The Philistines are upon us
robert whelan, 23 July 2007
What is a Philistine? Strictly speaking, the Philistines were the Canaanite enemies of the Hebrews living along the southwestern coastline of present-day Gaza. However, its modern usage derives from the great Victorian cultural commentator Matthew Arnold who used the term to describe those who have no conception of the value of art, culture or spiritual values in life. ‘The people who believe most that our greatness and welfare are proved by our being very rich… are just the very people whom we call the Philistines.’
It is sad to have to report that the well-known think-tank Demos has just published a report which exposes both it and the report’s author to grave suspicions of philistinism. ‘Publicly-funded culture and the creative industries’ by John Holden, published by Demos, is the most grossly philistine account of the arts, or the ‘creative industries’, that I have ever read.
Art, culture or ‘the creative industries’ seem to exist for one purpose and one purpose alone, according to John Holden: that is, to increase GDP. Given the commissioning body for this study – Arts Council England (ACE) – it is perhaps hardly suprising that the not-very-subtle sub-text of the piece is that every pound of public money given out through the Arts Council comes back to the Treasury many times over. Thus: ‘The History Boys began life as a play at the National Theatre. It transferred to a commercial West End theatre and was then made into a film’ while Vivienne Westwood was ‘inspired by the painter Francois Boucher’. Whether The History Boys worked on the stage or not, and why, seems to be irrelevant. And with all due respect to Vivienne Westwood, whose position as a leading couturiėre is assured, Boucher’s nymphs and shepherdesses do not have to be justified by reference to the dresses they inspire.
But then the thing conspicuously missing from John Holden’s essay is any reflection at all on the impact that a work of art makes on the viewer/ reader/ listener. Why do Shakespeare’s words inspire us? Why do we respond to oil paint loaded on a brush and swept across canvas? Why do our spirits soar with the notes of Handel? Who knows? But apparently: ‘There is huge potential for cultural institutions to become genuinely relevant contemporary spaces for connection, by developing dynamic practice and relationships that go beyond their current categories’.
Unfortunately, many of these cultural instititons are a big disappointment to the government:
‘The creative industries are regularly criticised for their lack of conformity to traditional business models. “Many lack the strategic skills necessary for sustained growth… only 35% of creative businesses have specific financial goals for the future, and less than two thirds of those that do include these goals in a formal business plan”.’
How strange that actors, painters and composers do not see it as their primary responsibility to contribute to economic growth. Perhaps they should be sent to some of the citizenship classes that the politicians have been so keen to include on the National Curriculum.
Or perhaps some of those people who are working in the ‘creative industries’ should go and stand in front of one of Whistler’s nocturnes, or a fête champêtre by Watteau, and ask themselves what it means to them. We might then be exposed to less of the vulgarity that characterises this report.
Demos, and I personally, have been at the forefront of arguing against the proposition that culture should be funded solely for its economic or social impacts. Have a look at the Demos webiste and download Creating Culture Value and Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy. Of course the arts and culture have value in many ways that cannot be accounted for in financial terms – they affect us spiritually, emotionally and intellectually, as I have consistently argued. But that does not mean that they are somehow divorced from economic, social and political life. It is perfectly legitimate to examine the arts from many different perspectives, one of which is their importance to people’s livelihoods – remember Hogarth’s attempts to get a decent law of copyright? – and hence the economy. Indeed, it seems to me imperative that we try to gain a better understanding of how the cultural and creative industries work as they are one of this country’s great strengths.