 'the extent that it underlinesthe
distinction betweenaction which is basedon a processof reflection from action executeduncritically'
(1991: 68). That being the case,the arts can be seenas part of the processof introducing secondorder
preferences.
Maslow's model of human natureis very rigid and incapableof incorporatingthe many unknown variables
and individual drives that reflect personality.He admittedthat somepeople can be born with innately high
creativity, but still regardedthe hierarchy as a representativemodel. A casein point is the artist Stephen
Wiltshire, who was autistic and, 'seen,classically, as being intensely alone, incapableof relationship with
others,incapable of perceiving others' feelings or perspectives,incapable of humour, playfulness,
spontaneity,creativity - mere "intelligent automata",in Asperger'sterms' (Sackscited in Hewson 1991:7).
He was able to draw complexbuildings from memory and was describedby the museologistSir Hugh
Cassonas, 'possibly the best child artist in Britain' (Cassoncited in Hewson 1991: 11). For somebodywho
wasbarely able to satisfy the third level of 'relating to others', Wiltshire was more than able to show his
creativity and spontaneity,qualities associatedwith the fifth level of self-actualisation.Maslow
circumventedthis problem by suggestingthat such creativity was a compensationas such, 'creativeness
might appearnot as self-actualizationreleased by basic satisfaction,but in spite of lack of basic
satisfaction'(1970: 52).
Possiblythe strongestargument against Maslow, is political. He useda psychologicalframework in which
to statethe socio-economicand political reality of American society.His argumentis tautological ashe
assessedhuman needs from his particular perspectivewithout looking at wider influences,hermetically
sealedwithin a psycho-biologicalparadigm. So it is not altogethersurprising that he used a hierarchical
theory to describea hierarchicalsociety. He also demeaned(whether intentionally or not) thoseat the
242 bottom of society, as though they were underdevelopedand second-class.It is very difficult to dissociatean
ethical dimensionfrom his theories.
Elaine Pearsonand Ronald Podeschi(1999) critiqued Maslow's emphasison individualism, which was
culturally specific and, 'reflects a US belief in progress,one fuelled by other mainstreamvalues such as
newnessand change,with educationas a road to renewalof society,as well as the self' (Pearson&
Podeschi1999: 45). He failed to recognisewider social constraintsor his own cultural position. 7bey
differentiatedbetween 'individuality' and 'individualism'; the former, 'defining individuals both in terms
of their uniquenessand in their embedmentwithin the social matrix' whilst the latter more metaphysical
term, 'exists apart from any social arrangement'(1999: 50). Maslow confusedthese terms, not fully
appreciatingthe reality of how the individual was embeddedsocially, falling back onto an ideal location.
RobertShaw and Keith Colimore (1988) took anotherpolitical perspective,accusing Maslow and his
theoriesof presentinga, 'new and seductiveSocial Darwinianism' (Shaw & Colimore 1988:56) and
concomitantblame culture, which justified capitalistprivilege and personalisedculpability, in terms of
failure to attain the level of Self-Actualisation.His theoriesperpetuated elitism and inequality, as there was
little recognitionthat the excludedindividuals at the bottom of the pyramid of needs,had to overcome
socio-economicand political barriers in order to reachthis privileged state.
Meanwhile,Ellen Dissanayake(1992; Gablik1995) regardedthe arts themselvesas being a human need.
Sheconcluded that, 'art comesfrom a needto make things special' (Dissanayakecited in Gablik 1995:42)
which set humansapart from animals.She establishedher biological and evolutionary conceptof art,
claiming that it was, 'an inherited behaviouraltendency to act in a certain way in certain circumstances,
which during the evolution of our specieshelped us to survive' (Dissakayane1992: 38). Ironically, by
utilising a Darwinian template,she considered art to be a biological needwhich required satisfaction,for
the purposeof pleasure,'and whosedenial may be considereda vital deprivation' (1992: 38). The arts were
a basic need,not part of a selectivehierarchy. But ironically, the 'high' arts separatedus from this need: 'it
is if becoming as while we were more and more enlightenedand "civilized" - distancingourselves from the
exigenciesof nature and the superstitionsof the tribe - we were also progressivelyforsaking ancient,
elemental,human satisfactionsand ways of being' (1992: 4). The enculturationof peoplesand societieshad
243 Accordingly, movedthe 'high' arts away from biological needsto make specialand assuagepleasure.
Dissanayakequestioned whether her basic premisethat the arts enabledus to feel good through participation,could be satisfiedthrough the 'high' arts,due to their exclusivity.
One has feeling that [the interestonly when they reachthe stageof being the .... arts) are mattersof We discount, remote,like heavenlybodies Or artificial satellitesserenely revolving in the empyrean.
disregard,or forget the blazing forces that got them up thereand our sympatheticthrill of exultation
and participation asthey rose aflame leaving earth and us behind. (1992: 25)
Shestudied Sri Lankan culture, and attackedwestern aesthetics as being caughtup in a circular argumentin which, 'somethingwas assignedto the categoryof genuineart if it was deemedcapable of providing and
sustaininggenuine aesthetic experience. Genuine aesthetic experience was defined as somethingone
experiencedwhen contemplatinggenuine art' (1992: 40). Consequently,'Today's philosophersof art have
totally abandonedtrying to define the word or the concept' (1992: 41).
Dissanayakeapproached art as a behaviour,as it had similarities with accountsof young animals at play.
Suchinvolvement lacked ulterior motive and the rationale for suchconduct was steepedin the intrinsic
benefitsof enjoymentand fun. Play allowed the uncertainto happen,the novel to be tried and unpredictable 5 behaviour be This in humanity founded in the in to expressed . need was arts and celebrated ritualised
customsthroughout the world. Human needsand motivation are conceptsthat attractcompeting discourses.
11A CaseStudy: Arts Education in Prison
71bisfinal casestudy looks at arts educationwithin the excludedprison environment,to assessa deeper
understandingof their purposeand instrumentality.Irrespective of whetherthey are an individual needor
conduit for social accommodation,they have an effect in terms of emancipating,cnfranchising and
empoweringthis constituency.Discourse concerning their psychological,educational and rehabilitative
5 see 12.6 and the Play ethic
244 utility allows greaterinsight into their function.
IIA. 1. History of Penal Education
William Forster(1989; 1998) researchedthe history of penal educationconcluding that, 'whatever society providesby way of educationalservices within its prison systemmust depend,in the end, upon what that
societyperceives "education" asbeing' (Forster 1989:343).
He delineateddefinite areasof educationalactivity which have becomeestablished in British prisons:
vocationaltraining, remedial education(basic literacy and numeracy),academic programmes (from GCSE
to degree),the therapeutic(cognitive skills and angermanagement courses) and finally the recreationalin
which he placed arts and crafts. Ilese were, 'viewed asharmless activities which enablea sentenceto be
lived more easily' (1989: 346) He also referredto this areaas, 'the most prevalent and yet the least
systematicallyexplored' (Forster 1998:69).
Forstersaw an uncertainty amongprison educationalistsin termsof whethereducation should be non-
interventionistwith regardssocial deviancy or wrappedup in reformativework. As regardsto the evidence
to prove rehabilitative intervention, 'Enquiries into the longer term effects of prison educationalexperience
arehampered both by the necessaryprivacy of the ex-prisonerand by the difficulty in isolating education,
per se, from all the other effects of imprisonment' (1989: 346). He likened the prison service to the adult
educationmovement as both had beenbedevilled with defining their purpose.He distinguishedbetween
threeoverlapping educational categories: firstly, personaldevelopment; secondly, social purposeto,
'redresssocial injustice and educationald isadvantage.... [and the] needfor informed democracy' (1998:
70); and finally, community educationwith emphasison participation.He was concernedwith the pressure
of an increasingfunctionalism, which was reflected in demandsfor measurableoutcomes to justify
expenditure,and with the far-reachingclaims for the effects of prison education,beyond what could be
proved.
11A.2 Prison Education Models, Shifting Paradigms
StephenDuguid (1998: 21-29), offered a more forthright critique of prison educationand especiallythe
245 presentemphasis on psychologicalcognitive approaches.Within the shiffing paradigmsof modern correctiontheory, the Canadiansystem included:
Firstly the 'medical model' (1945-1975)an, 'approachto criminal behaviourthat saw it as an illness, the
specific causesof which could be diagnosedand prescribedfor' (1998: 22). Henceeducation was a form of
treatment.
Secondly,the 'rejection of any rehabilitation model' (1974-77),as therewas no surety of success.Ibis was
re-interpretedas a 'nothing works' theory, in which, 'benign neglect [was] as "effective!' as treatment
[which] was music to the earsof governmentaccountants looking for money to save' (1998: 27).
Thirdly, the 'opportunitiesmodel' (1977-87).This reflectedthe re-emergenceof an educationalparadigm
which Tom Gehring perceivedas consistingof five components:Cognitive instruction (critical thinking),
participativedecision-making (choice), moral education,criminal personality,and a focus on the
humanities(Gehring cited in Duguid 1998:28).
Lastly, the 'new medical model' (Late 1980's to present)was born. Here the direct programmingof
cognitive skills becameindependent of educationalinput. The 'opportunitiesmodel' was seenas too
unstable,with responsibility vestedin the handsof prisoners.Allowing them to make choices,was
regardedas aimless,so the responsibility was taken away and the adult educationalapproach rejected.
Duguid saw this as, 'the slippery slopebetween education and treatment' (1998: 29). Such a cognitive
skills programmethat tackled behaviourwithin a psychologicalparadigm, was advocatedbecause it was
perceivedto be more efficient and a better morale boosterfor staff.
11A3 Critique of Prison Education and the Cognitive Model
But Duguid (1998: 37-8), arguedthat the cognitive skills programmewas lesssuccessful atreducing
recidivisn-4than an adult educationalmodel. The cognitive skills programmereduced re-offending for the
low-risk group by only 112% comparedto the control of roughly 50% after one year, and had minimal
effect on high-risk categoriesof prisoners.Whereas in a parallel study of the effects of a post-secondary
educationprogramme, roughly 80% of thoseparticipating successfullycompleted three yearsout of prison
on release.On top of this 57% of the high-risk offenderswere successfulin the sameperiod. The education
246 programmerather than cognitive skills seemedto be more successful,albeit more time-consumingand costlY.
He lampoonedthe, 'merry-go-roundof correctionalpolicies, none of which have done more than advance careers,enhance professionalism and cost money - to say nothing of the humancosts to thosewho were forced to experiencethe various intrusive treatments'(1998: 39). One of the main reasonsfor the rise of the
New Medical model, was a needfor quick results to satisfy funding and also a need to improve the morale
of prison staff, as the 'nothing works' idiom neededto be inverted,to give prison staff a purpose.
Michael Collins (1988) took a critical Foucauldianangle on prison education.He was keen to show that,
'the kind of power relationshipsand coercivestructures that impinge, with more immediacy,on prison
educationalso shapemuch of the modempractice of adult education;in particular that which is
characterisedas self-directedlearning' (Collins 1988: 101).He saw educationin prison as being an
accommodativestrategy that helped sustainpenal objectives,in termsof surveillanceand control.
Offenderswere markedout for treatmentand correctionto normaliseand correct the criminal mind. The
irony being that, far from transformingprisoners into honestcitizens, prisons were better able to
manufacturecriminals more adeptand better networkedin their professionof crime. He surmised:
And yet the vast set-upto treat, correct and,hence, infantalize criminals as delinquentsremains firmly
embeddedin the penal systemas a normalizing technology.It servesto fix individuals via panoptic
techniques(the documentaryapparatus, psychiatric assessments,diagnostic testing etc.) that lead to
precise,objective codifications of the individual. (1988: 103)
Iberefore Collins regardedprison educationas a metaphorfor adult educationand a paradigmwhich
thwartedany genuinedemocratic principles. He arguedfor a more transparentidentification of the power
relationsin play. He recognisedthe modification of criminal behaviourwithin a framework of cognitive
psychology,as a techniqueof normalisationand control, with prison educatorstaking a predominantly
accommodativerole. This carried with it an artificiality that was not conduciveto supporting or
encouragingautonomy within prison educationpractice.
247 11.4A Lack of Research
Thereis a lack of researchinto the successof rehýbilitative programmes,although there are rafts of statisticssupporting different claims.
For instance,the SEU, who recognisedthe excludednature of offendersand ex-offenders,and the needto tackle drug relatedcrime, with 70% of prisonershaving a drug misuseproblem (Social Exclusion Unit
2002: 6 1), also extolled the successof cognitive skills programmes:'A Home Office review suggeststhat prison-basedthinking skills programmescan result in reconvictionrates which are up to 14 percentage points lower than comparisongroups. Based on the numberof prisonersexpected to completesuch
programmesthis year, this representsa reductionof around21,000 crimes' (2002: 8 1).
But neither the Home Office or the SEU are impartial, embeddedwithin governmentagendas. This view
differs from Duguid who earlier presentedthe caseagainst a cognitive skills programmesin favour of adult
learning,based on a broad educationalcurriculum. Both he and Collins were concernedat the lack or
trustworthinessof researchthat proved the validity of rehabilitation programmes.Collins warnedof,
prematureclaims aboutreduced recidivism rates....Ias] many of theseclaims are basedon studiesthat
are readily undermined.How, for example,does a researcherrealistically identify and control all the
significant variablesfor this kind of population, and carry on the project over a long enoughperiod of
time that takesinto accounta sufficient numberof studentsduring their incarcerationand after
release? (1988: 105)
Suchareas of concerninclude: the length of time allowed to prove lack of recidivism, and whetherthere are
othermore important causaloffending variables.Similarly, the programmepre-screens participants,
choosingonly specific categoriesof prisonerswith particular behaviouralprofiles. 71beseinclude problems
relatedto, 'impulse control, rigid thinking, lack of meansend testing and egocentricity' (Waplington 1999:
13). Arguably, theseoffenders are the most likely to changetheir criminal habits anyway.
Furthermore,Maguire and Honess(1997: 63) in their investigationinto distancelearning in prison were
surprisedat the, 'dearth of researchon prison educationin Britain'. They researchedthe completion of
248 distancelearning educationalcourses, through a longitudinal study of thirty prisoners.
11.4.5 Aims and Purpose of Arts Education in Prison
It is important to determinethe aims and purposeof arts educationin prison.
Nick Flynn and David Price (1995) undertooka national surveyof educationin prison. They quoted the
PrisonService Arts in PrisonsWorking Party, which listed a rangeof purposesfor arts educationfor prisoners.This included:using time constructively,expressing themselves effectively and acceptably, developingself-awareness and achieving a senseof self-worth, respectingothers and working collaboratively,developing skills and taking pride in them, as a route back into educationfor thosewith poor literacy skills, becomingmore in touch with themselvesand their behaviour,maintaining and strengtheningties with family, making choicesand acceptingresponsibility, as a way into employment,to relatebetter to prison staff and othersthrough sharedinterests (Flynn & Price 1995: 18).
Marian Liebmanntook a more therapeuticline citing the arts in prison as a meansof non-verbal communication,as a bridge betweentherapist and client, as a meansof self-expressionand self- exploration,as a safeway of dealing with unacceptableemotions such as anger,as an aid to discussion,to help mobilise peopleand for the sakeof enjoymentand creativedevelopment. (Leibmann cited in Flynn &
Price 1995: 18-9).
The visual artist Colin Riches(1994) expandedon this themereferring to the hidden therapybehind classroomor workshop art projects.He took it for grantedthat thesewere now acceptedpractices with an importantpart to play in psychologicalhealing and growth. But such an understandinghad to be contextualised.He recognised,'that there are important therapeuticbenefits implicit in visual art programmes.For a serving prisoner, thesebenefits may simply help him to survive his sentence'(Riches
1994: 100).The dramatherapistSally Stamp (1998) usedsimilar argumentsto support the use of drama in prison.
JamesThompson (1999), arguedthat applied theatrewas ideal for tackling angermanagement and
249 6 behaviour He this behavioural perspective, placed addressing offending . allied approach with a cognitive within a psychological not an educational framework.
Anne Peaker (1994: 59-60), who set up the Unit for Arts and Offenders, 'in support of the development of arts opportunities for people in prison and special hospital and special units', considered them neither 7 between The function the contained in an educational or therapy framework, and somewhere the two . of
in arts for inmates was individually determined but came, 'from a need to find a voice of their own a
situation where they have few means of communicating with others and where they suffer a consequent
loss of identity' (1994: 57). This was conceived within a holistic framework which sought to develop the
inmates kept, 'themselves whole person. Furthermore, the arts were a vehicle through which occupied and
as an escape from the pressures of their immediate surroundings' (1994: 60). The creative capacity of the
arts allowed and instilled confidence in prisoners, challenging their low self-esteem and assuring them that
they were worth educating.
Annie Blue (1996) in her research into education for women in prison, showed that there were four central
areas in which arts education could be utilised to explore issues of social relevance: deviance, loss,
connection and empowerment. Although her work was specifically about the condition and situation of
imprisoned women, it can be expanded to include a much wider constituency. She argued for an, 'art
education which aims for empowerment and liberation, rather than normalization and containment' (Blue
1996: 4). Deviance, through utilising the arts was therefore a possible, 'vehicle for exploring self-identity
and sabotaging the efforts of the regime to 'ýmanage identities... (1996: 7 1). In terms of countering the
effects of loss, 'Art education offers a wide range of opportunities for women to name the things that are
absent.... and develop new ways of seeing and knowing' (1996: 724). Blue saw the need for education to
make connections, therefore arts education had to be culturally plural and open. Ile urge to create also
included a need to connect disparate ideas or feelings from inside to the outside world, and the sharing of
such hidden thoughts and ideas with others. Finally, because the arts increased self-confidence by
encouraging ability and expression, they were a vehicle for empowerment.
6 asdetailed in the Evaluation casestudy of drarna-basedarts programmein 7.3.4. 7 seePhillips with regardsto the natureand evaluationof the arts within institutions in 5.6.1
250 Paul Clements (2002), who conducted group music classes with Vulnerable Prisoners, some of the most excluded in prison, recounted how music naturally encouraged communication for this most inarticulate of constituencies. Also, when researching into the changing role and curriculum of prison education, he discovered the consequences for a particular education department with regards to the instrumental use of the arts. At HM? Brixton, an old Victorian local prison, the curriculum in 1996 included 43 weekly classes in arts subjects, whereas correspondingly, by 2001 this accounted for 10. Furthermore, such classes were run only if they included a basic and key skills curriculum. Arts classes had been replaced with classes entitled, Tirmstart with Pottery' and 'Basic Skills through Art' amongst other instrumental agendas. Hence he commented that, 'Sadly, the renaissance in prison arts has been replaced by an age of instrumental reason and measurement'.
In a survey conducted by The Unit for Arts and Offenders (2001), 75% of prisons had experienced cuts to their arts programmes in the 2000/1 financial year and 43% of classes were cut to make way for the basic and key skills curriculum. This included the visual arts, woodwork, craft, drama, pottery, music and photography. It recommended that arts classes should be supportive not alternative to this curriculum, in line with government thinking and claimed that there was hard evidence that the arts could deliver basic and key skills at level 2. It also alleged that the arts reduced offending behaviour (although no evidence was 8 given) .
David Wilson (2001), a writer and researcher on prison education, whilst not denying the need for a basic skills agenda, calculated that this failed to account for 30-40% of the prison population, who required a higher level of education. He put this emphasis on basic and key skills down to the introduction of the core
in 1995 'the curriculum and, development of key performance targets which seek to reduce the number of prisoners released without basic skills at level 2 or above' (Wilson 2001: 18).
Lustgarten (2001: 22), Anders an experienced prison educator, went further in his condemnation of, 'the systematic eradication of expressive, creative courses in drama, art and culture'. He ridiculed, 'Statistics
[as] the Annual intake 1000 .... surrogates of success. men, annual productivity 1000 certificates, result
8 SeeAppendix 4
251 (irrespectiveof what's taught,to or by whom), education'.But his greatestwrath was reservedfor the actualqualifications:
insteadof qualifying people in readily assimilablemarketable skills like rr and web design,with
salariesthat might actually competewith a criminal income,we give them lowest common
denominatorqualifications that on their own aren't likely to override the stigma of criminalisation for
prospectiveemployers.
In contrast,he explained his involvementin prisondrama, and how throughthe rehearsal schedule he could visibly assessthe changesand gradualempowerment of prisonersthrough their involvement in a productionof 'Accidental Death of an Anarchist' at HMP Wandsworth.Such support for the arts, which 9- dealt with quality and value, was unfortunatelylost in the measurementculture of today
Flynn and Price concludedthat,
Art internal development "self', activities.... are more concernedwith goals- of the communicating,
respect- than with externalgoals - gaining qualifications or skills directly applicableto employment
or survival. Progresscannot be demonstratedas easily as examinationresults. Achievementsare more
subtle, more psychologicaland more difficult to put into words. (Flynn & Price 1995: 18)
From their survey,Education Co-ordinators were divided as to the worth or purposeof arts education:
'SomeEducation Co-ordinators considered arts activities to be an important part of the education
curriculum; othersconsidered them to be leisure pursuitsonly. Ibis is reflected in a lack of consistency
regardingthe organizationof arts exhibitions and the use of outsidesources of funding' (1995: 32).
Arts educationin prison is very popular, and thereare five main reasonsfor advocatingthem. Firstly,
dynamic security. By occupying prisonersin somethingof interestand fun, that absorbsthem, this helps
Advocacy for arts basedprogranunes in prison is set out in Appendix 2
252 towardsthe security within the prison, and is a welcomecontrast to the negativeboredom of prison life.
Secondly,the arts are a re-introduction to educationfor manyprisoners who truantedfrom school. By engagingthe handsand the eyesof new students,this naturally developsto the mind. Once interestedin the
arts,students will be more willing to look at more mundaneand lessattractive educational options, those
for instancelinked to the basic skills curriculum. Thirdly, creativity and new ways of thinking, traditional
10 For instance the to aims of the arts, are the territory of rehabilitation . applied theatreallows space practice II Fourthly, the to individual new roles . as alreadymentioned, arts offer an opportunity explore potential
and alternativeinterests as well as increaseself-esteem. 77hey aid communicationand allow prisonersto
ideas Lastly, Matarasso 12 value their own and other people's and cultures. as suggested , engagementwith
the arts helps produceempowered active citizens and developsa critical attitude in them.
11.4.6 Conclusion
The history of prison educationand correspondingfunctional models,have concernedindividual
enlightenmentand social accommodation,revealing different discoursesfor the crin-driallyexcluded. It has
sufferedfrom the samemalaise as adult educationin general,beset by problemsof definition. It can be
seenas a microcosmof wider educationalissues, especially the extent to which in general(and the arts in
particular),curricula shouldrevolve aroundextrinsic rehabilitative,vocational and basic skills agendas.Not
surprisingly,the availability of arts classesin one particular prison hasbeen adverselyaffected by such
concerns.This is no accident,as the concentrationon such skills, which reflects governmentpolicy and 13 SEU is the intrinsic objectives , not primarily concerned with qualities of the arts.
Whicheverway the arts are perceivedand function, evaluatingtheir value ill-fits the performanceculture
by which the successof educationalinput, content and output is measured.7bat arts and creativeeducation
can empowerand emancipateis not disputed,only the framework or intention of both policy and practice
to allow this. The arts engagethe hand, eye and brain, they concernthe whole personand need to express
10 see7.3.3 & 7.3.4 and the use of the arts and applied theatrein prison 11 see9.5 and the CaseStudy of Augusto Boal 12 see 5.8.2 13 set out in 3.2
253 an inner creativity and identity. Both prison educational(and wider penal) policy fails to properly accommodatethis, which reflects poorly on intendedaims as well as the quality of wider rehabilitative and social strategies.Prison is a microcosmof society,and the mannerin which prisonersare educated syrnbolisesand reflects the wider educationalrationalisation of creativeeducational potential. 'Ibat a psychological frameworkhas replacedan educationalone, in termsof gearingresources towards specific re-habilitativeprogrammes, further accentuatesthe needto promotepost-secondary adult education immersedin the humanities.An interestingrelevant arts-orientated curriculum as a re-introduction to education,would encouragea critical and creativeexploration of the self and wider cultural values, in order to encouragechange, as well as a more roundedindependent citizen. 77hisagenda predicated moreso on internal goals,is in contrastto the presenteducational emphasis on externalgoals and certirication. Due to the lack of and inconsistentresearch, claims that presentre-habilitative programmes are successfulreveals more aboutthe mechanismsof bureaucraticspin and advocacythan of evidence.
11.5 Summary
This chapterexamined transformational factors that canhelp addresssocial exclusion, and the extent to which educationcan be perceivedas the key battlegroundbetween competing discourses.
Inglis distinguishedbetween working within the system(empowerment) or changingthat system
(emancipation).By transformingpeople through the educationalprocess, this may empower,but it crucially concealedthe needfor structuralchange within society and its institutions to accommodatethe problem.Unfortunately, self-regulatorylearning has constrainedemancipation, emphasising individuals without recourseto the oppressivestructures that determinethem. The researchtherefore appraised the work by Freire and Merizow on transformativelearning, social and individual changethrough critical reflection. Merizow used the term andragogy,to describethe ideal educationaltransfer of knowledgethat enabledadults to learn heuristically and function in a self-directedfashion, thereby reducing their dependencyon the educator.Freire insistedthat the excludedparticipate in the processof their own inclusion, where educationwas not perceivedas banking educationalcapital, but transformativeaction. Within this paradigm,the role of the arts is paramount,with creativity and spontaneityallowing critical
254 But is highly idealistic reflection and analysis,encouraging a more roundedand self-directedlearner. this a philosophy.
Fromm recognisedthat the condition of powerlessnessin individuals was directly related to a lack of
creativity and spontaneity,which led them to fawn to the authority upon which they were dependent,or hence die assumean authoritarianstance. He associatedcreativity with self-consciousnessand awareness,
importanceof self-direction through the arts which were integral to cmancipatorylearning.
Maslow's model Theory of Human Needshas attracteda range of competingcritiques. He
suggestedthat the arts were not of primary importancefor the excluded,as they required physiological
needsto be met first. Although he acceptedthat certainpeople can be born with innately high artistic needs
(the caseof the autistic artist StephenWiltshire being cited), he failed to accommodatethe arts as a
biological need,more a cultural addendum.Doyal and Gough,challenged his cultural specificity and
separatedthe instinctual needdrive from motivation. Furthermore,he lacked any collective appraisaland
perpetuatedconcepts of elitism and privilege. Pearsonand Podeschidistinguished between 'individuality'
and 'individualism', the former embeddedwithin a social matrix, the latter reflecting Maslow's failure to
recogniseany social arrangement.Overall, Maslow lacked self-reflexivity and through his seemingly
objectivepsychology, too readily propagatedhis own American culture and socio-political structure.
Dissanayaketreated the arts as a need,which underminesthe 'high' arts remotenessand exclusivity. She
perceivedthe arts as participativeplay, encouraginga feel-good-factor.711is re-positioned them away from
the cold and uninvolved straightjacketof westernaesthetics, reflecting a more worldwide understanding
and social agendaof ritual and celebration.
The casestudy researchedarts educationin prison and through an assessmentof the history of penal
education,attempted to clarify its purposeand particularly whethereducation should be non-interventionist
with regardssocial deviancy or wrappedup in reformative work. Duguid createdfour modelsof education,
showing an historical changein utility. Firstly that educationwas a form of treatment;secondly, that it was
an opportunity for self-development;thirdly, that it had no real effect and was a wasteof money-,fourthly,
that fashionablerehabilitative cognitive skills treatmentprogrammes planted within a medico-
psychologicalparadigm, had becomedivorced from and replacedtraditional educationalpractice. Although
255 therewas a lack of researchinto the validity of rehabilitative programmesin prisons,due to their multi- variability, Duguid insisted that a creativeand critical post-secondaryeducation steeped in the humanities, was a betterrehabilitative tool, than a psychologicallybased cognitive skills programmes.But this required proper funding. The SEU differed, promoting the successof psychologicallybased rehabilitative schemes in decreasingrates of re-offending.
The role of arts educationin prison further illuminated the strugglebetween individual creativeneeds and social accommodation.Opinion as to their role and function was divided and inconsistent,but current instrumentaluse of the arts within a basic and key skills agenda,has affectedtheir wider utility and more importantly, the arts curriculum has atrophied.In contrast,Flynn and Price concludedthat the arts were more concernedwith internal goals and self-development,than an extrinsic agendarelated to employment and gaining qualifications. It could also be arguedthat their importanceis directly concernedwith combatingthe stresscaused by imprisonment,and asrelief from the problemscreated, rather than future rehabilitation and inclusion into society.That prisonersmight find out more aboutthemselves or other instrumentalconcerns was an additionalbonus.
The researchoffered five reasonsfor supportingthe arts in prison: to aid dynamic security, as a re- introduction to education,as an agentof change,to encourageself-knowledge and communication,and finally, to help createactive and critically empoweredcitizens.
256 Chapter 12. Leisure
12.1 Introduction
By exploring the relationshipbetween work and leisure, this helps to locate the position of the arts within society.T'he research creates a broad discoursearound the work ethic, social intervention and abnormal recreationalpractices, in order to better understandleisure and a possiblesocial role of the arts. It considers whetherthey should be determinedby an alternativeplay ethic, and exploresthe extent to which the arts function best within this framework,but are too readily appropriatedand distortedby a controlling work ethic.
12.2 The Relationship and Future of Work and Leisure
The socialpsychologist Michael Argyle (1989; 1996)considered the future of work in light of a correspondingincrease in leisure time due to technologicalinnovation, computerisation and automation.
Argyle defined leisure as, 'those activities that peopledo in their free time, becausethey want to, for their own sake,for fun, entertainment,self-improvement, or for goals of their own choosing,but not for material gain' (Argyle 1996:3). He recogniseda decline of work hours, but was unsurehow future scarcity would be distributedamong the population.What was clear, was an unequaland unfair distribution of leisure time.
The businessmanagement guru CharlesHandy (1985) understoodthe changingnature of work, and how increasinglyfull-time paid employmentand the security of such a position was of the past, and that increasinglyin the future, work would becomemore competitive,less secure and centredaround freelance and flexible portfolio practices.He referred to two particular expandingareas of the labour market: the
4greyeconomy' was one which referred to areasof work such asDIY, cooking, gardeningand knitting, that are somewherebetween work and leisure. The 'mauve economy' was another,which referred to part-time and self-employedactivities that developedout of hobbies,turning leisure interestsinto business,as in photography,writing or drawing. (Handy 1985:46-50).
His agendawas in terms of benefiting businessmanagement, whereas for Argyle it was in terms of
257 happiness understandingthe future of work and its relationshipwith leisure,which was a major sourceof and well-being, a foil againstthe stressof working.
Argyle (1989: 7-28), showedhow historically thesetwo conceptshad evolved.The Greekshad held a positive doctrine of leisure,which was aboutself-development through educationand contemplation; developing music,ritual, philosophy and athletics.This was supportedlater by a Renaissanceemphasis on
humanpotential, a boom in the arts, philosophy,astrology and science.Freedom from an oppressiveand
doctrinairepapacy.
But by the time of the Reformationand the rise of capitalism,salvation by faith and especiallywork.
preparedthe ground for the Protestantwork ethic, and proving personalworth to God in order to enter the
kingdom of heaven.Leisure in contrast,was associatedwith sloth and the devil. In the United Yingdom,
prior to the Industrial Revolution therewas no clear distinction betweenwork and leisure. But as the
peasantsflocked to the towns and cities for work, the new capitalist and Protestantindustrialists frowned
upon leisure activity as idlenessand drunkenness,hence the beginning of the suppressionof working class
culture, and the subjugationof leisureby the work ethic. Nowherebetter can this be seenthan in the
paradoxof unemploymenttoday. Argyle insistedthat, 'The unemployedhave more time for leisure than
thoseat work, but take part in lessleisure of nearly every kind.... this appearsto be an areawhere the
introductionof leisure activities could make a very important contribution to one of the greatestsocial
problemsof our time' (1996: 78). He perceivedthis increasednon-working time asproblematic as it was
not convertedinto satisfying forms of leisure.
In order to mirror the decline of work, he offered four ways forward: work sharing,workfare, weakening
the work ethic and leisure that provides the satisfactionof work. The last two categoriesare of particular
interestto the arts and their importanceto society, in terms of developing people's leisure activity and
knowledge.
Argyle realisedthat the distinction betweenwork and leisure was difficult to delineateas both, 'may
involve Some differences leisure Is exactly the sameactivities .... of the main are that more autonomous,
althoughless when done in a group' (1989: 315-6). Thereforehe distinguishedbetween the playfulnessand
autonomyof leisure, and the seriousness,quality control and network of obligations attachedto work. But
258 be by important in reality therewas more of a hybridisation.Leisure pursuitscould accompanied very forms mutual ties and responsibilities,that were not unattachedfrom business,furthermore, new of capitalismhave now ditched such obligations
Argyle listed the psychologicalbenefits of leisure, in termsof social identity, personality and socialisation. 'quite high Leisuregroup membershipcontributed to a senseof identity and self-esteemwhich could allow, But different levels of self-disclosure (1996: 130).This he describedas 'intimacy motivation'. links personalitiesrequired different leisureneeds. Extroversion had strong with especiallysport, whereas leisure.These music andballet were more introverted.Social skills were necessaryfor many types of
included:leadership, assertiveness, conversation and seeingother points of view.
The relationshipof work to leisure could be shownin termsof. spillover (of work into leisure),
compensation(in leisure for work) and neutrality (no relationshipbetween die two). Spillover tendedto be
for thosewith betterjobs, neutrality for thosewith more mundaneones. Motivation was in terms of: social (1996: 157). gain, social learning,intrinsic motivation (the leisurepursuit in itself), self-imageand identity
But therewere those for whom the psychologicalbenefits of leisure and the developmentof such interests
did not apply. He listed four groups: firstly thosewho had not acquiredenough interests and were therefore
bored (for example,the unemployed).Secondly, those who had very undemandingleisure interests(for
example,television viewers). Thirdly, thosewhose leisure was bad for them (for example,drug addicts).
Lastly, thosewhose leisure was bad for others(for example,football hooligans) (1996: 274).
In contrast,Hewison, when assessingthe cultural landscapeof 2010, arguedthat, 'rhe conceptof a job for
life has alreadyvanished - by 2010, even a "career" will seemrather different. Peoplewill have to be more
adaptable,more creativein their use of their time and skills. In fact they will have to becomemore like
artists' (Hewison 2000: 2 1). But just aspredictions of a 'post-work' societyhave been exaggerated,such
wishful thinking has to be treatedwith caution.
Argyle promotedthe necessityof leisure and educationalcounselling to ensurebenefit and contendedthat
leisureneeded to be developedin terms of governmentpolicy and understanding.Furthermore, the
I seeSennett's argument for work destroyingsocial inclusion in 12.4 & 12.5
259 relationshipbetween this needand economicconcerns, in termsof diluting the work ethic and creating more imaginativeand flexible labour patterns,was still in its infancy.
123 Overwork and the Leisure Deficit
Chris Rojek (2000: 25- 35) recognisedthe effects of overworking on individuals and society. He cited
Juliet Schor(1992: 11), who writing aboutAmerican society,termed the negativeeffects of overworking as the leisuredeficit. Ibis was the result of pressureput on workers to maximise earningsand the obsessive cycle of work and spend,encouraged by the consumerculture. The net result included: ill-health, sleep deprivation,divorce, under-socialisedand anti-socialchildren, and listless exhaustion.7be leisure deficit was a qualitative devaluationof life.
Rojek criticised Schor for overstatingher case.He surniisedthat, 'Overwork plays a highly significant part here,but it is not the lead factor' (Rojek 2000: 27), althoughhe consideredher position as a welcome counterbalanceto the post-industrialtheorists who had startedto predict the 'post-work' leisure society over thirty yearsago. He concurredwith both her and Argyle for the needto rediscoverleisure, which requireda dilution of the work ethic, but warnedthat, 'without a strong affirmation of a new leisure ethic which neutralisesthe work ethic by producing socially and economicallyacceptable criteria of time regulation,the switch to leisure will causemore problemsthan it solves' (2000: 35). Ibis was due to modemtechnoculture and the emphasison fast forms of leisure (computergames, Internet, fashion shopping,channel-hopping etc) which had all helpedneuter sustained and meaningful leisure activity. It was this, 'growth of technoculture[that] catchesthe individual in ever more sophisticatedinterludes of fast leisurewhich fragmentconsciousness, provide an exaggeratedview of human freedom,distract social consciousnessand prevent transformativeaction' (2000: 38).
Rojek also mentionedBaudrillard (2000: 37-8), who insistedthat therewas no such thing as free time.
Leisurewas status-placingand performanceorientated. He arguedthat leisure time was bound to the work
ethic and was not an autonomousactivity-
leisure is not the availability of time, it is its display. Its fundamentaldetermination is the constraint
260 that it be different from worldng time. It is not, therefore,autonomous: it is defined by the absence
of worldng time. That difference,since it constitutesthe deepvalue of leisure, is everywhere
connotedand markedwith redundancy,over-exhibited. (Baudrillard 1998: 158)
His pessimismrevolved aroundthe impossibility of wasting time through leisure as eachperson was tetheredto time, caughtup in the ethics of pressuredperformance.
Whicheverway the leisure deficit is conceived,it revealsthe negativeeffects of the work ethic.
12A Capitalism, Autonomy and Social Inclusion
Sennett(1999) further arguedthat work and its underpinningethic destroyedsocial inclusion2,which was situatedaround values of mutuality and dependency.Capitalism thrived on autonomy. 'In the current political economy,dependence is considereddegrading, even to the extent that welfare state bureaucracies....are being challengedto operatemore like flexible businesses,focusing on the short term, making no guarantees,weaning peoplefrom dependency'(Sennett 1999: 27). He tried to understandthe internal logic of social inclusion, which belongedto a more paternalisticbrand of capitalism.Today, labour wasperceived in purely contractualterms with increasinglyless duty or responsibility of the employer
towardsthe employee.He reckonedthat, 'The political economythat rules us tries to put anothervalue in placeof social inclusion: autonomy.We should not reject this replacementout of hand. Autonomy is a
fundamentalmodem value; someonein control of himself or herself commandsrespect' (1999: 26).
Sennett(2003) alsoreferenced his own biography, son of a poor white single mother and raised on a
notorious 'sink' estatein Chicago,championing music and the valuesof self-help and craftsmanship,as a
meansfor the poor and socially excludedto gain respectand progress:'It's generallytrue of ghetto
communitiesthat talentedkids get hassledwhen they standout, their talent threateningthe ethosof failure
in which other children becomecompliant. But in the Chicago ghetto,music and musicianswere the
exception'. Even playing his classicalinstrument, the cello, was acceptable,as music was concernedwith
asset out in 2.8
261 the 'craftsman's self-respect' not 'brute success'.The former respectedby othersand challenging for the individual learner,whilst the latter craftlessness,a product of a soullesscapitalism.
This self-controlled'autonomy' of the craftsman,is completelydifferent from 'autonomy' which as a condition and aspirationhas been appropriatedby the capitalist machinery.
Adorno (1970: 321), describedthe modernistintention behind the production of artwork, as embodiedin its oppositionto society which, 'art can mount only when it has becomeautonomous. By congealinginto an entity into itself - rather than obeying existing norms and thus proving itself to be "socially useful".... [ art concerneda] tacit critique of the debasementof men by a condition that is moving towardsa total-exchange 3 ibis by the industries The don he society'. position was represented cultural . revolu ary changes wanted to see, were bound up in a paradox as the more autonomous the arts became, the more this, 'leads itself to ideological abuse: arts distancing from this horrifying society also betrays an attitude of non-intervention'.
In which case, the capacity of the arts to accommodate and instigate progressive social change is stymied by their autonomy and distance from those who would benefit. Furthermore this blissful vision of autonomy, appropriated by capitalist chicanery, has become an agent for delusion and exclusion. Therefore there is a lacuna between the intention of individual and collective self-control and the self-determination offered by an autonomous framework, and its reality within the socio-econon-Licand political framework.
The autonomy of modernist practice has only served to undermine a wider cultural democracy, riven by an integral elitism and exclusivity. It has seemingly failed, and its appropriation for wider hegemonic utility, places it alongside its supposed apotheosis, the cultural industries and mass culture.
An example of this social utility and lack of autonomy, was the use of war art for propaganda purposes.
Susie Harries Merion and (1983), researched the First World War artists, who contained in their numbers some of the most avant-garde experimental artists of the age. This 'high' art was used, 'as a means of conveying propaganda messagesto an educated minority' (Harries & Harries 1983: 74). They recognised
bilateral that there was a operation at work in which the more graphic photographs and images were an
influence attempt to working class opinion, whilst the more aesthetic modernist artwork an attempt to
asset out in 9.2.2
262 influenceeducated bourgeois opinion. That 'high' art canbe reducedin such fashion,questions not only its autonomybut also its progressivecapability.
Autonomy can be perceivedin a negativemanner, particularly in relation to social exclusion,which is both complexand confusing.It obfuscatesthis important quality, but alsoreveals the power and control of moderncapitalism and the extent to which progressivemodernist ideals have under-estimatedIts effect.
12.5 Social Intervention and Instrumental Reason
Rojek (1985: 34-82) set out the historically differing positions on the need for rational plannedintervention in termsof leisure. th 71beinterventionists were the 19 century thinkers, Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim. For Marx, as capitalismsubjugated the freedomof the individual, interventionin termsof a completerevolution was necessaryto ensurethat everyonecould enjoy leisure which washitherto a privilege of the rich. Durkheim was a functionalist,who saw leisure as a meansof correctingsocial problemsin order to maintain the consensus.This latter Paradigmencapsulates the rationaleof PAT 10 and the SEU4.
The later laissezfaire or non-interventionistthinkers were SigmundFreud and Max Weber.
Freudunderstood the purposeof play as affirming the existenceof the unconscious.It was an expressionof
the pleasureprinciple. Rojek perceivedFreud's work on the pleasureprinciple to be indispensablefor
modemleisure theory. For children, when they reachedthe oedipal crisis and the collision betweentheir
needsof instant gratification and the taboosof the adult world, play and pleasurebecame increasingly
timetabled.Freud took this ashis key cultural referencepoint in the structureof civilisation, the point at
which the child internalisedacceptable public behaviour.Hence the pleasure/realityprinciple dialectic.
Ibis strugglebetween the two principles, was a localisedexpression of the strugglebetween life and death
instincts.Freud thought that the work and leisure pre-occupationsof the massesshould be manipulatedby
elite groups,but neverfollowed this proposition through.This was left to the Frankfurt School with their
ambitiousmarriage of Freud and Marx in their approachto the arts.
seech 3
263 th He had But it is Weber, writing at the turn of the 20 century,who is of particular concernto this study. a isolated He fatalistic view and perceivedlife as intrinsically confrontational,with the individual and alone. insistedthat, 'discipline inexorably takesover ever larger areasas the satisfactionof political and economic
[but and more restricts the needsis increasinglyrationalized ... that] this universalphenomenon more 1987: 197). importanceof charismaand individually differentiatedconduct' (Weber cited in Alexander
Jeffrey Alexanderwhilst assessinghis RationalisationTheory, viewed Weber as a complicatedand irrational paradoxicalthinker. The basisfor his rational modernscientific society,was a highly religion, hencehis ultimate concern,'that scientific theorybe absolvedof metaphysicalambition', was in conflict
185). Arguably it is with his obsessionto find, 'the meaningof life (Alexander 1987: not possibleto
delineatebetween religion and science,which cannotbe defined in such a mutually exclusive fashion.
Weber (1974: 53) understoodthe Protestantwork ethic as determiningthe spirit of capitalism where, 'the
life earningof more and more money, combinedwith the strict avoidanceof all spontaneousenjoyment of
is.... thought of so purely as an end in itself, that from the point of view of the happinessof, or utility to, the
irrational'. Hence the single individual.... appearsentirely transcendentaland absolutely religion was
irrational basis for capitalism and its rationality. He perceivedbureaucracy as the templateof rationality, a
frameworkthat allowed capitalism to impose a structureof control and discipline, which dominatedthe
individual. This imposition he termedthe 'iron cage' with depressingand irrational consequencesfor
humanity.Accordingly, the end-pointof this cultural developmentwould result in ...specialists without
spirit, sensualistswithout heart; this nullity imaginesthat it has attaineda level of civilization neverbefore
achieved...(1974: 182).Such pessimismis at oddswith the apparentdynamic spirit of modernistprogress.
Bryan Turner (1992) in his analysisof Weber and this centralparadoxical concept of rationalisation,
contendedthat its origin in the irrational Protestantquest for salvationhad far-reachingapplication. He
notedthe, 'contradictory relationshipbetween formal and substantiverationality where substantive
questionsof value are subordinatedto formal questionsof logic' (Turner 1992: 115). A further dilemma
was in termsof the outcomeof rationalisation,which left the world void of meaning.
GeorgeRitzer (1996) in his researchinto the McDonaldization of society, conceivedthis form of fast-food
consumerconsumption as an extensionof Weber's conceptof rationalisation.This rationality was
264 predicatedon four basic components,'efficiency, predictability, quantification, and control through the substitutionof nonhumanfor humantechnology' (Ritzer 1996:20). That bureaucracyand consumption suffer from the irrationality of rationality, is realisedthrough the dehumanisationof such systems.
Thereforehe concludedthat, 'In Weber's view, bureaucraciesare cagesin the sensethat peopleare trapped
in them, their basic humanity denied.Weber fearedthat thesesystems would grow more and more rational
and that rational principles would come to dominatean acceleratingnumber of sectorsof society' (1996:
21). Furthermoresuch rationality was a control mechanismdenying humanexpression. The relationship
betweenrationality and irrationality was complex and contrarywith one impinging on the other, providing
an arbitrary and unstablesynthesis.
Rojek explainedthe social effects of rationalisationand the instrumentalreason underpinning capitalism:
form judges instrumentalreason .... refer[s] to that of consciousnesswhich performanceby economic, andbureaucratic effectiveness alone.... Thus, the value of actionswas determined in termsof theeffect
theyhadin achievingrationally calculated goals. Instrumental reason under capitalism relates wholly to
narrowproblem-solving issues. It carriesno undertakingto achievean organic understanding of the
relationshipbetween the problem-solving activity and the wider human whole. (2000:36)
Thereforethe dangerof utilising the arts for purposesof addressingsocial exclusion, is that they are
encasedin an ideology of instrumentalitywhich negatesthe very propertieswithin the arts to affect the 5 heart and spirit. Hence the searchby Matarasso for replicability, performanceindicators and use of
statisticsto prove effectivenesswith a narrow focus on particular social effects, is to the detriment of a
wider human and holistic effect. He admittedincongruously, that he wanted to appealto thosebureaucrats
with influence,without recognisinghow, by so doing, this influencedthe arts activity. As Rojek
commented,'Pursuing problemsinstrumentally cuts off individuals from everything except their discrete
areaof self-interest' (2000: 36). Correspondingly,for PAT 10 and Matarasso,their pursuit of social
asset out in chapter5, especially5.5.1; 5.52 & 5.10
265 by different impactsas a methodof evaluatingthe impact of arts programmes,is underpinned a very 6. by rationalefrom thoseparticipating Rojek concludedthat the root problem was caused the present for input the understandingthat, 'quality delivery of service and measurableoutput are now worshippedas language preconditionof effective action' (2000: 37). That the reproductionof the signs and of like DCMS ACE, is the performanceculture, is the way to appealto powerful bureaucracies the and stating local democracy, obvious,but in effect it reducesthe arts to a prescription.It alsoundermines realistic as better lever finances.7be this culture is parachutedonto arts groupsas the progressiveway to equivocation 'joined-up' is of governmentcultural policy predicatedon the conceptof thinking, thereforeexposed. 'flexible had Sennett,expanded on this discourseof instrumentalityby arguingthat today capitalism', had further corrodedcharacter as it had createda victim mentality in which the authority of the individual vanishedand control over life direction and time had decreased:
THE OLD WORK ETHIC revealedconcepts of characterwhich still matter,even if thesequalities no
longer find expressionin labor. The old work ethic was foundedon self-disciplineduse of one's time,
with the emphasislaid on a self-imposed,voluntary practicerather than merely passivesubmission to
schedulesor routine. (Sennett1998: 99)
Consequently,there has been a consistenthistorical movementtowards rational standardsin the
organisationof play, asleisure and work have been shapedby the sameforces.
Weber arguedthat the rational ordering of life and the needsof capitalismhad done little to advancehuman
happinessor give meaningto life. Hencehis disenchantmentwith industrial society. It is because
instrumentalreason and its companionthe work ethic, so overwhelmingly dominatesociety (and
governmentmotive for addressingsocial exclusion),that his understandingis so relevant.Moreover, the
irrational consequencesof pursuingrational policy, particularly in light of the all pervadingperformance
this was concluded in the Evaluation Case Study 7.10, where the interest in participation in art workshops was foremost as a creative outlet, not as an instrumental and rational agenda for challenging behaviour.
266 cultureof measurementthat has ensnaredit, seriouslyquestions the veracity and wisdom of top-down governmentcultural policy. As with evaluation,this processneeds to be more democraticallyembedded.
ConsequentlyRitzer's warning of the dangersof McDonaldizationseem perversely prophetic.
12.6 The Play Ethic
The researchhas alreadyargued the needfor a leisureethic to help neutralisethe effects of the work ethic.
The instrumentalgovernment cultural policy of utilising the artsto encouragethe work ethic is paradoxical,
as the arts are an agentthat can naturally counteractthe rationalisationprocess embedded in instrumental
reason,encourage the craftsman'sself-respect and help re-discovera creativeand active leisure.
Owen Kelly and Eva Wojdat (1997) who researchedinto the social impactsof the arts using digital
technology,offered a third way betweenwork and leisure.Here the merging of work and leisure allowed
participantsto attain the relevantwork skills within a creativeenvironment:
Our researchshowed that the acquisitionof new technologicalskills occurredin threedistinct ways.
Somepeople learnt new skills becausethey taught them Other were as part of a courseor project.... peopletaught themselves,simply by being in a position to play with the relevanthardware or software
A learnedthrough .... third group.... observingtheir peers,and askingquestions of them. (Kelly & Wojdat 1997:27).
71beseprojects were basedon a leisure framework where social impact indicators were perceived,'as an
apparentby-product of the creativeprocess' (1997: 7). This enableda broader sectionof stakeholdersto
realiserelevant social outcomesand was thereforehighly inclusive.
This merging of work and play through technologywas describedby Pat Kane (2000). He arguedfor a play
ethic, which was a re-alignmentof work and leisure.It was due to the pressuresof work that we had little
time for family, and community as, 'we subject ourselvesto routinesand duties which at best seem
pointless,at worst unethicalor immoral'. In line with post-industrial thinkers,he failed to comprehendthe
necessityor utility of a work ethic, as the technologicalrevolution now allowed the necessarysocio-
267 economicchange. He envisagedplay classically, 'as the greatphilosophers understood it: the experienceof being an active creativeand fully autonomousperson'. Kane contrastedthis attitude of play with that of passiveleisure consumption,a responseto the stresscreated by the work ethic which, 'was always about batteringdown our responses,regimenting our behaviour- all thoseChristian inhibitions that were drilled
into the 18th and 19th centuryworker, so that he could divide himself (and his labours) for the better
workings of industry'. Play had unfortunately,'been corralled into the pen of "leisure' and
"entertainment'...... Or it hasbeen infantilised as an immaturestate of being, a permissibleexcess In the
young,which all seriousadults must put behind them'.
He envisageda brave new world of technological'players' which required proper financing of the public
sectorand a, 'welfare systemthat investedin and sustainedour non-working lives rather than distrustedand
demonisedthem'. 71is necessitateda reduction of the working week, a re-alignmentof educationalaim in
schools,and the equitabledistribution of jobs. Society could thereforematch its own technological
capability. Moreover, he likened the new digital generation of twentysomethings as possessing a different
mentality towards work which better synthesised it with play. He recognised the progressive, creative and
empowering influence of such digital innovation as it promoted shared ideas and challenged concepts of
individual property rights, which contrasted with Rojek who perceived technoculture as bound up with
consumerism and negating democracy (2000: 40). Even so, Kane was concerned that utilising culture and
for education work related ends, drove a work-based personal development philosophy ensnared within the 7 work ethic .
Nonetheless,he recognisedno contradictionin this play ethic giving people back their lives within a new
framework of capitalism.This was becauseit required a very similar regard for reýskilling thoseexcluded
at the bottom end of society.He insistedthat the post-schoolgeneration were rejecting contemporary labour, preciselybecause the work ethic had becomeall pervading.But so have generationsbefore, all to
be re-incorporatedinto a new and re-brandedcapitalism (as in the caseof counter cultural hippies like
Anita Roddick and Richard Branson),leaving the work ethic unscathed.7bat aside,Kane believed tha4 'an
this is not unlike Inglis' criticism of empowerment,see 11.2
268 educationfor creativity which wanted to be truly "inclusive!' would have to listen to this elementaland populardesire for playfulness'. Like Boal before hims, he saw a precedentin the pre-industrial carnivals and festivalsenjoyed by local communities,and linked modem day drug culture to this need for an alternativeutopia, an escapefrom the reality of the work ethic. Support for Kane's position again depends on how optimistic it is possibleto be in light of moderncapitalism, and the extent to which technocultureis part of the problem. In many ways theseconcerns reflect the differencesbetween the Birmingham and 9 Frankfurt Schools
Dissanayaketook anotherapproach to the problem, specifically in terms of the social location of the arts. 10 Shelikened the arts, which sheperceived as a biological need,to play :
Art, as I know it from aestheticsand art history classes,is 'nonutilitarian', 'for its own sake'
Art, like "real" but the Hamlet did .... play, was not pretend: actor playing not really stab the Polonius.Art Art, like actor playing madeexquisite useof surpriseand ambiguity.... play, was somethingextra, an embellishment,an enhancementto life. (Dissanayakel992: 43-4)
71at the arts should be conceived within a play framework, was also related to practising the required skills needed for survival. In young animals this included, 'skills that eventually enable them to find food, defend
Also themselves, and mate, among other adult necessities. - importantly - in play they learn how to get along with others' (1992: 44).
The relationship of art to play is more obvious in non-western societies. Dissanayake, took a cross-cultural perspective and considered the western understanding aberrant. One of the reasons was due to the,
&excessive being individual sense of art .... an pursuit, an autonomous activity' (Dissanayake cited in Gablik
1995: 47). This was a sign of the dysfunctional nature of western society, which was inharmonious environmentally. It was also a sign that 'high' art had become removed from humanity.
seelbeatre of the Oppressedcase study 9.5.5 9 see 102 10 see 11.32
269 71beplay ethic, whethersteeped in a universaland symbolic anthropologicalunderstanding of culture, or in modemtechnological reality, persists,despite the overbearingwork ethic and rationalisation of society.
Also active leisurepursuits (including the arts) enablethe creationof fully autonomousplayers, which can be contrastedwith the negativeautonomous effects of capitalism.Notwithstanding, play Is the most obviousand natural location for the arts which needsto be recognisedin light of seemingly 'abnormal' leisurepractices, which are not unrelatedto this rationalisedautonomy.
12.7 Abnormal Leisure
JeremySeabrook (1988) was concernedwith 'abnormalleisure'. He reviewed the historical changesin
Britain, from an exclusiveleisure classto a more inclusive leisure society, and was disturbedby a particular featureof leisure, 'which emergesfrom people's discussionof their chosenactivity and this is that many of them speakas though it drove them. It is, they tell you, addictive.You get obsessed,it takes you over, you get hooked, it becomesa way of life, it gets out of control' (Seabrook1988: 7). 11 More Rojek to the life in how behaviour recently referred medicalisation of , terms of and moral conduct were socially controlled. He recognised that this perception had affected abnormal modes of leisure. His argument was that: 'leisure cultures are often significant causal factors in explaining drug abuse, alcoholisni, dangerous sexualities, violence and murder. Further, in kow-towing to the legalized, medicalized model of deviant leisure we fail to see the continuities between deviant leisure practice and ordinary, "normal" leisure practice' (2000: 147). This 'abnormal leisure' (which could slide into criminal activity) was an opportunity for members of society to let off steam and, 'may be defined as pushing limit experience so that it threatens the self or others' (2000: 176). It included liminal leisure, moral transcendence and edgework.
individuals Liminal sites allowed to stand outside the structures of society thus allowing critical reflection.
He cited Victor Turner: '11minal phenomena ....are often subversive, representing radical critiques of the cultural structures and proposing utopian alternative models' (cited in Rojek 2000: 148). Examples include
11 describedin the outsider Art casech 5
270 12 1960s beat 1950s Rojek that, the hippie culture of the and the culture of the . argued
Traditional society supported'antistructures' of time and spacein which individuals could stand outside
the axiomsand conventionsof the day. In theseliminal zones,collective ritual and symbolic behaviour
enabledemotional discharge from the ordinary restraintsof everydaylife. The effect of liminal activity
was not to transformsociety, but to re-inforce it by providing a safety valve for the releaseof excess
emotionsand energies. (2000: 161)
Other areasof 'abnormal leisure' including moral devianceand edgework,seem more threateningto both societyand individual. Criminal conduct is an obvious exampleof moral devianceand, 'the desire to transcendthe generalmoral restrictionsand "timidity" of the times.' Edgework referredto, 'large numbers of peoplein their leisure devot[ing] themselvesto risk-taking activities.' (2000: 151) Theseperilous recreationsseeking excitement were reactionsto the control and conformity of everydaylife. Such activities included bungeejumping, skydiving, or unprotectedsex.
Rojek included invasive, mephitic and wild categoriesof abnormality, all of which helped define leisure in a more negativemanner. He concludedthat, 'human beings are attractedto behaviour which goesbeyond limits, becausethe limits of everydaylife often seemarbitrary' (2000: 195).
This seemslike a window of opportunity for the creativearts. But there is a dangerthat thesemoralistic implicationswill createan ethical rod for the back of leisure activities and the arts, if they are utilised functionally in a Durkheimian fashion,to addresssuch 'abnormality.
Andrew Brighton (2000: 40), by comparingNew Labour cultural policy with that of Soviet Socialist
Realism soughtto portray the dangersof a, 'policy guidedby misplacedsocial piety. Utilising the arts instrumentallyto help normalisesociety also ran the risk of moralising British culture. The effect of which,
'is to demotenotjust dissentingculture but also aestheticintegrity' (2000: 40-1). Utilising the arts to addresssocial exclusion,especially if this involves 'abnormal leisure', thereforebecomes an ethical
12 the youth counterculture of the 1960's is discussed in the Reggae Music case in 10.5.7
271 straightjacket,presuming that a moralistic society will result.
Matarasso,on the other hand, took a more communitarianstance: 'It would be wrong and pointlessto try to imposelimits on artistic freedom,but responsibility is freedom'sshadow, and we should be thinking much more aboutthe implications of artistic practice' (Matarasso2000a: 70). He stressedthe normality of artists who were neither a 'priestly caste' or detachedfrom the moral ties and responsibilitiesthat constitute society,a much neededfoil to the individualism of the liberal arts establishment.
Practisingthe arts can have a natural countercultural disposition, in termsof protest and lifestyle.
They arepart excludedand part included,precisely becausethey are difficult to contain within any particular framework. They can also be obsessiveand are linked to a mythical hedonism,which setsthem up to be perceivedas 'abnormal leisure' practices.
The increasedextent of abnormaland dangerousleisure forms, showsthe needfor people to escapethe
'iron cage'. The necessityof rediscoveringleisure is the best foundation for investing in the arts within a paradigmof play, as a balanceto this rationalisedcapitalism. The arts are necessarilycounter cultural.
But it asksa lot of the arts to effect any real change,or of a rationalisedsociety to fund such programmes.
12.8 A Counterculture
Just as the arts need to be participatory and active, so doesthe intellectual, who the writer Edward Said
(1993: 17) understood,'belongs on the sameside with the weak and unrepresented'.He very clearly stated this as a choice:
be whetherto allied with the stability of the victors and rulers, or - the more difficult path - to consider
the stability as a stateof emergencythreatening the less fortunatewith the dangerof completeextinction,
and taken into accountthe experienceof subordinationitself, as well as the memory of forgotten voices
and persons. (1993: 26)
The socially excludedare the subordinatedvoices and personsin our society, who arguablycannot be
representedby thosein positions of power who, whether consciouslyor not, may have colluded in their
272 exclusion.
Likewise the arts,which allow individual and collective criticism of the statusquo. By positioning them within a leisure paradigmand in opposition to the work ethic, they therebyretain this important function.
Even from a normativeDurkheirnian perspective, the arts may best servesocial inclusion by allowing an escapevalve from the pressurescreated by the work ethic (as in lirninal leisure activity). By focusing on creativeleisure, this may better enableintegration of the excludedinto society. Such liminal practicerefers to the evolution of alternativethought and action. Rojek assessedthe history of political movementsfrom tavernsand public spaces:
one of the seriousfeatures of leisure is that it constitutesthe time and spacein which cultural values
can be objectified and subjectto reflexive investigation.... Ile looseningof inhibitions in these
leisure and recreationalspaces led to questioningthe valuesunderpinning normality and posedthe
questionof change.... the relaxation of inhibitions in thesespaces is one reasonwhy they are
attractiveto people and often challengingto orthodox and official social values. (2000:147-8)
The problem then becomesone of the degreeto which this countercultural paradigm Is within a 13 Durkheirnian functional the it is synthesis , supporting status quo, or the extent to which concerned with really transformingthat perspective.The arts vacillate betweenthe two, on the one hand the standardbearer of civilisation and tradition; on the other its greatestcritic and advocatorof change.
12.9 Engaged Freedom
Rojek arguedfor an engagedfreedom. He concludedthat, 'it is a featureof modernizationto raise utopian hopeswhile delivering a dystopianlifeworld' (2000: 196). He thought it wrong that governmentsshould engagein a policy to, 'socialize and train our populationsto expector experiencelifelong adult paid labour betweenthe agesof 18 and 65. The economyno longer requires it' (2000: 210). 7bis is further evidence
13 as the rite of passageconcept of incorporationset out in the ReggaeMusic casestudy attestsin 10.5.7
273 suggestingthat cultural policies to addresssocial exclusion which are gearedtowards employment, are misconstrued.The positioning of lifelong learning, as well as a critical and creativeunderstanding, within a leisure or play ethic, would counterand dilute the work ethic. Peoplewould be able to develop accordingto their needs,which would allow, evenhelp create,a more socially cohesiveand inclusive society.
Rojek (2000: 207-9) arguedfor an ethically constructedand durableleisure policy, not one that is in responseto the work ethic, but one in which the aspirations,care, rights and needsof citizens are bound in mutual respect,which requiresthat leisure is re-discovered.Ibis would allow an 'engagedfreedom'.
Unfortunately,as he recognised,the power and influenceof commodity capitalism make this ideal very difficult to realise.
12.10 Summary
Traditionally, leisurehas beenseen as a refuge from work and in a symbiotic and supplicantrelationship to it. 'Ibis chapterreviewed their relationship,in order to socially locate the arts.
Argyle arguedthat the psychologicalbenefits of leisure were a balanceto the negativeeffects of work. This included the need to weakenthe work ethic to embracethe changingnature and future decline of work, the result of technologicalinnovation. Unfortunately, the distribution of leisure time was far from equitable,
ironically, with thosewithout work taking lesspart in leisure activity. He further explained the evolution of conceptsof work and leisure, and the historical division of the terms which occurredafter the Industrial This Revolution. was synchronouswith the subjugationof working classculture, as the new capitalist and
Protestantindustrialists associated leisure activity with idleness.This has left a vacuumwhich has since been filled by massculture.
Similarly, Schor emphasisedthe negativeeffects of excessiveworking, the leisure deficit, and extent to destroying fabric which this was the of society.She proposed a needto rediscoverleisure. Rojek arguedthe for need a new leisure ethic, but was concernedat the extent to which modern technocultureand the emphasison fast forms of leisure, negatedmeaningful recreational activity. Daudrillard (after Weber) took
line, leisure the most pessimistic arguing that time was statusplacing and bound to the work ethic, not separate.
274 Sennettattacked a more recentcaustic brand of autonomouscapitalism and concomitantwork ethic, for destroyingsocial inclusion. Previously,more paternalisticforms of capitalism had been embeddedin
valuesof dependencyand mutuality, where self-help and craftsmanshipprospered. Leisure in terms of the
arts were the site for this self-controlledautonomy, very different from the overbearingcraftless ethic of
brute success.He suggestedthat work now increasinglyconcerned autonomy, just as Adorno had perceived
the strugglesof the modernistarts movement.It was this conceptof autonomy,through which an
ideological battle is being played out, that affectsthe utility of the arts, and conceptsof inclusion.
Rojek set out the argumentsand personalitiesbehind thosewho advocatedrational plannedintervention in
termsof leisure, and thosewho did not. The conservativefunctionality of Durkheim and instrumental
revolution of Marx were contrastedwith non-interventionists,Freud and especiallyWeber. His lbeory of
Rationalisationrevealed the paradoxicalnature of society, showing the irrationality of instrumental
purpose.
Kelly and Wodjak when investigatingthe social impactsof the arts using digital technology,showed how a
n-dxtureof taught and play orientatedlearning, successfullyallowed the acquisition of work basedand
creativeskills. Kane arguedthe needfor a creativeplay ethic, to supplantthe work ethic. The alienationof
peoplefrom their inner needsand abilities, helpeddeny the developmentof self-directedand autonomous
citizens.Dissanayake perceived such autonomyas proof of the extent to which the 'high' arts and western
societyhad becomeenvironmentally inhannonious, dysfunctional and removedfrom humanity. Play was a
naturalphenomenon found in animals,related to rehearsingthe skills of survival. Furthermoreit was
steepedin a collective understandingand practice.
Leisure ironically, onceseen as a sign of moral decadenceby puritanical Christians,was still perceivedas
centralto anti-socialbehaviour and self-harm. Rojek referredto severaldifferent forms of 'abnomial
leisure' which was a reaction to a highly mechanisticand controlled society. But risk-taking activities and
the transcendenceof morality, have alwaysbeen a part of the hedonisticmythology of artists, traditionally
situatedon the fringes of society.They have beenpart excludedand part included, precisely becausethe difficult arts are to contain within any particular framework, falling betweenwork and play, pleasureand fact increasing reality, and fiction. The extent of dangerousleisure forms, showsthe needto escapethe
275 'iron cage', andbest advocatesthe re-discoveryof leisure through investing in the arts within a paradigm of play, as a balanceto a rationalisedcapitalism. But this placesthe arts into an ethical straightjacket,and assumesas Brighton recognised,that a moralistic society will prevail. The role of the arts is more counter cultural, as investmentin leisurelife is seenas secondaryto work and wealth creation.
The future may hint at a post-work leisure society,but this underestimatesthe ability of new forms of capitalismto re-embedthemselves into society.The autonomousclassical 'player', seemsa distant legend, as more invidious forms of capitalismhave appropriatedleisure whilst denying creativity and self- development.Only through an engagedfreedom, in which cultural rights are respected,can leisure be liberatedfrom the shadowof the work ethic, which has appropriatedand commodified it.
How they interact in future will also have an enormous effect on inclusion. Whether this will translate, as
Hewison and Kane suggested, into more creative and leisure-orientated working practices, or as Rojck suggested, into increasingly abnormal and negative leisure experience and practice, remains to be seen.
The extent to which the arts function as normalising agents within a Durkhein-dan template, or as counter cultural agents of transformation, resistance and engaged freedom, changing that very template, is crucial.
But cultural policy is unlikely to advocate the latter, in which case Weber's non-interference, seems highly
Giraud 14 appropriate. As recognised, cultural policy tends to serve those who have already acquired culture and money, but without it, there would be no opportunity to rectify this injustice, leaving the excluded further adrift.
Worryingly, the dominance of newer brands of capitalism and instrumentality, personified by Ritzer's
McDonaldization of society, portray a bleak landscape. The mantra of efficiency, predictability and
is legacy quantification, very much the of a performance culture stranglehold that permeates all areas of
Hence location is best liminal, society. the social of the arts at located on the edge of normality in order to escape from it.
14 see9.2.1
276 Chapter 13 Analysis and Conclusion
Social and Cultural Exclusion
Part One investigatedthe conceptof social exclusion,which Room (1995) notedlacked any clear or formal definition. The term can be appliedto a locality, lack of resourcesor opportunities,communities or individuals. It is processorientated, multi-dimensional and heavily inter-relatedwith other institutional, economicand political concerns.71bere also needsto be a distinction madebetween the epithet of 'social exclusion' being attachedto a person,and that person'srecognition of this condition. Becker studied the sociology of deviance,and usedthe term 'outsider', to denotesomeone unable to live by the rules of the group:
But the personwho is thus labelled an outsidermay have a different view of the matter.He may not
acceptthe rule by which he is being judged and may not regard thosewho judge him as either
competentor legitimately entitled to do so. Hence, a secondmeaning of the term emerges:the
rule-breakermay feel his judges are outsiders. (Becker 1973: 1-2)
Ibis not only sumsup the relative and constructednature of the conceptof social exclusion,but can also be applied analogouslyto a formative evaluationmethodology utilised for assessingthe social impact of arts programmes.Issues of control, empowerment,enfranchisement and emancipationhelp determineinclusion.
But this has to be negotiatedwith the excluded.Empowerment cannot be decidedby a third party (manager or governmentbureaucrat), such change has to be voluntary and transparent.
Notwithstanding,addressing social exclusion is not the sameas creating a more inclusive society. It does follow leads not necessarily that the one to the other. Ironically, the use of the term social exclusionwas due dislike language to governmental of the of poverty. But in order to help modify society in such a way, in economicconsiderations terms of equity and re-distribution have to be tackled, otherwisesuch rhetoric aboutan inclusive societybecomes merely a public relations exercise.
PartThree investigated is cultural exclusionwhich an even trickier term. Bourdieu's (1984) conceptof
277 cultural capital is a convenientstarting point, ashe recognisedthat it consistedof both a quantitativeand qualitative element,as well as an inherited and learnt aspect.The researchhas revealedthe complex relationshipbetween terms of exclusion and inclusion, and the needfor a wider socio-political framework of reference.The extent to which cultural capital reflects theseconcerns is only activatedwithin the social forum. As Robbins stated,
our social positions are only modified by our cultural tastesin as much as the cultural systemassigns
more value to sometastes than to others.We are not intrinsically alteredby preferring Mozart over
Morrissey or Manet over Man Ray, but thejudgements of value madebetween our preferenceswithin
the cultural systemaffect our position within that systemand have consequencesfor both our economic
and social position-taking. (Robbins2000: 32)
In which case social inclusion is related to such cultural signification and specific cultural capital.
Accordingly Goodlad et al' s (2002) report for the SAC, contained the claim that evidence of art in the community was in itself proof of a more inclusive community, and that poorer exluded constituencies were cultural deserts. Not unsurprisingly, the Arts Council understood that addressing social exclusion was not its primary concern and that this focus could undermine art (Tambling 2000), as for example, it was more important to encourage innovative cultural production. This reflects a position which has historically maintained a bilateral concept of the arts, as described in relation to the Community Arts Movement, where the social aesthetic and 'common' culture were deemed separate and inferior to a 'higher' aesthetic culture.
The Arts Council has concluded that the value of the arts to assist instrumental extrinsic concerns can be considered a dimension of social inclusion in itself (Jermyn 2001), which leaves its cultural citadel intact.
Inclusion on these terms is about education into 'high' culture and accruing cultural capital, as dictated by the Council. It still shows a distaste for a wider cultural democracy.
Breaking the cycle of cultural exclusion (or lack of capital) is highly relevant, but it is the process and manner through which this is remedied that is the educational battleground. There is a crucial distinction between participating as an active creative agent or as a passive consumer of somebody else's framework
278 of the arts and culture. It is the taking part that emancipatesfrom the excluding cycle and allows control to be taken over what has beencreated. The arts are not only participatory, they allow a vital critical perceptionand are a vehicle for its expression.But this processis a very dangerousone if it is conceivedin terms of assimilationand normalisation,with overtonesof cultural imperialism and racism.
Ultimately, the thesisquestioned whether such an individuated and ontologically insecuresociety as describedby Giddens(1991), mouldedin an exclusive framework,has the will to change.That the excludedalready serve a social and cultural function helps explain the natureof society,dominated by an exclusive 'high' culture (albeit with its hegemonyunder pressure from massculture) and determinedby the iniquitous economicsof capitalism.The argumentsfor cultural democracy,have historically been concernedwith combatinga culturally exclusiveperspective and agenda,in which the term 'quality' has supporteda particular aristocracyof culture and correspondingform of cultural capital. Such democracyis crucial in the context of this research,particularly as the arts were in somecases perceived as an irrelevance with regardsto social inclusion, again asreported to the SAC (Goodlad et al 2002).
Only by promoting the arts in broaderand more pluralistic frameworkscan such prejudice be tackled. But suchidealism fails to recognisethat in reality, the arts havebeen appropriatedto signify difference in society,which is in oblique oppositionto any socially inclusive purpose.Hence they are central to an ideological battle.
From anothermore holistic perspective,a necessarysocial function of the arts is to counterbalancean excessivelyrationalised society which alienatesand dehumanisesits citizens, a causalfactor of exclusion in its many guises.Consequentially the arts needto be countercultural, but a countercultural government policy is an oxymoron (or at the very best highly unlikely).
Both conceptsof social and cultural exclusion are far from straightforward,and it is important to consider the yin and yan relationshipbetween the terms of inclusion and exclusion.One needsthe other in order to Inclusion be defined. cannotbe realisedwithout exclusion and vice versa.Accordingly, the irony was not lost on Eagletonwho aptly described,
[as] it a pluralist culture.... exclusivist, since must shut out the enemiesof pluralism. And since marginal
279 communitiestend to find the larger culture stiflingly oppressive,often with excellentreason, they can feature 'high' come to sharethe distastefor the habits of the majority which is an abiding of or
aestheticculture. (2000: 42)
Inclusion be There is no clear definition of theseterms which tend to ebb and flow. can exclusivist, whilst Outsider Art ReggaeMusic exclusioncan createa solidarity of common interests.The casestudies on and between exemplified this and underlinedthe strangeand contrary relationship thesepositions.
Evaluation Methodology
Part Two examinedprogramme evaluation methodology, itself a hugely contestedarea, to better understand how the processcan be utilised for inclusive purpose.Initially, the researchintended to discover an
boggeddown in equitableevaluatory template, but such idealism soonbecame the politics of the process
and concomitantparadigm wars. Evaluation as a method is only as value-freeand neutral as thosewho
design,fund and control it. An equitabledemocratic evaluative process which directly empowersthe
excluded,is dependenton participant control and self-determination,which althoughdifficult, can be
realisedthrough conceptsof evaluationas empowerment,critical reflection and practical hermeneutics
(Everitt 1997;Fetterman 1996; Gregory2000; Schwandt 1997;Vanderplaat 1996). Unfortunately, the
agendaof utilising the arts for the purposeof addressingsocial exclusion, as advocatedby PAT 10 (1999;
2000; 2001), was intendedas a meansof communicatingwith bureaucraticorganisations who financially
determineprojects and was shapedby governmentpolicy. Moreover, becausethe evaluationprocess is one
of advocacy,a gameof levering resources,telling funderswhat they want to hear impinges on, even
discreditsthe evidence.These problems were madeapparent in the Evaluation Case,where evaluationwas
predicatedon showing how a multi-arts programmeaddressed offending behaviour. It found little
conclusiveevidence to prove suchan impact, but was able to advocateto fundersthe importanceof such
programrnesto do so.
Beyond a laudableconcern for clear evaluationprocedure, little researchhas been undertakento answerthe
conundrumof self-direction and management.Even New Labour as Statedby Smith in the introduction,
280 How expresseda view that the excludedshould run regenerationprogrammes themselves. control of the processcan be cededto the participantsis an overriding concernand highly symbolic of the processof inclusion. In order to understandand value programmeeffect, it has to be assessedfrom an emic perspective,as part of the hermeneuticprocess which empowersand enablesthose involved. As Schwandt
(2000: 191) reckoned,'To find meaningin an action, or to say one understandswhat a particular action means,requires that one interpret in a particular way, what the actorsare doing'. In order to empower participants,they shouldbe thejudge of whethersocial impact evaluationobjectives and processesare
integral and a consequenceof the arts, furthermore,they shoulddetermine the relative importanceof these
impacts.Again, in practice,this processis difficult to implementbecause of the short-termnature of arts
projectsand long-term natureof ownershipoutcomes. The intrinsic difficulty for the excludedto take
ownership,is preciselybecause of their exclusion.
Matarasso(1996a; 1997) in particular createda raft of guidelineson how to evaluatesocial impacts,which
havebecome an orthodoxy. But theserun the risk of pre-determiningoutcomes for community arts
programmes,thereby overriding local control and empowerment.Notwithstanding, the cyclical responsive
focusing of evaluativemethod introduced by Lincoln and Guba's Fourth GenerationEvaluation (1989),
challengedthe quasi-scientificcontrol of programmesby evaluatorsand managers,by assuminga relativist
and contextualvalue andreality. Suchresponsive focusing allows the participantsto influence and control
the direction of the programmeand evaluation.Matarasso's reports (1998a; 1998b)in particular lacked a
plural voice, which was exacerbatedby his use of statisticalmethods and social auditing, and conspiredto
take control from participants,quantifying their qualitative experience.Responsive focusing was controlled
by him the expert.
Evaluationsare funder and managementdriven, which helps justify Long et al's (2002) claim that such a
governmentpolicy agendaof utilising the arts to aid social inclusion can too easily becomea form of social
engineering.Their report found no evidenceto prove that arts programmesreduced social exclusion,
especiallyin terms of long-term benefit. Moreover Carpenter(1999), was convincedthat participation
dependedon artistic and creativeneeds, not instrumentalsocial impacts,and that this was the crucial
motivation that ensuredproject completion.
281 The central tenet that evaluationis a political processstands, hence the need for transparencyin order that value can be distilled and separatedfrom issuesof power and control. That evaluationremains such a hiddenpolitical tool is testamentto this failure. Notwithstanding,if the social function of the arts is consideredas an expressionof our radical heritage,this is neglectedby evaluatingwithin a measured performanceframework. As Tristram Hunt and Giles Fraser(2003) argued,British cultural heritage is not necessarilyconservative, 'league tables and targetsdo not stimulateus to ask again the big questionsof liberty, justice and democracy. Issuesconcerning social inclusion have to.
Although the excludedrequire a local and democraticevaluation framework, by definition this cannotbe
determinedor realistically encouragedby bureaucraticstructures steeped in hierarchy. In reality, due to
funder and managerialpressure, the time, spaceand finance is unlikely to be madeavailable to allow the
equitableevaluative framework advocatedin this research.This impactson policy considerations.
Leisure Framework for the Arts
In Part Four, the thesisexplored the increasingneed for a leisure and play framework in which to socially
locatethe arts. It concludedthat sucha templatewas unrealistically countercultural within an advanced
capitalist system.The irony was that presenttechnological capability could liberate people from the work
ethic, but that society was embeddingitself in ever more mercenaryand paternalisticforms of capitalism,
therebyre-enforcing its stranglehold.Furthermore Sennett (1998; 1999) suggestedthat it was this form of
entrepreneurialcapitalism that was a major causeof social exclusion.Rojek (2000) recognisedthat
abnormalleisure practices have appearedin responseto the increasingrationalisation of society in which
we live and arguedthe needfor a leisure policy, beyond instrumentalagendas. This researchconcurs with
regardsto the arts,but it is unableto conceivehow this could be implementedwithout a weakeningof the
work ethic and massivestructural changes. Tberefore the argumentsregarding emancipation,empowerment
and need,whilst being practical methodsof inclusion, are unrealistic,due to their particular ideological
grounding.Notwithstanding Dissanayake (1992) arguedthat creativity was a biological needand art a
behaviour.Both neededto be ritually expressedin order to help articulatecultural identity. But western
'high' art had obfuscatedthese properties in order to support and cherishexclusivity.
282 Arts and Cultural Policy
New Labour's policy initiatives concerningthe arts and social inclusion, were set out in Part One of this thesis,but they seemgrossly inadequate,partly stymiedby their rigid instrumentality.There is a needto rediscoverleisure, which can only be achievedif it is treatedas a policy aim in itself. 7be arts should be a significant part of a progressivecultural policy that addressesmany of the concernsset out in this research.
They needto be separatedfrom use value and as a vehicle for work relatedends, although in somecases thereis a natural instrumentalitythat will develop accordingly,as Kelly and Wodjat (1997) recognisedin their researchinto the digital arts, which can be encouraged.This differencebetween natural and synthetic utility is a major consideration.So much of the New Labour agenda,and the social impact researchof
Matarassofailed to recognisethis, advocatingmuch ill-conceived synthetic instrumentality.
Although this investigationhas been strongly influencedby a non-interventionistposition, a reactionto
current and pastpolicy, such an approachis dangerouslyelitist. But both New Labour, through its
instrumentality,and the Arts Council, through its questionabledemocratisation of 'high' culture, have
failed to rediscoverleisure. For the arts this requiresactive participation,respect for taste,diversity and
value within an equitablepluralistic and culturally democraticframework. There needsto be a social
matrix within which creativity, artistic excellenceand expressioncan be embedded,beyond a self-
referentialinaccessibility. Pearson and Podeschi(1999) madethe dictinction betweenindividuality and
individualism. Public money spenton the arts shouldbe aimed at the whole population and encourage
individuality, a recognition of the individual within the social framework and promote correspondingly
democraticmethods of evaluatoryself-management. Unfortunately, this is highly idealistic and fails to
appreciatewhy so much of the public spherehas been privatised.
With regardsto the policy of inclusion, there is a paradox.By utilising and evaluatingparticipatory arts
groupsin order to help integratethe excludedback into existing socio-political structures,they support the
statusquo. Suchan understandingmay not aid inclusion,just further exclude, as it is precisely those
structuresof the statusquo that are a major causalroot of the exclusion.Hence, secondly,if the social
function of the arts is to enablestakeholders and emancipatethem in such a mannerthat allows them to
start taking control of their lives, and challengethe aforementionedstructures, then theseneed to be
283 adjusted.Control over artistic productionand the evaluationprocess can invigorate and empowerexcluded stakeholders.Such cultural and evaluativedemocracy is also highly symbolic in terms of wider inclusive intention.
71bisformer scenariois embeddedin a Durkheimian paradigmand reflects New Labour's cultural policy which canbe recognisedas, 'primarily defined in relation to exclusionfrom the formal labour market'
(Williams 2002: 203), not on the wider issueof social participation, as set out by INPART (2001) with concomitantstakeholder learning and empowerment.Here the arts have a conservativefunction, returning the excludedback into the sameiniquitous society from which theyhave been excluded.This is also wrongly predicatedon the mythically homogeneous1950's society,not on the heterogeneous2000's.
The researchset out to producea realistic arts policy guideline. It has been unableto do so, due to the aforementionedconsiderations. Too often as Giraud (1982) commented,cultural policy considersthose who alreadyhave culture and money,supporting the existing hegemony.Furthermore, as this researchhas shown in the Outsider and Arts Educationin Prison Cases,when money is allocatedfor thoseless in fortunate,it is packaged a 'welfare' framework, with thosein authority unable to dispensepower and control to thosewhose inclusion requiresexactly that. So arts and cultural policy are unable to deliver in the ways suggestedin this thesis,as this requiresa countercultural mindsetthat challengesthe hierarchical foundationof both policy and society.Moreover, the field is complex and contradictory,so even if the
be necessaryconditions could realisedin practice,and a suitably civil societypossible, policy is still problematic.The researchis thereforeleft on the horns of a dilemma, more a ground clearanceexercise broadenknowledge trying to of the domain, than able to recommendany realistic policy considerationsas originally intended.
The empowermentand emancipationof the excludedmay help createa more inclusive society,but this democratisation requiresgreater of culture and power, as well as greaterequalisation of wealth, none of is in which properly reflected governmentpolicy nor likely to be. It is possibly the conceptof an inclusive is society that misplaced,anathema for British society which is historically classbound and increasingly determinedby ever more exclusive and excluding brandsof capitalism.
284 The Illogic of the Arts
The arts possibly reflect a more magical pre-scientific conceptionof the world, which may be risible in today's rational technoculture,but ironically, such an ideal is still embeddedin the western 'high' art canon.In termsof transformation,creativity, empowerment,self-worth and emancipation,these all involve degreesof externaland internal change,vested individually in a spiritual domain moresothan any rational one.
Similarly, the functional habituscan be criticised for its overbearinghegemony. Bourdieu's (1984) social constructionof tastealbeit brilliant, appearsparsimonious and patronising.7bat the working classor excludedare disinterestedand unconcernedwith spirituality and alternativenon-materialistic cosmologies, even superstitionsis untrue.Their lives may be filled with mundaneand instrumentalconcerns, but this is the result of socio-economicconditions not vice-versa.According to the bible and researchentitled The
Widow's Might, the poorer in society give more generouslyto charity with a higher proportion of their income than the wealthy (Ward 2001b), the reversalof a mundanefunctional mindset.Such irrationality in termsof fascinationwith popular astrology for instance,is still at the heart of our rational society, as are the arts and culture. The arts may well aid inclusion, but not necessarilyon the terms set out by a rational governmentcultural policy.
The Original Hypothesis
The researchhas shown that there is no definitive social function of the arts in Britain, as the term is multi- layered,mutable and dependenton ideological intention. Likewise, the extent to which they legitimate socialdifference or integratethe socially excluded.
But what ties the threeprocesses of social inclusion, evaluationmethod and cultural inclusion, is key to this dilemma.Firstly, human agency.Any processof inclusion requiresactive participation. Creative productionas againstpassive cultural consumption,as well as direct involvement in evaluationprocesses in order to shapeand determinethe wider community, evensociety, in somefashion. Secondly,the democratisation of the power structureswhich itself is dependenton human agency.Thirdly, as Stuart Hall Paddy and Whannel (1998: 63) describedin relation to 1960's popular culture, the need to distinguish
285 betweenthe, 'contradictory mixture of the authenticand the manufactured',encouraging a more discriminating audience.
But unfortunately,the New Labour agendabetween 1997 and 2002, althoughit promoted active engagementand production,was underminedby encouragingpassive consumption. Capitalism is integral to suchconsumption and active participation is a possibledefence against such a condition. This has not beenproperly recognisedby the SEU or PAT 10, and is conspicuouslyabsent from governmentdiscourse.
Furthermore,managerial practices concerned with performancemeasures have consolidatedexisting power structures,not democratisedthem.
Ile agendasurrounding discrimination and criticality, is the linchpin of the 'high' art habitus,with the judge as evaluatorand managementdecision-maker. That such a preciousand powerful tool can be democratised,challenges a rationalisedcapitalist society and bureaucraticarts institutions.
Suchempowerment of the excludedtherefore seems incompatible with New Labour's initiatives. Society is exclusive,and in the main economicallyand work ethically determined.To fail to recogniseso, places much onto the shouldersof the arts in terms of their capacity to socially include. The governmenthas ironically, alwaysrepresented such exclusive values,hence the excessiveoverpopulation of prisons and ambivalenceeven hostility, towardsasylum seekers(two highly excludedcommunities). That the arts are utilised as a cheapform of social glue and no more, underestimatesand neuterstheir more radical possibilities,especially their capacityto enableall citizens to expresstheir cultural and social rights.
Governmentpolicy has suffered from its own narrow definition of exclusion.The ability of the arts to transformand include doesnot fit into a pre-determinedposition. Ile arts do not work to prescription, they liberate,enable new perspectivesand foster a critical awareness.The effect cannotbe mechanically calculated,as Moriarty (1997) suggested,because it is of a personaland value orientatednature.
The initial researchhypothesis implied that the social function of the arts was dependenton and maintained the cultural consensus.The subsequentresearch has shown that this is hard to deny, furthermore,that the
SEU and PAT 10 agendaof utilising the arts to addresssocial inclusion is itself supportiveof this hegemony.Ironically, thereis a dangerthat the instrumentaluse of the arts will exacerbateexclusion.
Education but is long-term may encouragemobility of taste, this a process,unlike the short-termnature of
286 many participatory arts programmes.Such reasoning has underpinnedArts Council philosophy for many yearsas alreadystated, in order to democratise'high' culture. But it is debatablewhether this policy has been successful.As the arts educationalistGillian Moore claimed, 'we are in dangerof creating a two-tier
(Moore in Everitt system- the rich get performancesand exhibitions, the poor get .... workshops' cited
1997:135), which partly reflects Bourdieu's social definition of the arts as distinction or of function, but doesnothing to remedythis inequality.The arts cannotbe restrictedinstrumentally to the narrow SEU agendaand definition of social inclusion, which was illustrated through retrospectivereference to the
Community Arts Movement.Its radical political edgeand a cynicism towardsthe westerncanon of art, spawneda consciouscultural activism.That such a tradition can meekly subjugateand supplicateitself to a governmentagenda seems bizarre, especiallyas it is the establishedcommunity arts organisationsthat have createdthe infrastructurefor participatory arts programmes.To deny this and arguethat such an understandingis impractical in termsof currying favour with government,bureaucrats or funders,ignores this reality. It fails to comprehendhow the arts operateon participantsand effect thoseinvolved, but most blatantly, it disregardsthe polemical disposition of the community arts, which were in opposition to an exclusiveand inaccessibleart world. The participatory arts are able to include and affect in a therapeutic fashion(besides their more radical capabilities),which is neither a remedy or excusefor the wider injusticesthat exist in society. An arts basedgroup activity maybe able to alter the dynamics and thinking within the group, but it is powerlessto tackle wider structuralinjustices in society,particularly, if as
Matarasso(1997) implied, cultural activism and political educationare not deemedrelevant. The casestudy on the Theatreof the Oppressedassumed a radical social revolutionary position as the only meansof combatingexclusion. Even so Boal eventually moderatedthis ideal position, embeddinghis dramaturgyin a more individuatedpsychological domain. Unfortunately in reality, such an egalitarianposition is not sustainable.
In contrast,the Evaluation and Arts Educationin Prisoncase studies, showed how well the arts function at helping excludedprisoners cope with the immediatestress of their environment,encouraging survival.
Notwithstanding,the subjectivenature of the arts can have a huge transformationalimpact on certain people,leaving othersinvolved in the samecreative endeavour, unaffected. But theselong-term life-
287 enhancingand spiritually enrichingeffects, do not necessarilymean that such art disciples are more included in society.After all, artistshave traditionally tendedto exist on the fringes of society. They are
Becker's original 'outsiders'.
Social justice and Ideological Concerns
The driving force behind this researchis the needfor socialjustice, and that the less fortunate in society
should have the chancesand opportunitiesthat the better connected,able and financedhave. Such a
position can be loosely describedas of socialist origin, but justice has a longer pedigree.Frank Ridley in
his researchinto the heroic Romanslave leaderSpartacus reflected on, 'The story of human revolution of
"moral man" against"immoral society"' (Ridley 1965:6). But perhapsthe greatestexponent of individual
freedomsand 'rights' was ThomasPaine who set out his 18dcentury republicanpolitical treatisein the
infamousRights ofMan. He perceivedthat within a just and civilised society, the poor would receive the
resourcesand educationthey needed.(Foner 1985: 17-18).That human rights consist of a plethora of
factorsbesides materialism, links Spartacusand Paineup with Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, which advocatedcultural as well as social rights. This thesisis underpinnedby suchethical
concerns,hence the conjunction of cultural with social exclusion, and researchof equitableevaluation
processes.
It could be arguedtherefore, that the role of participatory arts groupsis to allow the socially excludedto
expresstheir creativity and culture, irrespectiveof social impact, particularly if the instrumentaluse of the
arts for the socially excluded,exacerbates their cultural exclusion,maintaining a cultural apartheid,and re-
enforcing a working-classfunctional habitus.
The contestednature of social exclusion is also relatedto disputedconcepts of citizenship, anotherarea
omitted from this research.Nevertheless, John Shotter(1993) arguedfor social accountabilitybeyond the
parametersof the individual. He maintainedthat, 'no one yet quite knows what it is to be a citizen, it is a
statuswhich one must struggleto attain in the face of competingversions of what is proper to struggle for'
(1993: 115-6).Accordingly, the governmentagenda has positioned the excludedwithin a particular version
of morality, which as the researchsuggests, does not necessarilyserve their interests.Its emphasison
288 symptomsrather than causesof exclusion,and product rather than process,re-enforces this.
But there is anothercrucial but hidden aspectto this investigationwith regardsto transformation.Karl
Marx madethe crucial distinction betweenbase and superstructure.He wanted, 'to distinguish betweenthe material transformationof the economicconditions of production,which can be determinedwith the precisionof natural science,and the legal, political, religious, artistic or philosophic, in short ideological forms in which men becomeconscious of this conflict and fight it out' (Marx 1976: 5). Whether this economicbase can be scientifically determinedis outside the remit of this research,but this central distinction placesthe arts in an ideological domain. This challengesthe new realism of the SEU (2000) and
PAT 10 (1999; 2000), as well asthe pragmatismof Matarasso(1997), who maintainedthat utilising arts programmesto impact on social and economicalconcerns is removedfrom any ideological considerations as a democraticallyelected government had the unrestrictedright to pursueits policies.
As for the position of the excludedin society, with particular referenceto attemptedsocial engineering, their helplessnesswas starkly portrayedby the renownedtravel writer Colin Thubron on his tour of Siberia.
He describedthe failed collectivisation of soviet communismand its attempt to transformhumanity, in the
'Already, in September, distant Altai Republic: it was preparingfor winter, its yards filling with fodder and firewood. Hopelesslyremote, powerless to changeor to rebel, it was enclosedon its own survival'
2000: 85). As (Thubron suggestedby the prison casestudies, the socially excludedare immersedin a cycle of survival, in whateverguise this takes.For this research,it originally appeared,to be an imbalanceof materialgoods, chattels and freedomsaccruing. But after much probing, the insurmountableobstacle for inclusion is the rational framework of materialism,which scientismand capitalism determine.The arts embodyand expressan holistic, spiritual and creativedimension which is a foil and necessary countercultureto this irrational ageof reason,far beyond the 'joined-up' thinking of the New Labour.
The Problem Areas
There were severalproblems encountered throughout the research,four of which are listed below.
Firstly, failed discriminatebetween the research to art forms in terms of potential social impact, which have backed distinction between would up the made syntheticand natural instrumentality.This was a major
289 intention originally, but as the researchprogressed the ideological nature of determining the arts through social impact, becameincreasingly obvious. Therefore making the casewould have qualitatively devalued them. Furthermore,participation in the arts can only be meaningful for the individual, if that person perceivesit to be. Another angleon the need for an emic understanding.Nevertheless, the performing arts possessa more social dynamic than thosesolitary artistic pursuits,which are more individually challenging.So it would follow that a group dynamic would betterrelate to social inclusion. But arguably this restrictive division of the arts into such categoriessymbolises the problem. Hence a multi-arts or holistic approachwould better serveinclusion, away from traditional classification,enabling more choice
and intereststo be met, reflecting the 'common' culture (Willis 1990) to which the young in particular
respond.Similarly, no substantialresearch was unearthedconcerning the comparability of art programmes
with non-artsones. Moreover the initial researchfor an arts programmeevaluative template was replaced
by one of participant self-managementand autonomy,albeit difficult to implement.
This alternativecounter cultural construction,within a Freirian liberational framework (Freire 1970a;
1970b;Boal 1979),allowed the control of the programmeand evaluationto be in the handsof those
excludedparticipants. But in practiceGregory (2000) and Monks (2002) showedjust how difficult it was
to encourageexcluded participants to take ownershipof projects,let alone tackle the hierarchical structures
inherentin theseprocesses. This gap betweentheory andpractice was left unresolved.
Secondly,the issueof artistic quality was not fully investigated.If the transformationof individuals and
communitiesis the intention, then this might be dependenton artistic excellence(as advocatedby IAT in
the Evaluation Case).Traditionally quality has beenconcomitant with a specific 'high' art and craft
framework of understandingand taste,but not exclusively.There are other 'Art Worlds' wrappedup in
popular,historic and commoncultures, which as Willis suggested,can be re-interpretedand usedcreatively
within different frameworks.Owusu's (1986) explanationof orature,the basis of Boal's Theatre of the
Oppressed,recognised the quality of other aestheticcultures and conceptions.But the quality argumentcan
too easilybe appropriated,hence as Williams (1997) attested,the community arts neededto break with
sucha paradign-4and dictate their own terms of excellenceby creating their own rules of engagement.
The quality of product also needsto be weighedup againstthat of experience.Hopefully the two are
290 dependent,and in a symbiotic relationship,with utility naturally emanatingfrom the art. If quality is unimportant,as the externalutility of the arts is of sole importance,this questionstheir use in the first place.The arts enablecreativity and expression,which may not be containableor relate to a pre-setsocial agenda.They may well tap into a countercultureor protest againstthe statusquo. But how this translatesin termsof an agendaof inclusion, cannottruthfully be calculatedor pre-empted.A liberated human spirit will operateaccording to its own regulations.Nevertheless, in order for the conceptof quality to be respected,this has to be madetransparent, and preferablyby thosestakeholders concerned,
Thirdly, the needfor further researchinto the relationshipbetween the obsessivenature of the arts and abnormalforms of leisure, asdescribed by Rojek (2000). The implication of this investigation was that the positive and active natureof the arts enabledthem to be a safesurrogate for increasingly abnormaland dangerousleisure pursuitsas expressedby O'Brien in the introduction. But with referenceto the earlier criticism of the SEU for using its inclusive policy to engineersociety, thereare major ethical considerations and pitfalls to consider.Not least,that such 'abnormal' forms of leisure are deemedabnormal, and that arts policy shouldbe controlled by a normativebourgeois morality. Such thinking also questionsthe morality underpinningthe social role of the arts, that they should civilise and enlighten in line with classical and
Victorian mores.Matarasso would deemthis as a negativeimpact, but such abnormality and obsessiveness hasbecome the norm, and fulfils a needfor many citizens.
Lastly, investigationfound little the researchinto the areacovered, specifically in ternis of whether the arts successfullyaddress social exclusion (on SEU terms).Furthermore, because this policy is relatively new and on-going,a lack of evidenceregarding benefit long-term.
With regardsto addressingre-offending, one of the SEU's areasof social impact, there were two case directly involved. The first Evaluation studies Casefound little evidenceto suggestthat short-termarts had Arts Education prograrnmes any effect, whilst the second in Prison Case,questioned the veracity of the statedsuccess of cognitive skills programmes,as successhad been manipulated.Whereas there was in humanities, researchthat a curriculum steeped the wider and on a long-term basis,did have a more (Duguid 1998). significant effect In terms of the contribution of the arts, this thereforeneeds to be long-term, considered which contradictsthe short-termnature of presentpolicy and funding initiatives.
291 'joined-up' its Furthermore,with regardsto the main SEU interest of increasingemployment, the nature of No methodof combatingexclusion further obfuscatesthe impact of the arts. researchwas unearthed showing any direct causeand effect (assumingthis is possible).PAT 10 (2001) boastedabout its influence on particularly Arts Council policy, without unearthingany evidencethat the arts actually addressedsocial flagged by Moriart)(I 997), exclusion.This manipulationof fact underminesthe concern up that advocacy ideal, backdrop New Labour should be separatedfrom evidence.This is naively especiallyagainst the of a
governmentobsessed with news managementand 'spin'.
A New 'Take'
There are many definitions, contradictionsand subtletiesregarding the relationship betweeninclusion and This exclusion,which is further complicatedby cultural and social variables. researchis a particular 'take', its that has questionedthe suitability of the arts to realisegovernment policy and specific conceptionof
social exclusion.There are severalimportant signatures:
Firstly, the social impactsagenda so beloved by government,is not necessarilyreplicated by arts
programmeparticipants, and cannottherefore be parachutedonto them. The reasonfor participation in the
arts has to be prioritised and respected.There also needsto be a distinction madebetween instrumental
concernsthat naturally result from the arts as againstthose that are more synthetic and inappropriate,hence
purposehas to be considered.Furthermore, if cultural exclusion is regardedas a strandof social exclusion,
then the natureof such exclusionbecomes vitally important in itself, beyond the Arts Council agendaof
democratisingthe 'high' arts. Arts educationis very much the ideological battlegroundin which competing
paradigmsof culture are played out.
Secondly,that both social and cultural inclusion are necessarilyof a qualitative nature.Only an emic
understandingsteeped in experientialknowledge allows a threedimensional understanding. This is very
different from a more objective and quantitativeanalysis, and attempt at social auditing, which too readily
promotesmanagerial 'judgement' from thosein positions of authority, disempoweringthe excludedfurther.
With regardsto evaluationmethodology and the arts more generally, an emic position better comprehends
value and translatesthe effects of creativity and inclusivity. Moreover, the evaluationas well as the arts
292 programmeneed to be owned and controlledby excludedstakeholders, in order to neutraliseinbuilt power structures.Hence the democratisationprocess within the evaluationmethod parallels that for cultural democracyin the arts.
Thirdly, that within a play paradigmthe arts encouragean engagedfreedom and personalemancipation.
This is an important antidoteto an increasinglyrationalised society, in which abnormal and negative forms of leisure (due in somepart to an encroachingwork ethic), havebecome increasingly prevalent. Hence the importanceof the intrinsic benefitsof participating in the arts, of creativity, self-esteerri,self-confidence, communionand spirituality. But leisurehas historically suffered from ethical scrutiny, due to its dialectical oppositionto the work ethic, with which it is ensnared.That there is a possible mutual collusion bctween work and social exclusion,destroying inclusive sentiment,undermines governmental policy and revealsthe importanceof a counterculturein which the participatory arts are intrinsically recognisedwithin an emancipatoryleisure framework.
Fourthly, that the transformationof excludedcharacters requires their consent,and necessitatesa holistic understandingof the sitesof oppressionand exclusion.This refers to Freire's (I 970a; 1970b)problem. liberational posing education,which requiresautonomous self-directed leaming. Boal's 'Joker' or 'difficulator' facilitator comesas closeto the role of artistic or evaluative as is possible,given that the very Spontaneous position carries authority. empowermentand artistic creation are idealistic and in practical have be 'jokers' terms there to to enablethe artistic and evaluativeprocesses to successfullyoperate. But democratic by Gregory's (2000), the evaluativetemplate set out is in effect practically unworkable, as it implement.Which requirestoo much money,time and patienceto is further exacerbatedfor a cynical and disempowered As Chanan(2000) excludedconstituency. recognised,it is the older white collar or professionalmembers of a community that are the inclusive drivers, whom the excludedare dependant But upon. again, the extent to which thesecharacters can aid inclusion without deeperstructural and ideological changesin society, seemslimited.
Fifthly, to difference between recognisethe empowermentand emancipation,as set out by Inglis (1997), the former the the latter it. The working systemand changing governmentand Arts Council policy interest is predominantlyconcerned with empowerment,within the existing structures.That engagementand social
293 participation offer a wider conceptionof social and cultural inclusion, requires them to reach out beyond employmentmeasures and educatingnew audiencesinto the westernaesthetic canon. This emancipationis culturally democraticand requiresself-direction and management.
To enablethis, there needsto be a wider acceptanceand responseto diversity and difference in taste preferences,which are legitimate and of equal value. T'hereforeit is vital that quality control mechanisms are madetransparent, and that value or worth is not an exerciseof advocacyand manipulation.
Unfortunately, this is highly unlikely, as both the Arts Council and governmenthave vestedinterests, the most obvious of which is controlling the agenda.Arts and cultural policy cannot thereforedeliver for the socially excluded,without consideringa more countercultural position. It is not totally beyond the bounds of possibility that such a democratisationprocess may occur, but thereneeds to be a seismic change,which presentlyat best seemsfanciful.
Finally, althoughthe history of art revealsprevious cultureswhere the arts might be perceivedas instrumental,created for instancein responseto the specific needsof patrons,the arts today are embedded in They inaccessible an overbearingaestheticism. are elitist, or oppositionalin spirit, and necessarilysit at the edgeof society,exclusive, excluded and excluding; Hence the paradox of utilising them to address social exclusion.Correspondingly, for the governmentto advocatetheir use in such a utilitarian fashion, attachinga synthetic instrumentality,fundamentally misunderstands the nature of artistic production. 7bis
back to introductory from O'Brien, refers the quote where the policemanMacCruiskeen creates as a foil to his boring job, interest He a specialcreative world of and pleasure. carvedchests not just to give meaning his life, but in his Furthermore to order to assuage obsessiveness. their Mystical value put him in touch with domain, beyond He a more spiritual mundaneexistence. was very protective of this escapistworld, where instrumentalin door the arts were openingthe to anotherdimension, which is vast and anarchic.But crucially this emancipationcannot be reversed.Once the artistic genie has escapedfrom the lamp, it becomes capricious,wilful, obsessiveand aboveall a free spirit. A personin such a condition is far from willing to be socially engineeredby anyone.
294 Appendix 1
50 SOCIAL IMPACTS OF PARTICIPATION IN TEE ARTS (Matarasso1997: x)
1. Increasepeople's confidenceand self-worth
2. Extend involvementin social activity
3. Give peopleinfluence over how they are seenby others
4. Stimulate interestand confidencein the arts
5. Provide a forum to explorepersonal rights and responsibilities
6. Contributeto the educationaldevelopment of children
7. Encourageadults to take up educationand training opportunities
8. Help build new skills and work experience
9. Contributeto people'semployability
10. Help peopletake up or developcareers in the arts
11. Reduceisolation by helping peopleto make friends
12. Develop community networksand sociability
13. Promotetolerance and contributeto conflict resolution
14. Provide a forum for intercultural understandingand friendship
15. Help validate the contribution of a whole community
16. Promoteintercultural contactand co-operation
17. Develop contactbetween the generations
IS. Help offendersand victims addressissues of crime
19. Provide a route to rehabilitation and integrationof offenders
20. Build community organisational,capacity
21. Encouragelocal self-relianceand project management
22. Help peopleextend control over their own lives
23. Be a meansof gaining insight into political and social bias
24. Facilitate effective public consultationand participation
295 Appendix 1
25. Help involve local peoplein the regenerationprocess
26. Facilitate the developmentof partnership
27. Build supportfor communityprojects
28. Strengthencommunity co-operation and networking
29. Develop pride in local traditions and cultures
30. Help peoplefeel a senseof belongingand involvement
3 1. Createcommunity traditions in new towns or neighbourhoods
32. Involve residentsin environmentalimprovements
33. Provide reasonsfor peopleto developcommunity activities
34. Improve perceptionsof marginalisedgroups
35. Help transformthe imageof public bodies
36. Make peoplefeel better aboutwhere they live
37. Help peopledevelop their creativity
38. Erode the distinction betweenconsumer and creator
39. Allow peopleto exploretheir values,meanings and dreams
40. Enrich the practiceof professionalsin the public domain
41. Transformthe responsivenessof public serviceorganisations
42. Encouragepeople to acceptrisk positively
43. Help community groupsraise their vision beyondthe immediate
44. Challengeconventional service delivery
45. Raiseexpectations about what is possibleand desirable
46. Have a positive impact on how peoplefeet
47. Be an effective meansof health education
48. Contributeto a more relaxedatmosphere in health centres
49. Help improve the quality of life of peoplewith poor health
50. Provide a unique and deepsource of enjoyment
296 Appendix 2
00 iLn iL.ght AplslYmN
TOEX-PRISONERS ANDTHOSE ON PROBATION, TOFIND - OFFERS00 BTUNITIES NEWDIRE TIONS FOR THEMSELVES THROUGH THEMEDIUM OF THE ARTS.
AWARENESSPROGRAMMES IN A VARIETY OFCOMMUNITY SETTINGS. - ORGANISOARTS-BASED CRIME PROGRAMMESIN PRISONS AND PROBATION CENTRES. - LEADSOf INGBEHAVIOUR
Policy. IAT employs the arts as an imaginative territory within which participants can explore opportunities for personal change. Here. fundamental questions about self. and the self's relationship to society. can be worked through. It is only Willi new rind understandings about personal identity that offenders can a lifestyle away from crime. Within drama, a sciwe or behaviour be dramatised connectedness with others is developed. Personal patterns of can and challenged. New roles can image, be practised. Photography provokes discussion around environment and privacy. Sculpture can embody dreams. experiences and aspirations. Creative writing can summarise past experiences and help integrate these into the present. All our work is group-oriented. interactive and participatory. Those who have taken to crime as a lifestyle may rind an opportunity here to rind ways to break negative attitudes and behaviour patterns. Confidence and selfý-estcemare lifted through the production of creative work, and emotional sharing leads to friendship and perhaps a new contract Willi society. Participants' engagement with IAT does not necessarily end with the conclusion of a programme. We positively encourage clients into work experience opportunities. and many ex-offenders now contribute to. or co-facilitate. IAT prograinnies.
s and Projects. partnerships rc created between ourselves and other organisations, both within and outside the criminal justice system. IJVI' works ill partnership %,ith the Inner London Probation Service to deliver a range of programme.& We have worked with North List Lomlon Probation So vice for several years. We have contributed programmes or performances to a range of prisons including HMYOI Feltham. HMI I Morton Hall. HMP Pentonville. HMP Norwich. HMP Bclmarsh. HMP Grendon. HMP Risley and many other%.
WEARE ABLE TO ABAFT PROGRAMME$ ANDPERFORMANCES TOSlIT CONFERENCES08 SPECIAL EVENTS. WE HAVE IN THEPAST WORKED ONSPECIFIC PROJECT: WITI KENTPRORATION SERVICE, MIDDLESEX PROBATION SERVICE, IMP PENTONVILLE,NOTTINGHAM PLAYHOUSE TNEAT11-1111-118CATI111 TEAM,TH FEDERATION Of PRISONERS' FAMILIESSUPPORT GROUPS, CARI: AND OTHERS. WEWELCOME IN491811: TO COILABORAIE.
Ostory. I IAT began lire as a weekly drama programme in the Camden area, enabling probation clients to the cngagL will, arts in their free time. This pn)granune became supported by the Inner London Probation Seivice and soon clients were referred by Probation Officers throughout London. *Ilie project has elpanded over recent ycýrs and 1997 brings its tenth anniversary. IAT has moved from running dra a programmes to utilise other art forms: video. photography, sculpture and creative writing, It has,widened the scope or the work: programmes dealing directly with offending 1whaviour. and the development or life skills have extended our core role. The Trust has developed a professional t icatre company which tours productions on crime issues to prisons and other settings. 0 JPartnmhips I iave been another feature of this expansion. IAT is currently linked with a number of European org,inisations. APIS111m.sight c. Funding. -Il Core funding is by the Inner London ProbationService London 9 ISUNGTONGREEN provided and the LONOONNIZXH Borough Grants Committm Additionally. IAT is funded periodically by the Arts T (01711359 Council England.the LondonArts Board the Foundationfor Sports 0772 of and andthe Arts. f 101711359 4217 The EuropeanCommission has funded IAT to develop the EuropeanProgramme. Otherfinancial assistance has from the EuropeanSocial Fund. W-W-Penlex.orgArinsighLhIml come the Prince*sTnist. 0-mail-inSi9ht8rtSt(USLdemon-cO. the EconomistCharitable Trust. Morgan Crucible Charitable uk Trust. NorthernFoods Req. HendersonAdministration Group charityNo. 105M plcýthe an 297 PaulGetty Trust. Rag.cornDany No. 2244OW Appendix 3
Final External Evaluator's Report For Insight Arts Trust for Connecting This report is in two parts.The first revolves around researchthat advocatesthe need the ConnectingLines itself. Lines programmesin prison and the secondan overview of the programme This is the final report of three.
1. Advocacy for Arts Based Programmes in Prison. (Researchinto Current Prison Education and Rehabilitation Programmes)
'Although institutions are now becomingmore outward looking, they are nevertheless lives The placesin which peoplelargely lose control over their own .... particular nature of institutional living andthe educationaldeprivation of many of the people who are lead different kind residentin institutions are factorswhich may them to seeka rather of is looked for by involvementin creativeactivity than that which normally those engaging for in adult educationclasses. For example,whilst someparticipants the motivation may be the acquisitionof skills in order to achievea more professionalend product, or the impetusfor in institutions questfor like-minded company,the initial those more frequently comesfrom a needto find a voice of their own in a situation where they have loss few meansof communicatingwith othersand where they may suffer a consequent of identity' (Peaker1994: 57) a) Cuts in Arts Activities in Prison
Of all the 134 penal establishmentslisted in the 1997/8volume of the PrisonsHandbook (Leech 1998),66 (49.2%) gavedetails of how many teachersfull and part-time were employedin their respectiveeducation departments.By the 2000/01 edition, only 50 of theseestablishments gave updated information (a reductionof 24.2%). Only 50 establishmentstherefore gave reliable data over the three year period as to the changein numbersteaching. This is 37.3% of all establishments. In total, there were 258 full-time and 944 part-time teachersin all fifty establishmentsin 1997/8.By 2000/01,this had changedto 280 full-time and 896 part-time. What this meansin effect is that there was an 8.5% increasein full-time teachingstaff over this three year period and a corresponding5.1% decreasein part-time teachingstaff over the sameperiod. The majority of full-time postscreated related to the expansionof the basic skills agendaas promotedby the prison serviceand government,the corresponding decreasein part-time teachersrelates to the running down of curriculum areasthat weren't directly involved in basic education.In the main thesewere arts relatedsubjects that had traditionally beentaught by hourly paid part-time tutors. This has been in responseto the fact that prison educationhas to meet specific KPI's that enhancethe prison's status,and that theserefer to the evaluationof three Key Skills: numeracy,literacy and communication. Many prisonsnow require arts subjectsto include a relevantKey Skills agendain order to operateand survive. The intrinsic arts for art's sakephilosophy is a distant echo,the arts have to prove their worth in terms of an externalsocial agenda. The Unit for the Arts and Offenders(Bulletin No 21) has developeda 100 hours dramaproject that meets the Basic Skills KPI (City and Guilds Wordpower at level 2 and Key Skills at level 2) as a meansto make the arts more relevantin this culture of performanceindicators. But doesthis referenceto basic numeracy and literacy underminethe intrinsic value of the arts subjects?The Unit for the Arts and Offendersalso researchedthe problem of cuts to arts provision in prison. Of thosesurveys returned, 75% of prisonshad experiencedcuts to their arts programmesin the 2000/1 financial year and 43% of classeswere cut to make way for the basic skills curriculum. This included the visual arts, woodwork, craft, drama,pottery, music and photography.(Unit for Arts and Offenders200 1). This is basic evidenceof the needfor the Connecting Lines programme. One casestudy that I am cognisantot is that of Brixton Prison. In the early 1990's it ran a large and varied
298 Appendix 3 educationalprogramme. It employed2 p/t dramateachers, 2 p/t craft teachers,3 p1tmusic teachersand 4 p/t art teacherswith one f/t, as well as various poets and writers. By Autumn 2001, there was only one p/t art teacherwho incidentally had to meet basic and key skills KPI's in order to operate,and one p/t pottery teacherwho had to teachbusiness skills. This caseis a good exampleof the 'measurabledriving out the immeasurable',to the detrimentof educationin generaland the arts in particular. (Home Office 2000). b) Effectiveness of Prison Programmes with Regards to Rehabilitation
Home Office Prison statisticsstate that there has been a huge increasein the prison population from 50,000 in 1988to 62,000in 1998.This is a massive24% increaseover ten years,and setto rise accordinglyover the next ten. Furthermore,58% of all prisonersdischarged in 1995 were reconvictedwithin two yearsof discharge(Home Office 1998).More worryingly, 77% of all young offenders were reconvictedwithin two years. On top of this, more recentstatistics concerning the reconviction rate of those who have completedan accreditedoffending behaviourprogramme: 'figures suggest22% reconviction rate for thosewho have finished an accreditedoffending behaviourprogramme, as against39% for those who haven't had the treatment'.The figure is higher when consideringthose participantswho have beenon unaccredited courses,30% reconvictionrates as against39%. Apparently such 'cognitive skills programmesappear to be effective with certaintypes of offender' (Home Office 2000). After analysis,such figures become meaningless,for two basic reasons.Firstly, prisonersare chosenby their 'likelihood' of not re-offending. This is doneby psychologicalscreening of prisonerspre-course (presumably more rigorous for the accreditedcourse) and secondly,due to the fact that reconviction ratesarc judged using a one year time- span(although the Home Office useda two year timc-span forjudging reconviction ratesin 1995),the full longitudinal impact is unknown. Obviously, the greaterthe length of time used,the greaterthe reconviction rate will be. But using the Home Office's own figures, there was a 17% drop in reconviction ratesover a one year period of thosewho had beenaccepted onto accreditedcourses. But what the Home Office haven't give figures for, is the proportion of prisonersineligible for the programmesand discardedby the screeningprocess. By choosingthose criminals most likely not to reconvict, the processis self-fulfilling. In all likelihood, thesecharacters would chooseto get out of crime anyway, given any reasonable rehabilitative help. Also there is definite coercionto participate,as resultsare kept on prisonersrecords. In reality, prisonerschoose when or if they are going to changetheir behaviour and lifestyle, and this cannot be enforced.The importancethe ConnectingLines programmeputs on voluntary participation is far more in tune with encouragingindividual behaviouralchange from within.
c) The Need for Non-Coercive Creative Programmes in Prison
Ile questionablesuccess of rehabilitation and educationprogrammes as detailed above,is all the more justification for outside agencies,and especiallyInsight Arts, to fill the gapsthat are now appearing.Such work has a more democraticand lessprescriptive manner than the formal coursesrun by the Home Office, and relatebetter to such social objectives as empowermentand self-esteem.Outside agenciesunattached to the inherentprison power structuresand institution, have an edge. There are severalsupporting reasons:
Firstly, the feeling of coercionbehind current educationalphilosophy and the rehabilitative projects utilised, key them into the power structuresinherent in the prison situation.Many prisonersand staff are uneasyabout this and their effectiveness.Education is for life and for real. not just a gameto play in prison in order to satisfy prison performanceindicators and prisoner sentenceplanning. It's important that self- improvementin terms of educationor rehabilitation is continuedoutside prison on release.To quote a prisonerwho servedtime at the StatePrison of SouthernMichigan;
'the entire counselling-treatmentprogram is a game,the rules of which I must try to learn in order to placatethe prison officials and manipulatethe parole board at my parolehearing. I have to servemy time, but in addition, I must prove that the counsellor hasbeen successful and that I am rehabilitatedand ready for parole' (Furtadoand Johnson1980: 252)
299 Appendix 3
Secondly and following on from the first point, many prisonershave rejectedformal educationalready (school truancy etc), and they are suspiciousof formal educationalor psychologicalformats that replicate an examinationand qualification system.Trish Smith, Education Co-ordinator in HMP Wandsworth referredto the contextof educationand the needto address'the negativeexperiences of previouseducation and that a variety of strategiesmay be neededto re-engagepeople in education.Learning can only take place if individuals want to learn' (Smith 200 1). Similarly, prisonersare wary of rehabilitative programmesand officialdom in general.They are naturally cynical, rebelliousand suspicious.The ConnectingLines programmebreaks through such cynicism preciselyby making the learning interesting,enjoyable and relevant. The criminologist Michael Collins arguedthat the whole rubric within prison determinedthe prison educationsystem: 'education and training in prison is essentiallyaccommodative, an adjunct to the overall apparatusof surveillance,regulation and punishment' (Collins 1988:10 1). He further critiqued prison educationas being a metaphorfor adult educationalpractice in general.By emphasisingqualification, this only further exacerbatesthe power relationshipsand coercive structuresalready in operation.These 'prevalent held the learning for challenge notions about natureof self-directed ....as a guiding principle an emancipatorypractice' of learning.He concludedthat for educationalprocesses to be successfulin prison, they have to loosentheir attachmentto the power processesin operation in the prison. What betterthan an outside agencyto do this.
Thirdly, ErnestGoffinan coined the phrase'total institution', and developedthe term to refer to the extent to which the institution becamethe boundaryand focus of an individual's life, especiallyin terms of it taking up a disproportionateamount of that person'stime, interestand energy.This included staff as well as inmatesin prison. In order to return and include suchpeople back into the wider community, this institutionalisationand isolation neededto be addressed.Grossman (1968) thought that such dysfunctionalismwas correctedbest by the introduction of outsidersinto the institution, in order to break up suchpatterns that eventuallybecome intemalised. Better still, to introduce a programmelike Connecting Lines that aims to empowerthose people not contain them, that encouragesself-expression, builds up self. confidenceand respectand awarenessfor others.Hence the importanceof Insight Arts being apart from the power relationsof the institution.
Fourthly, now that the prison educationalagenda is pre-occupiedwith basic and key skills, this ostracises thoseprisoners who have had someformal education,or are educationallyskilled beyondwhat such an agendaoffers. Besidesbeing rigid, there is a patronisingattitude about presentpolicy, with the focus and reasonfor educationdependant on such skills. David Wilson, a writer and researcheron prison education,whilst not denying the need for a basic skills curriculum, voiced his concernthat,
Gapolicy basedsolely on this approachimplicitly suggeststhat thosewith literacy and nurneracyskills do not commit crime, and leavesa void in regime provision for developmentbeyond this level. In short art, drama and vocational classesstart to disappearand it becomeseven harderto work towardshigher educationalachievement, (Wilson 2001)
This accountsfor 3040% of the prison population, who are left with nothing, as well as all those consideredhaving basic skills deficiencies,who, for whateverreason, don't want such educational provision, or want to get involved with somethingless patronising that relatesto them and their life. Philip Priestleyperceived education to be an enablerthat helpedoffenders 'acquire greatercontrol over their own offending behaviour.It will be experimental.Since there is no single way of effectively helping offendersto changetheir behaviourand no exact knowledgeabout what methodswork bestwith which kind of offence' (Priestley 1991: 11). Suchan honestappraisal of the complexities and variablesthat dictate offending behaviouralso recognisedthat experimentationand creativity is vital when considering transformation,as these are the real drivers of changeand are the currencyof the arts. Furthermore,rigidity and coercionare anathemato creativity, which hasto come from within the prisoner,not forced from As Anne in initial outside. Peakersuggested the quote,prisoners need to find their identity and a voice, and this hasto be on their terms, as it is their lives and the way that they lead them that is the issue.The drama-
300 Appendix 3 orientatedwork of the ConnectingLines programmeis a platform that allows prisonersvital practiceat finding their 'voice'. Kevin Warnerco-ordinator of prison educationin Ireland referredto the needsof prisonersbeing met by 'a from [as] different wide curriculum, which peoplecan pick and choose.... areasof educationwill attract different groupsof prisoners' (Warner 1998:18) This was founded in the Council of EuropeSelect Committee'sadoption of the conceptof 'dynamic motivation'. This concernedthe problem of low motivation amongprisoners, due to their past experienceof the educationalsystem. Ilence the importance of providersto createa good atmosphere,gearing educationto adults and individual needsthat draw in the student'slife experiencesand a wide menu of subjects.Education had to fit the student,not the other way aroundwhich is the caseat present,whereby educationis primarily answerableto rigid performance indicators.Motivation to participateand enjoyment are the indicators as to whether the studentis really engaged.If a prisoneris compelledor heavily persuadedto attenda course,this underminesthe whole process.The interestand enjoymentconsistently shown by participantsin the ConnectingLines programme underpinstheir motivation to participate. Also, as the ConnectingLines programmeinvolved and was accessibleto young offenders from a variety of ethnic backgrounds,an even strongercase can be madefor the needsof what the governmentsees as the most excludedgroup in society.The government'sSocial Exclusion Unit even advocatesthe arts as having a vital role in addressingissues of exclusion in terms of educationalopportunities and reducingcrime for this group (Policy Action Team 10 1999).
Fifthly, the value of the arts. The arts often work on a subliminal level and changeoccurs individually, when somethinghas huge personalrelevance for the participant. This cannotbe quantified althoughmany have tried to do so and evaluatingits impact becomesa problem. But using crude social evaluatory techniquesdoes a disserviceto the natural powers inherent in artforms. Creativity has never prosperedin a culture of tick boxes,it is of a different order, and from the other side of the brain. Ills hasto be reflected in the processof evaluationitself. But in terms of social objectives,empowerment and the increased confidenceof the participantsare of greatestconcern. Real empowermentin turn needsto be democratic, so that the views of participantscan effect changeand even determinefuture projects.Each project needsto be owned by all stakeholders.This follows on from the work done by FrancoisMatarasso and his seminal work on evaluatingthe social impact of arts projects.He maintainedthat art programmesneeded to address the needsand aspirationsof participants,who in order to becomestakeholders of that project had to becomeinvolved in decision-makingat every level. He called it 'empowermentthrough self-management. Thereforethe evaluationprocess 'should lead to increasinglyindependent and autonomousactivity, since it gives peoplecontrol over their participation and development'(Matarasso 1996: 26). This processcan be seenas even more vital in prison, where the constituencyfeels lessin control than in society in general.But the problem, is that this democracyflies in the face of the heavily bureaucraticand autocraticstructures in place in prison. The ConnectingLines programmeand especiallySleepers, allowed elementsof stakeholder control over the direction of the project. This was manifestmost obviously in the discussionthat participantsundertook as to whetherthey wanted to presenttheir work to an audience.It was their collective choice and voice that determinedthis.
Sixthly, there is a definite social role for the arts in prison, but the crucial question is how to balance personal expression and individuals taking control of their lives, with the autocratic prison structure dictated by standardised performance criteria. They are unhappy bedfellows. The work done by Insight Arts encourages empowerment and participants to take control and become more confident, and is it is successful precisely because not part of the prison establishment. It is this established system that so be many prisoners are at odds with, and there needs to outreach educational and rehabilitative programmes that allow and encourage cynical prisoners into educational opportunities, and to reflect on their lives. Hence the importance of the non-coercive drama-based and multi-arts work done by Insight Arts. Here find prisoners can then out about themselves on their own terms, and their input and comment will be used in future order to mould projects more towards their needs. This form of incremental evaluation will make for projects more relevant prisoners and therefore more effective. As Matarasso concluded 'Over-zealous internal pursuit of scientific objectivity, and the validity of evaluation processes, is inappropriate and unhelpfiil'(Matarasso 1996:24).
301 Appendix 3 d) Conclusion
The arts in many ways are in opposition to the whole conceptof prison as I hope the points abovehave indicated.To quotethe artist and prison teacherColin Riches; 'Art is about risk-taking, self-explorationand self-expression;prison is about regulation, imposedcontrols and the minimising of risks' (Riches 1994:77). Words like healing,growth, empowerment,self-discipline and self-confidenceseem lost within the dull and uniform penalenvironment. The rigour and conformity of the regime is in direct opposition to the needsof its inhabitants,hence the problem with official Home Office programmesand institutionalised educationdepartments, weighed down by their needto conform to official targets.Also many art departmentsare being run-down or forced to incorporatethe key and basic skills agenda.This may work for someprisoners, but it will ostraciseothers as the classesthen becometoo much a part of the systemthat has alreadybeen rejected by the prisoners.What is also clear, even using the Home Office's own figures, is that reconvictionrates are far too high, and that the prison population is steadily increasing,especially amongthe young. Thereneeds to be as wide a variety of methodsto combatthis, in terms of techniquesof addressingoffending behaviour,and as wide a rangeof subjectsavailable for prisonersto study. Much good work is done by prison staff, but there are increasinglygaps opening up in terms of making classes and projectsrelevant to all prisoners.Increasingly, rehabilitation and educationprogrammes are Systematic and coercive,and therefore less likely to allow prisonersto work out (or want to work out) problems themselves.Such programmes can bring out the more rebellious side of character,or the game-playing calculatedmanner previously quoted.Also, methodologically,such programmesincreasingly dictate terms, as they are beholdento performanceindicators. There is a need in prison for voluntary outside arts projects like ConnectingLines, that addressoffending behaviourwithout any punitive element.as a balanceto the increasinglycentralised and controlled agendaoffered to prisoners.Such bodies can allow a more creative and expressiveinvolvement by prisonerson their terms, which rehabilitation ultimately hasto be. Change from the inside due to self-discoveryand a more heuristic and democraticapproach to utilising the arts. The prisonerdecides to changeand this voluntary processof empowermentcan so easily get lost in the power plays that make up everydayprison life. Similarly, with referenceto this maelstromof power, Insight Arts in has to ensurethat it's not appropriated any way by the prison, and that it retains its credibility as an independentoutside organisation. Bibliography
Collins, Michael. 1988 Prison Education:A SubstantialMetaphor for Adult EducationPractice Adult Education Quarterly Vol 3S No 2 Furtado & Johnson. 1980 Educationand Rehabilitation in a Prison Setting Journal of Offender Counselling,Services, Rehabilitation Vol 4 No 3 Goffman, Erving. 1968. Asylums Penguin HomeOffice. 1998 Prison StatisticsEngland and Wales IIMSO Home Office. 2000 Accredited OffendingBehaviour Programmes1999-2000 Offending Behaviour Unit Living Skills Team Home Office Leech,M. 1998 The Prisons Handbook Pluto Press Leech & Cheney. 2001 ThePrisons Handbook WatersidePress Matarasso,F. 1996 Defining Values:EvaluatingArts Programmes Comedia Policy Action Team 10 1999 ResearchReport: Arts and NeighbourhoodRenewal DCMS Peaker,A. 1994 The Arts and Peoplein Institutions Journal ofArt and Design Vol 13 Priestley,P. 1991 What Works.Effective Methods to ReduceRe-offending ConferenceProceedings I Sth 19th April 1991 - Riches,C. 1994 TheHidden 7herapy ofa Prison Art Education Programmein Art Therapywith Offenders Liebmann,Marian (ed) JessicaKingsley Smith, T. 2001 The Context of Educationin Prison It's WandsworthNo 19 Unit for the Arts and Offenders. 2001 Cuts to Arts Activities in Prisons 2000-2001 Unpublishedsurvey. Warner, K. 1998. The Issueof Motivation in Prison Education Penological Information Bulletin No 21 Wilson, D. 2001 Valuing PrisonerEducation Prison Report No 54
302 Appendix 3
2. Remit: The 'Connectinje Lines' Program me
This final report refersto all ten placementsof the arts basedConnecting Lines programmewhich took place betweenFeb 1999and Aug 2001. with specific mention of the most recent placings. The programmeconsists of two separateprojects, the drama based'North/South' and the multi-artform 'Sleepers' programmes. a) Advocacy Augusto Boal the Brazilian dramatisthas spentmuch of his life working with the socially excludedaround the world. He sawtheatre as 'the most perfect artistic form of coercion' (Boal 1979:39). as it referredto major eventsin life, social occasions,mundane everyday living, and allowed humans'to observe themselvesin action' (Boal 1992:xxxvi). He saw the arts and especiallydrama as a distinct language.'By knowing learning a new language,a personacquires a new way of reality and of passingthat knowledgeon to others' (Boal 1979:121). Hence the languageof drama,the structure,method utilised and subject influence not just ways of thinking, but how we think. b) Methodology
The key task in evaluatingthe'Connecting Lines' programme,was to triangulate all opinion and views: involvement. participants,tutors, prison staff and anyoneelse with There was both qualitative and quantitativeevidence available, based on written prisoner and tutor feedback,as well as more informal verbal feedback.For a more detaileddescription of the projects, a diary format was introducedthat covered eachday and the views of one or more keen participant. There was also an on-site evaluatorobservation of the projects,which was non-participantin nature. Particular areasof importancewere the extent to which projectswere seenthrough to the end, the ethnic diversity of the group and the extent to which all membersirrespective of ability were included and communicated,and how sucha group gelled collectively. Issuesof self-confidence,awareness of others, social cohesionand empowermentwent hand in hand with creativeexpression, enjoyment, personal involvement and development c) Overview
The programmewas very well receivedby the participants,with completedevaluation forms showing the popularity of both projectswith definite perceivedbenefit and enjoymentexperienced. Tutors overall enjoyedthe experience,and deliveredtheir objectiveswell (regime problemsaside), achieving intended outcomes. d) Feedback to the Programme
1)North/South
This was the main part of the programmeand very well receivedover the three yearsof operation.Here are somecomments:
'it's good to improvise and analysesituations in real-life - it may even help us to deal with situationssimilar in the future' (female prisonerfrom Winchester)
'Four dayswasn't long enough,but it was still time to learn about working togetheras a I it group...... would recommend to anyone' (female prisoner from Newhall)
303 Appendix 3
'There's no communicationon the wings betweenthe guys, only when on association. There's a lot of bangup. This workshop has given us the chanceto really communicate in Somerset I with eachother. I want to find a drama group when get out' (male prisonerfrom PortlandYOI) in 'Today we done a sessionon group work, trust in other people,group and trust work the hole group. The purposeof the sessionin my eyeswas to bring the group together it Actually and too trust in hole. Somepeople didn't think was easy. that's the wrong in but it, word somepeople didn't have faith or trust others eventually went with (male diarist from Stocken)
in This is I 11enjoyed doing dramaand now feel confident myself. a subject would definitely do in the future' (male prisoner from Stocken) feedback from feedback There were sevencompleted North/South projects and using all statistics those sheetscompleted, figures suggestgreat enthusiasmand effectiveness: 94% in In terms of benefit to prisonersthey gavethe project a mark, terms of their assessmentof the it 95% But in terms time they it approachtaken by the tutors they gave a mark. of allotted gave an average longed for of 40%, a resoundingsuccess in the eyesof the participants,who more sessions. for RMP Stocken 'Did the ', A new categorywas introducedin the evaluationsheets project stretchyou? impact this receiveda 96% affirmation, helping reflect the educationaland rehabilitative of the project. ii) Sleepers
This was a smaller part of the programme,more experimentaland overall very well receivedover the three year of operation.Here are somecomments: for 'I really think the project was a benefit to me in severalways. Thank you very much [what] team do together' giving me [us] the chanceto show .... we as a could (male prisoner from PortlandYOI)
'thoroughly enjoyable.Highly imaginative.Makes a big difference to four walls and a suicidal cell-mate' (male prisoner from Portland YOI)
'The benefit that courseslike thesehave on inmatesare an incredibly important.... I firmly believe that I benefitedfrom taking part' (male prisoner from the Wolds)
There were three completedSleepers projects and using all feedbackstatistics from those feedbacksheets completed,figures suggestthe project was highly successfuland enjoyedby participants.In terms of benefit to prisonersthey gavethe project a 76% mark, in terms of their assessmentof the approachtaken by the tutors they gave it a 79% mark. But in terms of time allotted they gave it an averageof 37% again a longed for resoundingsuccess in the eyesof the participants,who more sessions. last There were no evaluationsheets from Portland YOL The prison suddenlyprevented the sessionand in), but director had performanceto happen(which is when the sheetsare filled the programme already decidedthat such sheetswere inappropriateas many of the group couldn't read or write. The EducationCo- ordinator promisedto collect feedbackin class,this didn't materialise.
e) Tutor Comment i) North/South
In generalthere was much positive feedbackfrom tutors, with an understandingof the problemsassociated with the territory. The programmesworked well but there were somedifficulties voiced: One tutor expressedconcern that it was unclearwhy a particular exercisewas chosenand what it hopedto achieve,he also confessedthat he 'neededa little more supportat times'.
304 Appendix 3
Another saw the needto train tutors into the ethosof Insight Arts. Establishingtrust with the participants was also seenas a difficulty. Tutors also mentionedthat they neededmore time for project planning. ii) Sleepers
In generalthere was much positive feedbackfrom tutors, althoughthe schedulewas exhausting,with an understandingof the problemsassociated with the territory. Here are someopinions: Issuesof establishingtrust were seenby one tutor as an important outcomeof Sleepers,with a good sense of teamwork achieved.But it was seenas 'too sophisticated'and 'over-ambitious' for especiallyyoung offenders.There was a lack of clarity as to the objectivesof the programme.Strategic planning and better preparationwas neededas there was no real understandingof how the different artforms linked up. In terms of what was needed,one tutor thought 'that the approachand practiceof eacharts discipline is [better] understood,that relative skills are drawn on and integratedmore cohesivelywithin the project'. Tutors recognisedthe importanceof their particular evaluationin terms of developingthe programme. In PortlandYOI, the tutors found it difficult working with such needyparticipants, as they were unableto concentrate,squabbled and were continually attention-seeking.Each young offender neededone-to-one attention,hence there was a massiveenergy input from tutors with small rewards.But it was very positive becausethe programmehad connectedwith the offenders in a way that the educationprogramme had hitherto beenunable to do (as admittedby the educationofficer). f) Other Opinion
Opinion from governors,education officers and prison officers involved was supportiveand encouraging.
'To a man eachone of the group hasrejected education in prison. This project has helpedto include theseoffenders' EducationCo-ordinator Portland YOI
'The project is a good idea, but it's a real problem taking juveniles out of their comfort zone,as they lack discipline and play up. There's intensepeer pressurenot to partake.' Prison Officer PortlandYOI
g) Evaluator Observation Portland 'Sleepers' Project In keepingwith the first two reports,I have included an accountof evaluatorobservation. This just happenedto be the most difficult placing for the project over the three years.Although it was untypical, it highlights somepertinent problems.
The group consistedofjuveniles aged 15-16who were on full-time educationclasses and the Education Co-ordinatorhad decidedthat insteadof them attendingclasses in Citizenship and Lifeskills, they would take part in the Sleepersproject. So it wasn't voluntarily application that determinedthe group, but there again due to their age,education was compulsory.So the project fitted into the prison educationtimetable. The EducationCo-ordinator seemed to think that those who had rejectededucation in prison were best suited for the group asthey would benefit most. Hencethe group had the most difficult membersin it. Thoseparticipants I spoketo told me how much they hatededucation. Originally 20 in the group, but it endedup with II all white and very needydisruptive individuals. One participantwhen askedif he had done dramaat school, said that he was the only one in the group who had beento school. The tutors found the week had beenthe most difficult they had ever encountered. In the morning session,the participantshad an inability to concentratefor more than a couple of minutes, were play fighting all the time, attention-seeking,and reticent to work. The participantsfound it very difficult to copewith the more unstructuredelements but practicedtheir sketchesand tutors had to work hard to keep their attention. The afternoonsession was cancelledby the securitydepartment without notice. A typical exampleof the bad frequently communications encounteredwhen working in this environment.Lack of staff was given as
305 Appendix 3 the reason.But everyonecould have been informed earlier, so that the group could have beenclosed and goodbyesspoken etc. This was an unfortunateending as the membersof the group were due to presenttheir sketches. The attendancefigures were usedby the EducationDepartment towards their performanceindicators, in terms of key skills agenda,especially verbal and non-verbal communicationand creativity. The department (unlike on my previousvisit) were very supportive and involved, possibly too much as they enteredthe workshopuninvited and disruptedit possibly too frequently. The Governor had watchedthe work previously and beenimpressed. The project reachedsome of the most excludedyouth possible,even excludedfrom educationdue to interest. attitude and inability to reador write and lack of The EducationCo-ordinator purposelyput the most excludedand difficult kids onto the programmeas they were immune to the overturesof the educationalprocess. The dramatechniques and methodsused for group awareness,verbal and non-verbal communicationoutpassed anything that the EducationDepartment had in their armoury to cope with such difficult youths.The ability to communicate,participant involvement, group awarenessand cohesion,and self-confidencewere the most obvious social impacts.Much time and patiencewas neededwith such a difficult group to bring thesesocial objectives out. Praiseis due to the tutors for the way they copedwith the situation. The dangerof this collaborationwith the EducationDepartment, is that the project may be appropriatedand dictatedby the needto work with educationalrefuseniks. This was unfortunatebecause those with more educationand ability could havebenefited and enjoyed it considerably.I didn't like the implication that the educationalfacilities provided were adequatefor those better adjustedprisoners who weren't allowed to participate.This comesback to the issueof voluntary participation, to allow thosewith a real interestto be involved. The idea that prisonersmake a decision in what they do, is all a part of the empowerment process,a long way from the enforcededucational programme on offer. Another problemwas that the tutors had their patienceand skills testedto the limit. Are they experienced and trained for dealing with sucha group?Furthermore, the numbersthat can be involved in sucha project are relatively small. h) The Balancing Act (Summary) i) Evaluation proceduresand processeshave evolved over the two and a half yearsof this project which are sufficient for the ConnectingLines programmeas it stands.But information needsto be gatheredduring and on the last day of the project, as it's difficult to get responsesafter the event (as at Portland Y01).
ii) For social outcomesand objectivesto be better realised,longer projectsare neededwhich would necessitatea more rigorous evaluationprocedure. As it stands,the programmeis only the first step.It's far too short a period to really tackle offending behaviour,hence the difficulty of selling it as such. As an introduction it's excellent,but there needsto be follow up work, or a longer timespanfor the project.
iii) There is a dearthof arts basedactivities in prison contexts.Although the Sleepersproject at Portland Y01 was fraught with difficulty, it showedthat dramabased initiatives can reachsome of the most excludedoffenders in a way that formal (and more informal) educationcannot. But such arts based activities haveto be careful not to be seenas the last resort for influencing the most difficult prisoners,as they have much to offer to a wider spectrumof offenders.
iv) The weaknessof rehabilitation programmesin prison, is that there is an elementof coercion(in terms of being written into sentenceplans etc). Prisonersneed to want to changetheir behaviouras they cannot be madeto, hencethe voluntary natureof ConnectingLines allows an exploration of the territory through role play without pressure.This hasto be the startingpoint in a long and complex processthat may take several yearsto realiseand cannotnecessarily be mappedout by existing methodsutilising PerformanceIndicators and Targetsthat concentrateon easily quantifiable evidence.The programmeneeds to understandthis weaknessand exploit it.
v) Continuity within the projects is a real problem for severalreasons. The most obvious is the lack of co- operationand respectfrom the prison regimes,which at HMP Stockenand Portland YOI, decided
306 Appendix 3
if unilaterally to lock up participantswhen they should have beenworking on the project. Ironically, the it be be far prison were paying out more money for the servicesof Insight Arts, then would haveto more accountablefrom its own end in terms of auditing use of resources. involved. vi) overall the issuingof certificatesis beneficial and reflects the utility of the project to those But if it is to be accredited,the project needsto be longer. Also, unfortunately,too many certificates awardedin prison have little bearingon real life and are correspondinglyunrecognised outside of it. Arguably, certification deflects from the real point of the project; looking at offending behaviourand participantshaving an unpressurisedspace in which to do this. for be vii) If the coursesare longer, the pressureand expectationsof the prison performancemay well but disempower greater.As it is, suchperformances are very good PR for Insight Arts, can those participating,as part of the empoweringand group bonding processrelates to the making of this very decision.Programme objectives need to be madeclear to all concernedfrom the start. viii) A needto review project objectives for both programmesand better training, transparencyand planning for the tutors involved. Unfortunately, there needsto be room for improvisation and changeof inside itself plan written into objectivesand intendedoutcomes, as the situation the prison often dictates this againstthe best intendedplans. ix) There seemsto be a lack of clarity for the Sleepersprogramme. How doesthe experimentalismof the project meld with the rehabilitativeobjectives? Tutors also needto understandhow artforms compliment eachother and work together.There also needsto be more realism in terms of numbersthat such a project can accommodateand the constituency(i. e. are young offenders appropriateparticipants? ). But there Is a more creativeadult constituencyinside prisonsthat would relate better to the Sleepersprogramme and the freedomsinherent in it, than North/Southand it's more structuredapproach. The two programmeshave different albeit overlappingconstituencies. x) The balancebetween direction and self-direction is anotherawkward balance,particularly in prison, and with so little time to work. Ideally, the participantsshould have a determining input into how the project operates,but this would require a pre-projectmeeting and is not necessarilypractical. On the other hand, this is maybenot possiblefor the North/South programmedue to its structure.
xi) Sucha scenarioof pre-projectmeetings would also help in terms of recruitment,making sure that participantsknow what they are involved with, aswell as allowing tutors to input into the processand fully comprehendproject objectives.
xii) There is one underlying dilemma. TO what extent is the programmeabout dramaand creativity, and to what extent is it abouttackling behaviour?Do they necessarilyfit hand in glove? Either way, this needsto be exploredand taken down to its bare bones.Such resulting information can then be usedto promotethe programme,de-mystifying the processesused, making its utility more obvious to both tutors, participants and prison staff. i) Recommendations
i) That the programmebe extended(IE from one week to three).
ii) That if the programmeis extended,before-and-after evaluation techniques be built into it to gaugethe changesin attitude and thought of participants.These will needto be strategicallywritten into the objectivesand realisedthrough the techniquesutilised. Suchevaluation should be creative,befitting and as relevantto the programmeas possible.
iii) That training is given to tutors into the ethosof Insight Arts, and how that particular tutor's work and artform is integratedinto the overall strategiesand aims of the programme.
307 Appendix 3 iv) To re-think the use of the two different programmeswithin ConnectingLines in terms of their constituenciesand maketheir purposemore transparentto both tutors and participants.so that all concernedunderstand the proposedimpact. v) To ensurethat a pre-projectforum is set up that includes tutors, prison staff and interestedparticipants. This forum would help explain aims and objectives,and outline how thesewould be achievedduring the week, to avoid any appropriationof the project. Selection procedureswill needto be looked at.
vi) To find commonground with the prison, for instanceto seewhere the programmecan work together with prison educationdepartments. This would necessitatelooking at the Key Skills agendaand deciding whether it is possibleor evendesirable to accommodateit in someway. Lack of such knowledgehandicaps the plausibility of the ConnectingLines programmeto those with power in prison, to whom the package hasto be sold. The peoplewho determineprison activities, aren't necessarilyknowledgeable of the arts, nor particularly interested.Their interestlies in satisfying performancetargets. Therefore it might be fruitful to researchhow the programmemight accommodatethese. Such an understandingmay help in termsof the initial approachto prisons,and augmentbookings. j) Bibliography
BOAL, Augusto. 1979. Theatreof the Oppressed Pluto Press BOAL, Augusto. 1992. Gamesfor Actors and Non-Actors Routledge
Paul Clements External Evaluator Autumn 2001
308 Unitforlhe---4rts & Offenders-'-' Appendix 4
Cuts to Arts Activities in Prisons 2000-2001 A survey
KEY FINDINGS
0 30% of the questionnairesthat were sent t6 every prison establishmentin the countrywere returned
C] 75% of pdsonshave experienced cuts to their arts pro-AsionIn. 2000/1 financialyear
0 43% of classeshave been cut to makeway fbr BasicSkills or KeySkills classes
0 One classhas beenreplaced by Socialand We Skills
0 18% have been cut for finandal reasons
13 A wide rangeof arts activitieshavp been cut, IncludingVisual Art, Woodwork,Craft, Drama,,Pottery,, Music and Photography.
RqogkgcdCberay NuIOSM9. Company Lhailad by Gwaaft No 3266072 Foundedby. Anne Pnkw Poem His HommorSir &Opb= TOM* JwM MY OM AMOY Mm. B"PON ZR"" Tmmm NagalBgAmmgk Dc AmdrowCaylk Cbrbtapbw Maugham.Jill Viammut co-Dieclom rmt6c(; 6do0w. AmmusMdAwim
Mic Unit for die Arb Offamdas,14eville libuse, go/91Nodhgmc C: CT, I BA Addresm and . Ontattxy, Tel: 012274706291379704 F= 01227453022 Enuil: infoMWo(fi=iemcmuk wcb. a4offcndememuk 309 Appendix 4
RECOMMENDATIONS
13* Cuts to the arts should be stopped and the trend reversed
13 Arts activities should be given a significant role within prison education because: I
> Arts activitiesshould not be seen as alternativesto Basicand KeySkills,, but as usefulallies. Learningwill only take placeif studentsfind materialenjoyable and relevant,,if they are motivatedto learn and are interestedIn the process. Teachingstyles should match prisoners' learning needs - there Is now hard evidencethat the arts can effectivelydeliver Basicand KeySkills at Level2 as they are accessible,,popular and can breakdown the barriersto learningthat many prisonersexperience when facedwith more traditional teachingmethods
> The curriculumshould be broadand, "'matchthe provision,sWes of learningand defivety,asse--ument and guidancefound within Furtherand HigherEducation and TrainIng (Tbe PrisonResearch and EducationUnit 1994)
> "Mese actWdeshave a parUcillarpotential to enablepr1soners to -develop and expfP-, u themselves" (The Councilof Europe,,referring to educationin prisons,,1989) Throughthe simpleact of engagingIn an arts mediumpeople can make senseof difficult,,complex,, vital and universallyhuman experiences and they do so with amazingpower,, facility,, richness and effect
There is now also hard evidence that experience of the arts can reduce offending behaviour.
Me Unit for Me Aits and Mender& MarO 2001
310 Appendix 4
Institution Cuts to Details of Cuts Decision- Reason Rdplacement? Arts? Maker Given HMPStafford Yes Allclasses in A HMP Overpsendon No Wingcut Nov 2000. budget ArtSessions for BasicSkills Group previously5 groups, nowonly 3 since Jan2001 HMPYOl Guys Marsh Yes 2x Artsand Craft Governor Noreason No half-termcourses
HMP Foston Hall Yes Guitar workshop - Governor Poor No evening class attendance withdrawn Figures HMP Lewes Yes Artl Pottery have Area Manager/ Key Skills No been cut to make Governor given priority way for Basic Skills
HMP Risley Yes Ceramics and Governor Non-accredited Yes general ait classes courses cut to be stopped from need to meet April 2001 KPrs
HMP Dowriview Yes Drama and Art -Governor Do not meet Yes (both 5x 3hr per KPT targets week) HM YOl Feltham No None HM YOl Portland No None HMP Birmingham Yes Creative Skills Head of Regimes Do not ryleet Yes classes reduced - KPT targets from 10-5 hrs week HM YOI Wetherby Yes Art Evening Governor Budget' Yes Classes (3), Music Evening Classes (1). Craft Evening Classes(2) and Woodwork Evening Classes (2) HMP Gartree No
HNIYOl Aylesbury Yes - Music (6 per Head of Regimes Budget No week),Art (5 per week) and Yoga (1 per week) from. March 2000
311 Appendix 4
HMP Uncoln Yes Artreducedfrom HeadofRegimes Donotmeet. Yes 13.5-6.25 hrs per XPT targets week; woodwork removed from curriculum HMP Albany No
HMP Manchester Yes 3D art cut from 5-3 HMP Do not meet Yes days per week KPT targets HMP Bristol Yes Will be cut across Governor Budget No curriculum from March 2001
HMP Camp Hill Yes All ArUCraft classes Head of Regimes Do not meet Yes ceased Dec 2000 KPT targets
HMP Nottingham Yes Poftery,Stained Governor Do not meet Yes Glass, Handicrafts, KPT targets Woodwork all cancelled HMP Dartmoor Yes Music cancelled in Governor Budgett Do not No 1998 meet KPT targets
HMP Standford Hill No
HMP Blantyre House Yes Photography Budget No cancelled in July 2000 HMP Grenclon No HMP Springhill No HMP Acklington Yes Art and Design Head of Regimes Do not meet Yes cancelled, guitar KPT targetý class poss. To go in Feb 2001 HMP Wealstun Yes Art and Woodwork HMP Budget No reduced, music cancelled HMPIDC Rochester Yes Art class for Head of Regimes Poor No- detainees cut Oct attendance 2000 figures HMP The Veme No HMP Brockhill Yes Art has become Governor and Course Yes part of Social and Education priorities Life Skills and Manager evening classes have beeen cut
312 Appendix4
HMP Garliti Yes Music has been HMP Tutor did not No closed a=edit it HMP Bullwood Hall Yes Art cut from 4 to 2 Governor Budget No classes; multi craft cut from 10 to 5 sessions; pottery cut from 4 to 1 session HMP Belmarsh Yes Painting and Head of Regimes Do not meet No Drawing have been KPT targets cut from II hours to 5 and a half HMP Exeter Yes Art classes moved Education To offer Moved rather than from education Manager outreach replaced department to programme landing - now non- specialist and no water
HMP Ford Yes Craft cut by 55% Governor To increase Yes Visual Art has been Basic Skills cut by 45% classes
HMP Weare No
HMP Frankland Yes Art, Woodwork and Prison No Craft have all been Management cut HMP Featherstone Yes Drama, Music and Head of Regimes* To increase Yes Art/Craft have all Basic Skills - been cut Clat-ses HMP Preston Yes Music class has Do not meet No been cut as a day KPT targets class
313 References & Bibliography
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INSIGHT ARTS TRUST. 1999b. NewUfe Maps PresentationPack, Unpublished presentationpack for Insight Arts training day at the Diana, Princessof Wales Memorial Fund, LA)ndon,10th November
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INSIGHT ARTS TRUST. 1999c. Agenda Unpublished manuscriptconcerning the structure and content of the Sleepersprogramme.
INSIGHT ARTS TRUST. 1999d.Connecting Lines. Year I Reporifor the Lank-ellyFoundation
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INSIGHT ARTS TRUST. 2002. Unpublishedpersonal e-mail correspondence.30/10/02
TAMBLING, Pauline. 2000. Social Exclusion -A Responseto Policy Action Team 10from the Arts
Council of England Unpublishedpolicy document,Arts Council of England, May 2000.
UNIT FOR THE ARTS AND OFFENDERS. 2001 Cuts to Arts Activities in Prisons 2000-2001
Unpublished survey of Prison Education Departments.
329