Participatory Arts and Active Citizenship

如果说20世纪见证了“民主的胜利”，那么21世纪则似乎与“民主的失败”结下了不解之缘，因为世界各地的公民（暂且不谈北非和中东最近的事态发展）似乎对政治家变得不信任，对民主制度持怀疑态度，对民主政治解决紧迫社会问题的能力感到失望。即使是最粗略地沿着书架上的书脊看一眼，也会发现一系列千禧年后的书名，很难让人相信一切都很好（“不满的民主”，“民主的失败”，“民主的选择”，“当代民主的政治不满”，“对民主的仇恨”，“我们为什么讨厌政治”，“民主赤字”，“消失的选民”，“撤退中的民主”，“不受控制的社会和不满的个人，等等。加布里埃尔·阿尔蒙德（Gabriel Almond）和西德尼·韦尔巴（Sidney Verba）所钟爱的“公民文化”在某种程度上变异成了一种“批判文化”，对民主的未来持悲观态度。正是在这一背景下，本项目研究了艺术和文化活动重新吸引脱节的个人和社会群体的能力和价值。换句话说，文化是否具有缩小统治者和被统治者之间差距的潜在能力的社会价值？一些学者-甚至是古代哲学家-提出，艺术努力和活动与公民价值观和民主参与之间存在着积极的关系，但迄今为止还没有研究试图（1）对现有的研究和数据进行元分析，或者（2）进行一个具体的项目，在一个以艺术为基础的社会项目之前和之后检查个人的社会价值观和态度，更不用说（3）试图设计一种以证据为基础的方法来量化文化活动的公民价值。通过与一系列的演员-包括艺术的皇家学会，下议院外联部，“艺术在公园”和克里克中心的政治在谢菲尔德大学的公众理解-并启动一个创新的代际艺术项目这项研究将产生解决这三个挑战的每一个输出。这项研究不会-事实上也不可能-得出任何广泛或全面的结论，其结果将不可避免地受到质疑，但它将提供理论上知情的政策相关研究，以积极和基于证据的方式推动关于文化价值的辩论。

If the twentieth century witnessed 'the triumph of democracy' then the twenty-first century appears wedded to 'the failure of democracy' as citizens around the world (setting recent developments in North Africa and the Middle East aside for the moment) appear to have become distrustful of politicians, sceptical about democratic institutions, and disillusioned about the capacity of democratic politics to resolve pressing social concerns. Even the most cursory glance along the spines of the books on the library shelves reveal a set of post-millennium titles that hardly engender confidence that all is well ('Disaffected Democracies', 'Democratic Challenges', 'Democratic Choices', 'Political Disaffection in Contemporary Democracies', 'Hatred of Democracy', 'Why We Hate Politics', 'Democratic Deficit', 'Vanishing Voters', 'Democracy in Retreat', 'Uncontrollable Societies and Disaffected Individuals, etc.). The 'civic culture' so endeared by Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba had somehow mutated into a 'critical culture' with parallel pessimism about the future of democracy. It is exactly this context that this project examines the capacity and value of artistic and cultural activities to re-engage disconnected individuals and social groups. Put slightly differently, does culture have a social value in terms of a potential capacity to close the gap between the governors and the governed? Several scholars - and indeed ancient philosophers - have suggested that a positive relationship exists between artistic endeavours and activities and civic values and democratic engagement but as yet no study has attempted to either (1) undertake a meta-analysis of the available research and data, or (2) undertake a specific project that examines individual social values and attitudes before and after an art-based social project, let alone (3) attempted to devise an evidence-based methodology for quantifying the civic value of cultural activity. By working with a range of actors - including the Royal Society of Arts, the House of Commons Outreach Department, 'Art in the Park' and the Crick Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics at the University of Sheffield - and launching an innovative inter-generational arts project this research will produce outputs that address each of these three challenges. This research will not - indeed cannot - come to any broad or sweeping conclusions and its findings will inevitably be contested but it will deliver theoretically informed policy-relevant research that moves the debate about cultural value forward in a positive and evidence-based manner.