Skip Navigation


Community Development Journal Advance Access originally published online on August 30, 2007
Community Development Journal 2007 42(4):449-458; doi:10.1093/cdj/bsm046
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
42/4/449    most recent
bsm046v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Matarasso, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© Oxford University Press and Community Development Journal. 2007 All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Common ground: cultural action as a route to community development

François Matarasso

http://homepage.mac.com/matarasso/

Address for correspondence email: matarasso{at}mac.com

Cultural action has been used to promote community development for at least thirty years in the UK, often with good results. During that period, the theories, values, and approaches of professionals have varied and evolved, but there has been a noticeable shift in focus – particularly in cultural policy – from collective to individual outcomes, in line with the growing individualization of policy since the 1980s. Yet the potential of cultural action to bring people together and to build a foundation for lasting community development work remains important. This article considers the processes by which arts-based community projects can lead to the development of both informal and formal collective organization, and their potential in empowerment. Central to this process, it is argued, is culture's focus on people's strengths and interests, rather than on externally defined problems. The paper draws on two contrasting examples to demonstrate the continuing importance of cultural action in very different social and economic situations: the author's research into voluntary arts development in rural England and Wales, and his experience of community cultural projects in south-east Europe.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 COMMUNITY DEV JHome page
C. Grodach
Art spaces, public space, and the link to community development
Community Dev. J., April 29, 2009; (2009) bsp018v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.