Bookshelf 7.
Cultural Policy and Planning

Cultural Policy: a short guide
Pub Council of Europe 2000 ISBN 9287143013 £7.50
This is a personal analysis of the ingredients that should go into a good cultural policy. It reflects on the reasons why government needs to be concerned with culture, suggests basic rules for building policy, and sets out the arguments likely to be encountered in the process. It is designed to provide a starting point for anybody coming to the subject afresh, and a useful reminder of the issues for those grappling with policy on a day-to-day basis.
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Culture at the Crossroads: Culture and Cultural Institutions at the Beginning of the 21st Century
By Marc Pachter, Charles Landry
Pub Comedia 2001 ISBN 1873667132 £9.00
An important little book that clarifies and challenges in equal measure. It will stimulate thinking on what is a cultural institution today, why do they exist, and how is culture being redefined and how are culture, commerce, education and entertainment converging on each other. It is an advocacy document that asks some difficult questions – is there something unique about the category of insight we call cultural? Are traditional cultural institutions refugees from or collaborators with the modern age? A broad range of relevant contemporary issues are covered – technology as arts, generational differences, an inclusive culture, real and live or virtual and fake, artists and society. Highly readable and very useful. Review
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Towards Cultural Citizenship: Tools for Cultural Policy and Development
by Colin Mercer
Pub Sida 2002 ISBN 9178446228

Culture must be looked upon and treated as a basic driving force behind human behaviour and central to human development. The book aims to clear the path for a broader conception of culture, and to contribute to a new conceptual framework in the field of cultural policies for human development. It is written for policy-makers, researchers and what the authors call “stakeholders in the cultural field”. It looks to provide a new toolkit, and collects research findings from disparate areas. Concepts included ‘cultural capital’, ‘the cultural field’, ‘cultural ecology’, ‘cultural mapping’ and ‘cultural planning’, and ‘cultural indicators’. Links are made to citizenship, identities, social (and cultural) capital and democracy. It recognises the inherent complexity of culture. ‘It is made up of narratives, stories, images, sense of place and of belonging: the resources of identity and of cultural citizenship’. A fascinating book, collecting material from around the world including case studies, posing good questions and making contextual, specific and support proposals.

Culture Policy Note No. 4 Balancing Act: 21 Strategic dilemmas in Cultural policy
By Francois Matarasso and Charles Landry
Pub Council of Europe 1999 ISBN 9287138621 £6.50
This little policy note tackles a big subject – the development and management of cultural policy. The authors suggest that this is one of the most complex areas of modern government, a kind of balancing act between competing visions of the role of culture in society. 21 strategic dilemmas are outlined including demonstrating the extremes of the issue and then you, as reader, are asked to choose on a scale where you would position your current policy or its ideal position on the spectrum between the extremes. There are both ‘framework’ dilemmas dealing with underlying conceptual issues and strategy, as well as dilemmas on tactical decisions of how to put policy into practice. Thought-provoking, possibly inspiring.
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In From The Margins: A contribution to the debate on culture and development in Europe
Pub Council of Europe 1997 ISBN 9287133360 £12.99
Why is culture not a more central part of public policy in Europe? Is there a future for European culture? What role can it play in the process of sustainable development as we enter the twenty-first century? These are some of the questions addressed in this report, whose main concern is to raise awareness of two interlocking priorities for governments today – to bring the millions of dispossessed and disadvantaged Europeans in from the margins of society and to bring cultural policy in from the margins of governance. Its findings will be of interest and value to European stages, policy makers and public authorities, and to all those involved in culture and development in Europe.
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Riding the Rapids: Urban Life In An Age of Complexity
By Charles Landry
Pub Comedia 2004 ISBN 18599461611 £11.95
This latest book from Charles Landry (author of The Creative City) explores the dynamics of change that will have a significant impact on British cities over the next 20 years and sets a robust conceptual framework in order to facilitate an understanding of the nature of unfolding change in cities. Chapters include Conceptual Framework, Faultlines, Battlegrounds, Paradoxes, Drivers, Pulling the Threads Together and Spatial Dynamics.
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The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators
By Charles Landry
Pub Earthscan 2000 ISBN 185383613

An important book that describes itself as an "ideas bank" written with the intention of providing readers with a new more integrated and holistic approach to thinking about and analysing cities. As well as big ideas - calling for a paradigm shift in urban planning - this is also a practical toolkit, likely to have readers thinking "I could do that". People and their creativity are central to the book's message. A must for all those in cultural planning, and the rest of us (more planned for than planning) - so we know what could happen. Review

Only Connect: Arts touring and rural communities
By Francois Matarasso
Pub Comedia 2004 ISBN 1873667825 £10
This is the first large scale study of rural touring work, and was commissioned by the National Rural Touring Form. It comprises 9 case studies and the results of a literature review, and analysis of a wide range of schemes’ work. It covers the logistics of rural touring schemes, the economic aspects, artistic aspects, community cohesion and development, and identifies some challenges for the future. Review
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On The Edge: Culture and the arts in remote and rural areas
edited by Anne Douglas
Pub Robert Gordon University 2002 ISBN 1901085694

This is papers from an international conference promoting arts and heritage development in remote areas. It sets a context of culture as a force for development, of the globalization of society, and populations in peripheral areas “ageing”. With examples drawn from countries across Europe and papers presented by key writers and thinkers in cultural policy, this is an important publication that will help push the debates onwards. Review

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