THE SPACE FOR CHANGE Exploring a Capability Approach to Cultural Policy in Calgary and Leeds Elysia Lechelt Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Media and Communication December 2020 2 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own, including work which has formed part of a jointly authored publication. The contribution of the candidate and the other authors to this work has been explicitly indicated below. The candidate confirms that appropriate credit has been given within the thesis where reference has been made to the work of others. In chapter 5 of this thesis I critique Calgary’s cultural policymaking process. A version of this critique and the empirical data presented in this section is also used in the following jointly authored paper: Lechelt, E., & Cunningham, M. (2020). The politics of Participation in Cultural Policy Making. Conjunctions: Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation, 8. The empirical data and critique were my original contributions to this paper. This paper also includes an original theoretical framework for meaningful participation in cultural policymaking, this framework was established by Malaika Cunningham, and this work is not included in this thesis. A copy of this paper is included alongside this thesis. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis or paper may be published without proper acknowledgment. The right of Elysia Lechelt to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by Elysia Lechelt in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. 3 Acknowledgments This research would not have been possible without the invaluable support of a number of people. I would like to begin by expressing my deepest gratitude to my supervisors David Lee and Kate Oakley, whose dedicated guidance and encouragement have helped to make this a truly inspiring experience for me. I am also thankful to the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds for providing a supportive and intellectually stimulating environment as well as for supporting my research through a departmental scholarship. I am also indebted to all of my interviewees whose stories and reflections have contributed greatly to this project. To my PhD colleagues, or more accurately, to my UK family. Rafa, Mark, Anna, Malaika, Michael, Liam, Martha and Neil, your friendship and support was instrumental not only in the completion of this thesis, but in making me feel at home in Leeds. I am so grateful to all of you. To my friends back home in Canada, Sarah, Brandon, Alykhan, Jason, Shannon, Marta, Naomi and Aaron, thank you for your tireless encouragement and emotional support, I would not have been able to do this without you. To my sister for being my best friend and always being there. To my dad for inspiring me and to him and Jill for always cheering me on. To Judy and Brian for their enduring kindness and support. I would also like to thank my mom. Finally, to my amazing partner who helped make this entire journey possible. Rod, without your unwavering love and belief in me I never would have made it. You are incredible. 4 ABSTRACT This research aims to contribute to the small but growing body of work seeking to (re) imagine cultural policy towards issues of social justice and human wellbeing. It does so by conceptualising what a (cultural) capability policy design might look like and by questioning the space available to advance such policies on the ground. This work uses two middle cities, Calgary, Canada and Leeds, UK as case studies and draws on a unique theoretical framework that combines the capability approach (Sen, 1998; Nussbaum, 2011) with Rainer Forst’s (2014), little used, theory of deliberative and democratic processes of justification, to explore the practicalities behind developing and implementing capabilities-based cultural policy design. It expands on Gross and Wilson's (2018) notion of ‘cultural capability’, defined as "the substantive freedoms to give form and value to our experiences", by considering what processes might be needed to advance cultural opportunities as legitimate policy aims in Calgary and Leeds. In order to gain a better sense of the space available in either city to enact substantive policy change, this research evaluates both cities’ existing policies and practices. In particular, it focuses on how justifications for public support of arts and culture in Calgary and Leeds (and the power relations and processes that sustain them) encourage or constrict the ability to move policy beyond dominant practices and prevailing notions of cultural value. 5 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................. 3 ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 8 1.1 Research Project ................................................................................................................................... 8 1.2 Research Contribution ....................................................................................................................... 11 1.3 Research Questions ............................................................................................................................. 20 1.4 Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................................................... 21 1.5 Empirical Study .................................................................................................................................. 25 1.6 Thesis Overview and Structure ......................................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER 2: DEVELOPING THE CULTURAL CAPABILITY APPROACH .. 31 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 31 2.2 The Capability Approach ................................................................................................................... 32 2.3 Cultural Capabilities .......................................................................................................................... 38 2.4 Conceptualising Alternative Cultural Policy Practices ................................................................... 43 2.4.1 Determining Valuable Cultural Capabilities: Deliberation and Just Process ................................ 50 2.4.2 Forst’s Theory of Justification ...................................................................................................... 54 2.5 Framework for Critique ..................................................................................................................... 60 2.5.1 Critique of Relations of Justifications ........................................................................................... 60 2.5.2 Defining Valuable Cultural Capabilities ....................................................................................... 64 2.5.3 Evaluating the Impact of Existing Justifications on Cultural Capabilities .................................... 67 2.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 71 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESGIGN .......................... 74 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 74 3.2 An Analytical Framework: Critical Discourse Analysis and Argumentation Theory ................. 76 3.2.1 Argumentation and Practical Reason ............................................................................................ 79 3.3 Research Design .................................................................................................................................. 81 3.3.1 Interviews ...................................................................................................................................... 82 3.3.2 Sampling and Interviewees’ Profiles ............................................................................................ 83 6 3.3.3 Recruitment, Field Work and Practicalities ................................................................................... 85 3.3.4. Secondary Data ............................................................................................................................ 90 3.4 Preparation and Presentation of Data ............................................................................................... 93 3.4.1 Identifying Justifications in Text ................................................................................................... 95 3.6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 100 CHAPTER 4: THE EVOLUTION OF JUSTIFICATIONS FOR PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR THE ARTS IN CALGARY AND LEEDS ................................... 102 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................