Artwashing Education?

Abstract

Education increasingly operates in neoliberal terms; privatisation, marketisation and competition have become key drivers for schools in England. This article explores the findings from an ethnography that points to how arts education practices are being used to ‘art-wash’ schools resulting in parents with the requisite economic, social and cultural capitals ensuring that their children benefit the most from a creative education. Whilst most of the narratives on artwashing have so far focused on arts institutions and global capital, this article questions how some of the specific processes of gentrification may be extended to the current education system in England and ask if schools and arts organisations may increasingly be ‘art-washing education’.