If governments really care about developing creative citizens and reaching larger slices of society, shouldn’t they be finding extra money for this work, rather than re-directing stretched arts budgets towards ‘cultural democracy’, asks Nan Van Houte.
I was born and raised in the privileged Northwestern part of Europe in the mid fifties while Europe was still recovering from WWII. Democratization of culture was an integrated part of the construction of the welfare state. Even though the arts weren’t that much part of my upbringing, creativity was—in school, in youth clubs, in choirs. And it was there that I discovered arts as the most nourishing and empowering guide for the rest of my life. It became the biotope that would lift my senses and give me joy. Willing to share that experience with everyone and anyone, I chose for a career in the arts. And, in the process, I fought against mechanisms of exclusion—the clear-cut borders between so-called high and low art—and for the recognition of vital contemporary art forms... Keep reading on Howlround