Expressive life: Do we need a new framework for culture?

• Artsjournal.com

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08 February 2010From 25-29 January 2010 a conversation took place between 18 bloggers asking whether the terms 'Art' and 'Culture' are tough enough to frame a public policy carve-out for the 21st century?

Are the old familiar words, weighted with multiple meanings and unhelpful preconceptions, simply no longer useful in analysis or advocacy? In his book, Arts, Inc., Bill Ivey advances "Expressive Life" as a new, expanded policy arena - a frame sufficiently robust to stand proudly beside "Work Life," "Family Life," "Education," and "The Environment."

Is Ivey on the right track, or is "Expressive Life" a dead end? Can we define what's in and out, use "Expressive Life" to argue the value of heritage and artistic engagement, or should we just pump fresh oxygen into the old talking points? Is Ivey the Pied Piper, Don Quixote, or cultural policy's rendition of Bernie Madoff? May the public interest win!

Bloggers: Adrian Ellis; Alan Brown; Andras Szanto; Andrew Taylor; Bau Graves; Douglas McLennan; Ellen Lovell; Bill Ivey, William James; James Early; Jim Smith; Lewis Hyde; Marian Godfrey; Martha Bayles; Nihar Patel; Russell Taylor; Sam Jones; Steven Tepper