Tony Bennett, Differing diversities - Council of Europe

Differing diversitiesin the pursuit of diversity, including: special funding procedures and criteria forindigenous, ethnic and multicultural arts; the development of employment andtraining policies on the part of “mainstream” cultural institutions; the regulatoryrequirements placed on broadcasters and print media; ethnic, indigenous and communityradio and broadcasting systems; and regulations for the appropriate treatmentof culturally sensitive material in museums and heritage institutions. As it isnot possible to look in detail at each of these separately, I shall illustrate the issuesthey pose by considering the role of cultural policy instruments under five broadheadings: cultural policy and public spheres; the changing social dynamics ofdiversity; cultural markets; culture, policy and everyday life; and cultural policyassessment.Cultural policies and public spheresI use the term “public sphere” here loosely as a means of co-ordinating a discussionof issues which tend to be cast in different terms in debates focusing on differentcultural sectors: as issues concerning the relations between “mainstream”and “alternative” cultural institutions in debates about the performing arts, film,museums and art galleries; and as issues concerning the relations between differentmedia spheres in debates about media and broadcasting policies. For the issuesat stake in these debates are substantially similar concerning, as they do, the relativeroles to be played by incorporating diversity into i. those cultural and mediainstitutions – whether at the national, provincial or local levels – which are concernedwith the provision of cultural services addressed to the population at large,and which might be defined as the national public sphere, and ii. the provision ofspecialist support for activities and institutions related to the particular culturalinterests and needs of a specific group or community and generating, as the casemay be, distinctive diasporic, indigenous, autochthonous, sub- or multinationalpublic spheres.These should not be presented as alternatives, although the balance between themis, of course, always a matter for debate and assessment in the particular contextsprevailing in particular times and places. However, both are needed in culturallydiverse societies, just as attention needs to be paid to the relations between thetwo.The inclusion of diversity within the national public sphere is crucial from a numberof perspectives. It is important – especially in the case of publicly-funded institutions– as a means of stating and symbolising a commitment to the right of allgroups in a society to have their cultural interests and activities taken into accountin the allocation of public cultural resources. It plays a significant role for themembers of immigrant communities in helping them develop a sense of place,belonging, and recognition in their host societies. Such recognition is also crucialas a means of introducing forces for change into the national public sphere byincorporating within it dynamic new forces that will contribute to a questioning ofthe national culture and the development of new understandings about what it56