Art for Artist Volume 9 - Issue 5

Adem Yutsever*

• Department of Archaeology, Anadolu University, Turkey

Received: July 04, 2024;   Published: July 25, 2024

Corresponding author:Adem Yurtsever, Department of Archaeology, Anadolu University, Turkey

DOI: 10.32474/JAAS.2024.09.000324

Abstract PDF

How to Bring Art Closer to People? was the name of the forum organized by the Art and Culture Committee of the Federation of Students of the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) of Chile. Under this title, and highlighting an issue confirmed even by the few studies on cultural consumption in Chile, PUC students bring to the table the debate facing national arts regarding the generally low attendance at events classified as artistic-cultural. In the end, those of us involved in the art circuit are the same ones who frequently attend.

For a long time, cultural policies focused on encouraging artistic creation within the country, neglecting other areas of the artistic-cultural ecosystem. Similarly worldwide, annual competitive funds created many short-lived and low-circulation works and performances. Today, the outlook for competition in Chile is more promising (in line with suggestions from organizations like UNESCO) [1] with greater diversification of funds and lines with specific focuses such as national and international circulation, management training, dissemination, or financial support to access international markets; implementing a scheduled visualization, greater clarity and anticipation of requirements, and online consultations that facilitate processes.

However, these great achievements still primarily target the cultural sector itself, neglecting civil society as a whole. As if “ordinary people” were not a fundamental part of the sustainability of the cultural ecosystem. The institutional framework, in this sense, has neglected potential audiences, who today see culture as something alien or of secondary priority [2].

Access to culture is a right enshrined in Article 19.10 of our current constitution and in Law No. 21.045, which created the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage. Among its scopes, it promotes “the right to access and participate in cultural life; to identify with one or more cultural communities or citizenships; to cultures, arts, and heritage as a public good; to freedom of creation; and to freedom of information and communication.”

Understanding culture (and access to it) as a set of rights that all citizens have and must demand is still a pending task. The State is responsible for guaranteeing the material conditions and legal frameworks necessary for the free exercise of cultural rights, but the disinterest and distance with which the cultural environment is perceived by those who do not actively participate have strong roots in our social fabric [3].

Without entering into technical definitions, the feeling of distance from the cultural fact can be analyzed from two generally accepted conceptions of culture that Jazmín Beirak (Madrid deputy and Culture spokesperson) describes as the “sacralization” of culture and its “commercialization.” The former implies admiration and contemplation of something above us, like a divine image; while the latter suggests cultural goods and services as mere objects of consumption for spending free or leisure time, allocating an extraordinary space to practice the cultural fact.

In Chile, we have a consolidated arts and crafts market, various massive festivals, functional cultural event platforms, and national streaming, etc. Why, then, is it still so difficult to reach people?

A chain of factors distances the public and harms the cultural sector [4]. The same imaginaries described earlier demonstrate this: going to the opera or visiting an art gallery still seems like a luxury despite having cinema-priced tickets and most galleries offering free access. What happens there has more to do with the idiosyncrasy of the places, perpetuating a distance from audiences not accustomed to such artistic experiences. Not knowing when to applaud at a symphony, what to focus on in a baroque work, or when a contemporary work ends often results in unpleasant experiences that further distance the first-time spectator and reaffirm the non-belonging imaginary. In this sense, socioeconomic level is an important aspect that determines the possibility of accessing many artistic expressions (because yes, in Chile, art is expensive), but material conditions are not everything; the cultural background of people also depends on their circles, interests, and training [5].

If people become alien to art and stop going to museums, stop going to concerts, stop attending theater performances, stop buying books, stop paying for streaming platforms, stop buying crafts, etc.; the cultural industry (which involves high costs in rehearsal rooms, materials, instruments, transportation, formal education, etc.) becomes unsustainable beyond subsidiarity.

From this discouraging diagnosis presented to us regarding audiences, we return to the initial question. How to bring art closer to people? The most welcomed measure seems to be audience training programs [6]. These instances start from the premise that people indeed want to be part of a cultural life (which is enshrined as a right) and that, ultimately, a more educated audience in the formal aspects of the arts will be more open and satisfied with artistic experiences that, by understanding, they can feel are their own. Moreover, an audience that understands what is presented to them leaves passivity and gains critical agency, benefiting the strengthening of democracy.

1. Estadísticas Culturales (2021) Informe Annual, Observatorio Cultural.
2. Informe Re|pensar las políticas para la creatividad, UNESCO. IPC de la Argentina, Burkina Faso y Chile (2020) Comisión Europea (2020a).
3. Even so, we cannot overlook that working in culture remains precarious and that most artists must resort to multiple jobs, informality, or decide to abandon art.
4. Comparador de Constituciones del Mundo. Proceso Constituyente | Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile (bcn.cl).
5. Derechos culturales – XV Convención Nacional de las Culturas, las Artes y el Patrimonio.
6. La dimensión política de la Cultura. – YouTube.