Culture, Democracy and the Right to Make Art: The British Community Arts Movement eds. by Alison Jeffers & Gerri Moriarty (review)

An entitlement to freely participate in the cultural life of the community is enshrined in Article 27 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Culture, Democracy and the Right to Make Art draws together a diverse array of sources to show how the United Kingdom's Community Arts movement attempted to make this aspiration a reality by supporting untypical communities' attempts to make art. In its heyday, the movement was vociferous, speaking sometimes eloquently, through seminal works such as Owen Kelly's Community Art and the State (1984), and François Matarasso's Use or Ornament (1997), and sometimes inelegantly through an endless series of reports, papers and case studies. Here, Kelly's updated thinking in his chapter on cultural democracy is of particular interest.

Whilst it had its ardent supporters, Community Arts was much maligned throughout its brief history, and its proponents often appeared confused, worthy and ridden with class-based guilt. A movement implies a direction, and as this book identifies, for much of the time the UK Community Arts was pulling in many different directions at once. Eventually, it failed to define itself sufficiently, and collapsed. So why this book, and why now?

This collection of essays offers a useful historical overview, covering practice across the UK, though it remains fairly loosely tied together. Highlighted are the main preoccupations of the early movement. It will undoubtedly be a useful resource for those seeking to understand a period of artistic development in the UK, and perhaps act as a guide to help avoid the pitfalls and traps when developing work in the future. Along the way, the authors raise some important points including questions of authorship, ownership, the danger of parachuting-in and cultural appropriation.

There appears to be a resurgence of interest in the ideas and ideals of community-based arts and cultural activity. This has been made possible by a shift in emphasis within Arts Council England which, thanks to National Lottery funding, holds community and non-professional participation in higher regard than it used to. The work of applied and socially engaged practitioners has been in continuous development since the 1970s, embracing diverse practice including Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed, Ai Weiwei's sculptural activism, and even Grayson Perry's pottery. More recently practitioners are leading the way, such as Alan Lyddiard on his own and in his work with older artists through Community Arts International, and Stella Duffy in her excellent re-invigoration of Joan Littlewood's Fun Palaces. It is somewhat surprising that much of this work is missed out in the book.

If this book is to be instrumental in moving aspiring community arts' practitioners rapidly past the small-world thinking that plagued past endeavours it will have done a good job, but priced at nearly £75 it is likely to remain out of reach for many. Jeffers and Moriarty say in conclusion they hope this book goes some way to open up a new space for cultural politics. Perhaps the time for a movement has come again.