Culture Is Not an Industry… With Justin O' Connor

Culture is at the heart to what it means to be human. But twenty-five years ago, the British government rebranded art and culture as ‘creative industries’, valued for their economic contribution, and set out to launch the UK as the creative workshop of a globalised world. Where does that leave art and culture now?

Facing exhausted workers and a lack of funding and vision, culture finds itself in the grip of accountancy firms, creativity gurus and Ted Talkers. This book is about what happens when an essential part of our democratic citizenship, fundamental to our human rights, is reduced to an industry. Bold and uncompromising, the talk offers a powerful vision for change.

Justin O’Connor is Professor of Cultural Economy at the University of South Australia. His books include Red Creative: Culture and Modernity in China with Xin Gu and Reset: Art, Culture and the Foundational Economy.

In association with Manchester University Press