Author: King, Karen and Blaug, Mark

Publication Year: 1975

Media Type: Book

Summary:

Abstract:

The arts are subsidized in Britain to the tune of about 35 million pounds a year, the actual figure depending to some extent on how much of radio and television we include in our definition of the Arts. Thirty five million pounds is a small sum compared to public subsidies of over 2,000 million to health and to education. But small as the sum is, it raises with a vengeance the problem of evaluating government expenditure. It may be difficult to say just why we spend money in the way we do on schools and hospitals, but it is even more difficult to say why we support the Arts in one way rather than another, and in particular why we support is as little as we do compared to other countries. It is clearly impossible to evaluate government expenditure in a particular direction without knowing the aims of government, particularly as there will usually be many different aims. Even if we succeeded in drawing up a list of aims - objectives, goals, ends, the reasons why - we still face the task of somehow measuring the effectiveness of various spending patterns in achieving these aims. Since the answers - one for each objective - are quite likely to go in opposite directions, we need a scale of priorities between objectives to arrive at a comprehensive evaluation. We label this evaluation technique 'cost effectiveness analysis' and in principle it is as applicable to the Arts as it is to any area of government activity, although in practice it may be particularly difficult to apply to the arts. (p. 101-125)

CONTENTS
The role of the arts council.
The case for subsidies.
Policy dilemma: the conflict of goals.
Criteria for subsidy: a pattern for patronage?
The confusion of 'subjectivity'.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: International