The commodification of creativity
by Nicole Findlay
As people become inured to overt propaganda tactics, nations are turning to more subtle methods to burnish and peddle their images abroad. Sarah Brouillette is examining the role that a commodified “creative class” is playing in this process.
Brouillette, an associate professor in the Department of English, is researching who and what determines the nature of creative expression today, how new works of art are promoted, and to whom.
Richard Florida, a University of Toronto professor who coined the term “creative class” to define intellectuals, artists and knowledge-based workers, has influenced Brouillette’s work in this area.
However, instead of celebrating the “creative class” as a newly powerful workforce, Brouillette considers the conflicts that emerge as governments attempt to steer artistic output into strategies for economic development and images for international consumption.
“Recently, governments have become more invested in the idea that their nations have “brands” that can be promoted and they think about their culture, including literature, film and theatre, as a contribution to their brand,” said Brouillette.
As an example, Brouillette cites British think tank, Demos, which has encouraged the government to invest more in the arts as a means of restoring that country’s tarnished image in the wake of its participation in the Iraq War.
“Recent British cultural policy statements suggest that promotion of British culture abroad will lead individual citizens of other countries to think positively about the UK,” said Brouillette of her recent research findings. “Those individual citizens will in turn encourage their own governments to have positive diplomatic and trade relationships with the UK.”
Brouillette has examined attempts by government agencies in England and Northern Ireland to partner with private companies to promote the arts as a means to securing business opportunities and transnational investment.
“Property companies are promoting new urban development projects in Belfast and London by emphasizing the presence of artists and an artistic heritage in a given neighbourhood,” said Brouillette. “Yet cultural workers have proven to be reluctant to have their energies harnessed in these ways.”
That the desire to promote a national brand through consumption of the arts is met with cynicism should come as no surprise. Brouillette’s research has found that the recent interest in promoting culture does not correspond to any significant increase in publicly funded programs in support of the arts.
Her work in this area has been published in Literature Compass, The Irish Review, and Criticism.
