Table Of ContentNEW DIRECTIONS IN CULTURAL POLICY RESEARCH
Acting on Cultural Policy
Arts practitioners, Policy-making
and Civil Society
Jane Woddis
New Directions in Cultural Policy Research
Series Editor
Eleonora Belfiore
Department of Social Sciences
Loughborough University
Loughborough, UK
New Directions in Cultural Policy Research encourages theoretical and
empirical contributions which enrich and develop the field of cultural pol-
icy studies. Since its emergence in the 1990s in Australia and the United
Kingdom and its eventual diffusion in Europe, the academic field of cul-
tural policy studies has expanded globally as the arts and popular culture
have been re-positioned by city, regional, and national governments, and
international bodies, from the margins to the centre of social and eco-
nomic development in both rhetoric and practice. The series invites con-
tributions in all of the following: arts policies, the politics of culture,
cultural industries policies (the ‘traditional’ arts such as performing and
visual arts, crafts), creative industries policies (digital, social media, broad-
casting and film, and advertising), urban regeneration and urban cultural
policies, regional cultural policies, the politics of cultural and creative
labour, the production and consumption of popular culture, arts educa-
tion policies, cultural heritage and tourism policies, and the history and
politics of media and communications policies. The series will reflect cur-
rent and emerging concerns of the field such as, for example, cultural
value, community cultural development, cultural diversity, cultural sus-
tainability, lifestyle culture and eco-culture, planning for the intercultural
city, cultural planning, and cultural citizenship.
Jane Woddis
Acting on Cultural
Policy
Arts Practitioners, Policy-Making
and Civil Society
Jane Woddis
Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies
University of Warwick
Coventry, UK
ISSN 2730-924X ISSN 2730-9258 (electronic)
New Directions in Cultural Policy Research
ISBN 978-3-031-11161-7 ISBN 978-3-031-11162-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11162-4
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A
cknowledgements
I would like to thank first of all the many people involved in various ways
with new theatre writing who gave their time so generously to the research
on which this book is based, answering my numerous questions and
engaging seriously and always interestingly with the issues and ideas that
emerged in our conversations. I am also grateful to them for providing me
with a wide range of helpful written materials, often going out of their way
to do so. I owe special thanks to David Edgar who so kindly allowed me
unlimited access to his personal archive on the Theatre Writers’ Union.
I would also like to express appreciation for the advice, support and
insights of my colleagues and mentors in both the arts community and the
academic world, especially at the University of Warwick where I have for
many years benefited from the extensive knowledge and expertise of aca-
demic, administrative and library staff. Particular thanks go to Oliver
Bennett and Nobuko Kawashima for starting me off on this research jour-
ney: to Oliver for suggesting it in the first place and providing me with
such a sound intellectual base from which to begin, and to Nobuko for
giving me the opportunity to uncover the topic itself and staying with me
through the PhD stage of it, even when she returned to Japan. I am also
grateful to Chris Bilton and Per Mangset for their advice and kind support
along the way; to Graham Saunders for the encouragement to finally turn
the study into a book; and Ele Belfiore and the team at Palgrave for wel-
coming it in. I would also like to thank my former fellow doctoral students
at the University of Warwick for the warm supportiveness of our seminar
group in those days and for their readiness always to offer helpful
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
comments and questions, and particularly Hye-Kyung Lee for her detailed
critique of several chapters of my draft PhD thesis.
I am also indebted to many good friends who have shown interest,
asked questions, and advised and encouraged me in myriad ways during
this venture, including those who gave me welcome hospitality during my
fieldwork research; the late Michael Green for his attentive help; and espe-
cially Erica Carter who commented on early chapter drafts and gave much
encouragement. My very special gratitude and love go to my family and
most of all Jon, for their sustaining embrace throughout this long and
often challenging endeavour.
Praise For Acting on Cultural Policy
“In this book, Jane Woddis focuses on arts practitioners’ involvement in English
cultural policy since 1945. Woddis situates her research problem within a general
framework of theories of democratisation. Subsequently she offers a comprehen-
sive historical overview of playwrights’ organisations in England, an under-
researched aspect of English cultural policy. This study would certainly be well
received by the international cultural policy research community, because very few,
if any, similar international studies have existed until now. Woddis’ new book is an
impressive and much-anticipated contribution to British and international cultural
policy research. It will be welcomed by cultural policy students, arts practitioner
organisations, public authorities and cultural policy scholars, in particular.”
—Professor Emeritus Per Mangset, University of South-Eastern Norway
“Offering a powerful, clear and thoughtful analysis, Woddis situates arts practitio-
ners at the heart of civic society, democratisation and governance, giving them a
decisive role in policymaking. The book addresses the question of why arts practi-
tioners matter in cultural policy and how they shape and drive policy processes.
The role of arts practitioners has been underestimated for far too long. Woddis’s
book puts these key actors into the spotlight, weaving together playwriting policy
and practice. This work is a persistently insightful, refreshing and brilliant read,
guiding cultural policy studies in new directions.”
—Dr Simone Wesner, Birkbeck, University of London, UK
“Jane Woddis’s book is a rich, detailed, vivid account of a story that deserves to be
much better known: the way playwrights have successfully organised to protect
and improve their working conditions, and, in the process, managed to reshape
contemporary British theatre.”
—Professor Dan Rebellato, Playwright and Royal Holloway,
University of London, UK
“Much has been written about the impact of arts policy on the arts. Uniquely, Jane
Woddis explains how artists have shaped arts policy, providing thereby a model for
democratic engagement in the arts and beyond. And by focussing on playwrights
and their organisations, she tells a surprising and inspiring story.”
—David Edgar, Playwright; Past-President, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain;
and Former Professor, University of Birmingham, UK
“A rigorous record and analysis of post-war cultural policy in Britain, Jane Woddis’s
study provides compelling arguments for the critical role arts practitioners play in
the formation and maintenance of social and civic life. Acting on Cultural Policy is
a must-read for anyone interested in the arts, in democracy, and in the vital inter-
section of these arenas.”
—Dr Jacqueline Bolton, University of Lincoln, UK
“This book intriguingly unpacks the multiple roles that artists play in cultural
policy-making. Woddis not only illuminates the historical and contemporary
involvement of British playwrights’ associations and theatre practitioners in shap-
ing decisions. In addition, she adds to much-needed conceptual knowledge about
cultural workers’ self-organized contributions to policy design, development and
transformation qua the differentiation between ‘invited’ and ‘uninvited’ participa-
tion. This heuristic helps to navigate the complex formal and informal relations
between cultural policy stakeholders, and beyond that, inspires a rethinking of
civic governance in the larger context. In sum, the book offers an insightful read
for our interdisciplinary community of cultural policy researchers.”
—Dr Friederike Landau-Donnelly, Radboud Universiteit, Netherlands
“This book on artists’ participation in cultural policy-making is a timely interven-
tion into current debates on cultural labour and creative justice. It effectively dem-
onstrates that playwrights’ collective endeavours to influence policy have a long
history. Its biggest virtue is its finding that such endeavours have aimed both at
tackling problems of labour and working conditions and at building an environ-
ment conducive to creating new artworks—making us realise that these two con-
cerns are never separable.”
—Dr Hye-Kyung Lee, King’s College London, UK
c
ontents
1 Introduction. Arts Practitioners: ‘Spear- Carriers’ or Actors
in the Spotlight? 1
2 Arts Practitioners in Cultural Policy Research 17
3 A Framework for Participation 37
4 Public Theatre Writing Policy in England Since 1945 67
5 Playwrights and Theatre Companies: New Playwriting
Policy and Practice 109
6 New Playwriting: Networks of Policy and Practice 155
7 Conclusion. Acting on Policy: Arts Practitioners in the
Spotlight 189
Index 211
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