Chapter Introduction : IN Book: Cultural Policy

Abstract

Cultural Policy: Perspectives on the Island of Ireland draws together a wide range of academic perspectives and disciplines that relate to cultural policy in the context of the island of Ireland (Ireland and Northern Ireland). Through the study of the unique context of this intertwined two-polity island, the collection aims to further the examination of the “situated” nature of cultural policy amongst people and place. Contributions from media, European integration, festivals, arts and education, sustainable development, and cultural participation and work bring attention to the interdisciplinary dialogue on cultural policy studies on, of, and for the island and beyond. By way of its particular environment, the collection also serves as a call for greater recognition and reflexivity in cultural policy studies regarding how people and place define what we think we know about cultural policy. The collection situates a range of industries, practices, and sectors in shared, local, complex, and international contexts and frames, revealing the multi-level operation of policy governances from the domestic to the global. The findings from the specific context of the island of Ireland thus have relevance for other nation-states and regions with similar intertwined jurisdictions and resulting tensions. More generally, this body of multi- and interdisciplinary academic research on and of Ireland deepens our understanding of locally situated, but globally connected, cross-border and transnational cultural policy studies. This book will be of interest to local and international policy and cultural policy scholars as well as practitioners in policy, arts, culture, and creativity.