Art Futures: Justin O’Connor on Culture and Democracy

Why It Matters

Because culture underpins democratic participation and social cohesion, redefining its value away from pure economic growth is essential to prevent further erosion of public space and to protect citizens’ rights to shared narratives.

Key Takeaways

• Culture must be framed as democratic public good, not industry.
• Government policies push arts into growth‑centric industrial strategy.
• Public funding cuts erode local cultural infrastructure and ecosystems.
• Tech platforms monopolize cultural production, fragment collective symbolic order.
• Re‑imagining cultural economics requires questioning GDP‑based growth metrics.

Summary

The White Chapel Gallery launched its Art Futures series with a keynote by Professor Justin O’Connor, author of “Culture is not an industry.” The event framed the discussion around the role of public art institutions amid economic, social and political crises, positioning culture as a cornerstone of democratic citizenship.

O’Connor argues that recent cultural policy has been hijacked by an industrial‑growth agenda. He notes that governments now demand arts organisations demonstrate GDP‑linked growth indicators, while simultaneously slashing public funding. This paradox forces museums and small cultural enterprises to chase commercial metrics rather than their traditional public‑good mission.

He cites Will Davis’s observation that the Trump era signals a new paradigm, and recalls the early “creative‑class” optimism of the late 1990s, when cultural industries were touted as the next oil. Today, six of the world’s ten largest corporations dominate production and distribution, squeezing out the small‑scale creative ecosystem and fragmenting the collective symbolic order.

The implications are clear: without a strategic, rights‑based reframing, culture risks becoming a privatized commodity, undermining social cohesion and democratic debate. Policymakers, funders and cultural leaders must resist growth‑only narratives, restore public investment, and safeguard a pluralistic cultural sphere that serves all citizens.

Original Description

In this keynote talk, Professor Justin O’Connor explores how we might rediscover the radical energies of culture to create a bold and powerful vision for change.

Drawing on his acclaimed book, Culture is Not an Industry, O’Connor challenges the established economic arguments underpinning cultural policy. Instead, he advocates for ‘culture’ as a public good and an essential part of our democratic citizenship.

Baroness Lola Young gives a response to O’Connor’s talk before joining him and Whitechapel Gallery Director Gilane Tawadros in conversation.

This is the first event in a major new Whitechapel Gallery series – Art Futures – which looks at the role of public art institutions at a time of multiple crises, bringing together audiences with artists, writers, academics and policy-makers to collectively imagine alternative visions.