Publisher's Synopsis
"Community arts" spans a wide field of cultural activities. Initiated as part of the Whitlam government's social democratic reforms, community arts was charged with making art more accessible. Throughout its turbulent history, this programme has maintained a persistent challenge to the status of culture in cultural policy. Excellence, the idea of a unified national culture and the special role of the artist are just a few of the concepts contested by community arts policy aand practice.;This study of the formation and impacts of the Community Arts Programme of the Australia Council aims to break new ground in cultural policy studies. Hawkins combines an analysis of the shifting policy and aesthetic discourses of community arts with a critical evaluation of the programme's achievements and limitations. She asks: is there such a thing as a community arts aesthetic? Is community arts an effective strategy for the democratic reform of arts policy? Is community arts a cultural programme whose time has passed?
