From the inside: reflections on cultural intermediation

Abstract

This chapter draws upon the author’s personal experience gained in a career as an arts practitioner, between the production of performance and other forms of production as well as policy formulation and analysis. It reflects upon and assesses intermediation processes ‘from the inside’, reflecting particularly on the culture of the art world and the aesthetics of cultural production – in intent and outcome. The chapter suggests how this is an issue often neglected in discussion of the politics, policies and practicalities of participation and intermediation. It commences with a reflection on the culture of practice that has nurtured social engagement in the arts, exploring the work of Visiting Arts, where the author is Executive Director, reflecting on the evolution of the ‘Square Mile’ project. This venture is international in scope and gives a wider perspective on intermediation and engagement and the particularities of those projects and milieu dealt with across this book.