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Fiddling for outcomes: traditional music, social capital, and arts policy in Northern Ireland

2008; Routledge; Volume: 14; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10286630802106359

1477-2833

Martin Dowling,

Social Capital and Networks

Abstract Arts development policies increasingly tie funding to the potential of arts organisations to effectively deliver an array of extra‐artistic social outcomes. This paper reports on the difficulties of this work in Northern Ireland, where the arts sector, and in particular the so‐called 'traditional arts', have been drawn into a politically ambiguous discourse centred on the concepts of 'mutual understanding' and, more recently, 'social capital'. The paper traces the recent history of these policies and the difficulties in evaluating the social outcomes of arts programs. The use of the term 'social capital' in the work of Putnam and Bourdieu is considered. The paper argues, through a rereading of Bourdieu's articulation of the 'forms' of capital and Eagleton's 'ideology of the aesthetic', the concept of social capital can be released from its current neoliberal trappings by imagining a reconnection of the concepts of 'capital' and 'the aesthetic'. Keywords: traditional artssocial capitalNorthern IrelandArts CouncilsBourdieuPutnam Notes 1. I reflect on these matters in more detail in Dowling (Citation1999) and (2007). 2. Interview with Brian Vallely, piper and founder of the Armagh Piper's Club, 6 June 2005; interview with Marco Fabri, Rome based traditional fiddle player, 7 May 2005. 3. Interview with traditional singer Finbar Boyle, 21 November 2005. 4. For an interesting effort negotiate the internal conflict of being a music 'lover' and musicological critic, see Guck (Citation1996). 5. Matarasso (Citation1997) concludes that the arts can 'reduce public expenditure by alleviating social problems which the state would otherwise be obliged to put right' (quoted in Merli Citation2002). 6. Interview with Paul McGill, editor of Scope, a monthly social policy magazine published by the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary action (NICVA), 18 October 2005. 7. For a sketch of the period leading up to this transition, see Longley (Citation1994, pp. 43–76). Michael Longley was the first holder of the position Traditional Arts Officer in and Arts Council in Britain and Ireland. 8. The EMU allocation has in recent years been complemented by National Lottery funds. A number of new education projects like uilleann piper Tom Clarke's Jig Time and set dancer Mary Fox's All Set have, with lottery support, brought traditional music and dance into schools across Northern Ireland. Traditional arts education projects have also had a strong presence in the area of small grants, receiving over £300,000 since the introduction of the National Lottery Scheme Awards for All in 2001. 9. Interview with Brian Bailie, Peter Shorthall, and Dara Vallely (The Armagh Rhymers), 26 September, 2005 10. Interview with Brian Bailie, Peter Shorthall, and Dara Vallely (The Armagh Rhymers), 26 September, 2005. 11. The book is a non‐fiction best seller in the US and has spawned an ongoing research and policy development institute in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, the Saguaro Seminar on Civic Engagement in America, whose mission is to 'develop a handful of far‐reaching, actionable ideas to significantly increase Americans' connectedness to one another and to community institutions'. Putnam and his ideas have become very influential in Ireland and across Europe. See http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/saguaro/ [Accessed on 11 September 2006]. For an example of Putnam's high‐level influence in Ireland, see 'Harvard Professor My Guru Since Early 1990s, Says Ahern', Citation2005. 12. Putnam himself does not appear to see the interest in this etymology, dispensing with the subject in two short pages of his introduction. He did not uncover the first use of the term himself, but was notified of it by a colleague (Putnam Citation2000, pp. 19–24, 446). 13. 'Ever the practical reformer, Hanafin was self‐conscious about using the term capital to encourage hard‐nosed businessmen and economists to recognise the productive importance of social assets' (Putnam Citation2000, pp. 445–446). 14. See http://www.oecd.org/document/39/0,2340,en_21571361_27379727_30575079_1_1_1_1,00.html [Accessed 11 September 2006]. 15. The anecdote confirms mark Kleinman's (Citation1998) suspicions that 'the emerging ideology of social inclusion will lead to the imposition of modes of behaviour on the poor which the rest of society has rejected' (cited in Merli Citation2002). See also the comments of Alan Greenspan on the necessity of social capital for the smooth operation of global capitalism, http://eisenhowerfellowships.org/press/prarchive/Alan%20Greenspan%20remarks.doc [Accessed 11 September 2006]. 16. http://www.artscouncil‐ni.org/news/2004/new13122004.htm [Accessed 11 September 2006]. Placing responsibility for evaluation on clients was one of Matarasso's recommendations (Matarasso Citation1997 and Citation2003, p. 340). 17. On museums, see Belfiore (Citation2002), pp. 101–103. Note, however, in the American context, the work of Joseph Horowitz with various symphony orchestras and the work of the Providence String Quartet (Ross Citation2006). 18. Interview with Ivan Armstrong, retired Community Arts Officer of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, 13 April 2005. 19. This paragraph has benefited from discussion with John O'Hagan, Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin and Chair of The National Economic and Social Forum's (NESF) Project Team on Cultural Inclusion (2005–2006), of which I was a member (NESF Citation2007). 20. The net benefit of investment in the arts instead of other social programs is often asserted but rarely proven, as can be seen in debate over Matarasso's contested work. (Merli Citation2002, Belfiore Citation2002, p. 99, Matarasso Citation2003, p. 344). 21. At a recent meeting of the National Economic and Social Forum on Arts and Social Inclusion in Dublin, 1 November 2006, Sharon Jeannotte explained that one such longitudinal study of leisure activities and motivations in Canada had been stalled because it would cost between three and five million dollars. 22. It is significant that Matarasso's own efforts to formally demonstrate the social impact of the arts is grounded in the 15 years of community arts practice (Matarasso Citation2003, p. 338) 23. For the entirety of its existence, annual reporting on the outcomes of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland's Cultural Traditions Allocation form the Department of Education of Northern Ireland has amounted to little more than a one page report per annum. 24. For a more detailed analysis, see Dowling (Citation2007). 25. This became very clear during the 1991 conference 'Traditional Music: Whose Music?' funded by the Arts Councils in Belfast and Dublin and the Northern Ireland Office's Central Community Relations Unit (CCRU). One representative of the CCRU told the assembled musicians, broadcasters, and cultural activists that 'it is a cop‐out to say that it's not for traditional musicians to change politics: they are part of society here. They are part of the problem. They are part of the solution … To a large majority of the Protestant culture in Northern Ireland, traditional music is divisive … traditional musicians like yourselves, have a responsibility to address that point' (McNamee Citation1991, pp. 83, 87). 26. For an interesting recent exploration of the importance of constructions of space in the contiguous fields of Irish and Scottish literature, see Ryan (Citation2002). 27. Two fruitful alternatives are those of Adorno (Wellmer Citation1985) and Habermas (Duvenage Citation2003). 28. As is done, for example, Jeannotte (Citation2003). 29. One example of this was the development of the Exploring Trad DVD in co‐operation with the curriculum agency and music producer Neil Martin. The Arts Council has also in recent years commissioned the production of new books and CDs to promote the learning of the repertoire of various local traditions, including the two‐volume CD and book compilation The Hidden Fermanagh produced by the Fermanagh Traditions Group, Gary Hastings' With Fife and Drum: Music, Memories, and Customs of and Irish Tradition, Fintan Vallely's John Kennedy: Together in Time, a biography and tune collection produced by the Loughshore Traditions Group, and The Keegan Tunes, a book and CD of the famous Armagh composer's tunes produced by the Ceol Camloch group.