The economics of the Arts is a new field with a small but rapidly-growing literature, which has emerged in recent years out of the eagerness of economists to apply their techniques to hitherto untried areas and the recognition by Arts administrators of the rapidly increasing economic pressures on the Arts. This book of readings is the first of its kind. Of the 16 articles, 8 are directly concerned with the Arts in America; the other 8 deal with the British scene. What can economics say about so non-economic a subject as the Arts? Obviously, finance for the Arts involves economic considerations. But in addition, economics provides, among other things, a logic of rational choice, and the economists' style of thinking, therefore, is adaptable to any problem of choice in respect of any set of goals, whether they be economic goals or not. Then, there is the question of whether economics can provide a case for public support for the Arts, that is, whether the State should subsidize the Arts. This is a familiar problem in the economics of welfare but its application to the Arts raises novel questions and even economists are not agreed on whether economics can provide such a rationale. Also, there is the question of criteria for public expenditure on the Arts, assuming that the case for some public expenditure has been made. Can economists tell us how much the State should spend on the Arts? Surely, they can help us with a host of other questions: should museums and galleries charge fees; should museums ever sell off parts of their collections; can the Arts economize on their expenditures; how can modern music be most effectively encouraged by public funds; are ticket prices an important element in the demand for the Arts; and does the low pay of artists discourage individuals from taking up artistic occupations?

The organization and management of the arts and public-sector arts organizations in Britain have undergone major changes over the last twenty years. This book analyzes the process and politics of change in the world of the arts and develops an analytical framework for understanding an under-researched area of British political life.

A comprehensive study of economic theory in relation to the development of nineteenth-century British theatre.

The Artangel Trust has been credited with providing artists with all the money and logistics they need to create one-off dream projects. An independent art commissioning agency based in London, it has operated since 1985 and is responsible for producing some of the most striking ephemeral and site-specific artworks of the last decades, from Rachel Whiteread’s House to Jeremy Deller’s The Battle of Orgreave. Artangel’s existence spans three decades, which now form a coherent whole in terms of both art historical and political periodisation. It was launched as a reaction to the cuts in funding for the visual arts introduced by the Thatcher government in 1979 and has since adapted in a distinctive way to changing cultural policies. Its mixed economic model, the recourse to public, private and corporate funds, is the result of the more general hybridisation of funding encouraged by successive governments since the 1980s and offers a contemporary case study on broader questions concerning the specificities of British art patronage. This book aims to demonstrate that the singular way its directors have responded to the vagaries of public funding and harnessed new national attitudes to philanthropy has created a sustainable independent model, but also that it has been reflected more formally, in their approach to site. The locational art produced by the agency has indeed mirrored new distinctions between public and private spaces, it has reflected the social and economic changes the country has gone through and accompanied the new cultural geographies shaping London and the United Kingdom. Looking into whether their funding model might have had a formal incidence on the art they helped produce and on its relation to notions of publicness and privacy, the study of Artangel gives a fresh insight into new trends in British site-specific art.

The National Bureau of Economic Research organized a project to explore the economic issues facing the major art museums of the United States. For this purpose NBER defined economics broadly to include not only the financial situation of the museums but also the management and growth of museum collections, the museums' relationship with the public, and the role of the government in supporting art museums. This volume brings together nontechnical essays on these issues by economists associated with the NBER and personal statements by leaders of America's major national art museums and related foundations. It can be read not only by economists but also by museum officials and trustees. Museum directors generally come to their responsibilities with a background in art history and curatorial work but without experience in thinking about the management and public policy aspects of museum administration. Trustees who serve on museum boards generally have a background in business or law but have not previously tried to apply their experience to the unusual economic problems of museums. The background papers, the panelists' remarks, and the summary of the discussion will help them to approach their responsibilities with a better understanding of the problems and possibilities of the museum.