Reflections on the Challenge of Markets in National, International, and Transnational Art Worlds

Abstract

The most notable impression that emerges from the chapters in this vol-ume is that a large variety of nations have been influenced by market-based or neoliberal models of governance, and national cultural policies have—more or less—converged toward a model of arts funding that draws on neoliberal or market-based models, many of which require the involvement of corporate or other private funders along with marketized management structures. The United States has long used market-based models of funding for arts organizations, and indeed, in Europe, the combination of state funding with various forms of private sponsorship and commercial activity is often called " the American model. " Along these lines, Nina Zahner (Chap. 4) has shown us that in Germany, the market mechanisms endorsed by the " New Public Management " (NPM) have been used to conduct the affairs of German cultural institutions. Tight public budgets in Germany meant that these organizations have been encouraged to search for private funding, and in some cases, new models of ownership were adopted, including the trans-fer of cultural organizations into limited companies. Simo Häyrynen (Chap. 6) also states that Finland adopted NPM, which led to results-oriented contracts and instrumentalized management. Finnish artists are expected to look for nonstate funding, and until the economic crisis hit, various initiatives increased the amount of private money for cultural producers. Similar ideas, described by Victoria D. Alexander (Chap. 3) as " enterprise culture " but which draw on NPM ideals, have played a strong role in the development of British cultural policy. Häyrynen notes that the largest change in Finland was ideological, rather than material, as Finland, along with other countries, absorbed globalized, neoliberal economic strategies. In this way, the arts and cul-ture are judged by their economic added value and contribution to national competitiveness. Other countries show a similar orientation to national competitiveness (perhaps with more material as well as ideologi-cal effect). For instance, Olivier Thévenin and Olivier Moeschler (Chap. 5) describe how Switzerland has developed a national cultural policy specifically to maintain and advance Swiss international competi-tiveness and to highlight the perception of the country as creative.