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'Too often, cultural leaders and policy makers want to chase the perfect metric for activities whose real worth lies in our own personal experience. The major problem facing Australian culture today is demonstrating its value - to governments, the business sector, and the public in general.
'When did culture become a number? When did the books, paintings, poems, plays, songs, films, games, art installations, clothes, and the objects that fill our daily lives become a matter of statistical measurement? When did experience become data?
'This book intervenes in an important debate about the public value of culture that has become stranded between the hard heads (where the arts are just another industry) and the soft hearts (for whom they are too precious to bear dispassionate analysis).
'It argues that our concept of value has been distorted and dismembered by political forces and methodological confusions, and this has a dire effect on the way we assess culture. Proceeding via concrete examples, it explores the major tensions in contemporary evaluation strategies, and puts forward practical solutions to the current metric madness.
'The time is ripe to find a better way to value our culture - by finding a better way to talk about it.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Review of What Matters? Talking Value in Australian Culture
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media and Cultural Studies , vol. 34 no. 3 2020; (p. 468-470)
— Review of What Matters? Talking Value in Australian Culture 2018 multi chapter work criticism'I first came across the cultural policy work of Julian Meyrick and Tully Barnett through their provocatively titled scholarly article in Cultural Trends, ‘Culture Without “World”: Australian Cultural Policy in the Age of Stupid.’ I found the authors’ clear-eyed assessment of recent problems with Australian arts and cultural policy provocative, courageous and intelligent. Julian Meyrick’s background as an Australian theatre professional, coupled with his cultural policy expertise, compliments Tully Barnett’s expertise in digital humanities and literary studies well: the result is literate, inventive and energetic scholarly work. I wanted to read more like it.' (Introduction)
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Julian Meyrick, Robert Phiddian and Tully Barnett, What Matters?: Talking Value in Australian Culture
2018
single work
review
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , December vol. 11 no. 1 2018;
— Review of What Matters? Talking Value in Australian Culture 2018 multi chapter work criticism -
Arts Funding Should Not Be a Numbers Game
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 24 September vol. 28 no. 19 2018;'In modern monarchies it is axiomatic that kings must spend their money responsibly. Even if they are set on not doing so, certain rituals of accountability need to be observed. In particular, commoners who propose projects requiring government funding must apply for it.' (Introduction)
-
Julian Meyrick, Robert Phiddian and Tully Barnett, What Matters?: Talking Value in Australian Culture
2018
single work
review
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , December vol. 11 no. 1 2018;
— Review of What Matters? Talking Value in Australian Culture 2018 multi chapter work criticism -
Review of What Matters? Talking Value in Australian Culture
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media and Cultural Studies , vol. 34 no. 3 2020; (p. 468-470)
— Review of What Matters? Talking Value in Australian Culture 2018 multi chapter work criticism'I first came across the cultural policy work of Julian Meyrick and Tully Barnett through their provocatively titled scholarly article in Cultural Trends, ‘Culture Without “World”: Australian Cultural Policy in the Age of Stupid.’ I found the authors’ clear-eyed assessment of recent problems with Australian arts and cultural policy provocative, courageous and intelligent. Julian Meyrick’s background as an Australian theatre professional, coupled with his cultural policy expertise, compliments Tully Barnett’s expertise in digital humanities and literary studies well: the result is literate, inventive and energetic scholarly work. I wanted to read more like it.' (Introduction)
-
Arts Funding Should Not Be a Numbers Game
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 24 September vol. 28 no. 19 2018;'In modern monarchies it is axiomatic that kings must spend their money responsibly. Even if they are set on not doing so, certain rituals of accountability need to be observed. In particular, commoners who propose projects requiring government funding must apply for it.' (Introduction)