Since the 1940s governments in liberal democracies have pursued policies to directly support the arts, by grants to artists and arts organizations, through arm’s length funding councils and direct expenditure from executive government. Eligibility for funding, and the amount of funding, vary across countries, but even in countries where there is some public opposition to such funding, such as the United States, it has endured as a policy. But within any nation cultural tastes held by individuals vary extremely widely, and what distinctions that might once have existed between “high” and “low” culture have blurred in a world of cultural omnivores. If it is a principle of public policy that there is no disputing tastes, and that in a liberal society it is inappropriate for the state to attempt to shape the cultural tastes of the public, how can public funding for the arts be justified? This lecture will consider the question from a variety of approaches: welfare economics; political liberalism; and the “capabilities” approach to well-being.
As a professor, Dr. Michael Rushton’s expertise and teaching is in the economics, management, and public policy of the arts. His publications include articles on such topics as public funding for the arts, the role of nonprofit organizations, taxation, copyright, freedom of expression, and the arts and local development. He is the editor of Creative Communities: Art Works in Economic Development (2013) and the author of Strategic Pricing for the Arts (2014). He is currently writing a book on the moral foundations of public funding of the arts.
Before joining Indiana University in 2006, he held faculty positions in Canada, the U.S., and Australia, and served as a senior policy advisor to the government of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. At Indiana University, he has served as Director of Strategic Planning, and Associate Vice President for University Academic Affairs.