Culture and Development: Beyond Neoliberal Reason

Culture and Development: Beyond Neoliberal Reason Edited by Igor Stokfiszewski Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw Warsaw 2017 ta ble of cont ents Igor Stokfiszewski, Introduction 4 Jerzy Hausner, Culture as a Way Out of Crisis 11 Mikołaj Lewicki, Maria Rogaczewska, Agnieszka Ziętek, Stimulating Social and Economic Development through Culture: An Analysis of Twelve Cultural Initiatives Oriented Towards Transforming Their Local Environment 45 Igor Stokfiszewski, On Social Culture: Manufacturing Commonality Beyond Cultural Institutions and Independent Artistic Scenes 105 Anna Świętochowska, Maria Rogaczewska, ‘Living Culture’ in Public Policy: Problems, Challenges and Recommendations 127 Mikołaj Lewicki, Between Cultural Hierarchies and the ‘Living Culture’: Can Cultural Participation Offer Solutions to Inequality? 143 appendix Anna Świętochowska, The De-Novo Association: The Summer Theatre Action 158 Łukasz Maźnica, Marek Oramus, Jan Strycharz, Barbara Worek, Łaźnia Nowa Theatre: Social Change ‘in the Making’ 176 Bibliography 201 Authors 206 Sources 211 igor stokfiszewski Introduction In recent years the relationship between culture and development has been intensively discussed, reflected on and researched. Drifting away from the dominant ‘Florida perspective’ with its concept of creative class and cultural industries many authors, from John Hawkes, to Bob Jessop and Pascal Gielen, have endeavoured to formulate new perspectives on culture’s contribution to improving the wellbeing of society. Jordi Pascual goes so far as to call this endeavour the creation of a ‘new paradigm’; ‘the inconsistencies and failures in the current paradigm have been detected, a growing group of actors make claims to a new paradigm but it is not yet fully coherent’.1 This book is written by one group of such actors. In 2012 the Institute for Advanced Study in War1 Another Europe – 15 Years of Capacity Building with Cultural Initiatives in the EU Neighbourhood, ed. by Philipp Dietachmair, Milica Ilić (Amsterdam: European Cultural Foundation, 2015), p. 418. 4 saw, run by Krytyka Polityczna [Political Critique], invited a well-known and influential economist, former Polish vice-Prime Minister, Jerzy Hausner, to conduct a programme of research which would allow us to explore the positive influence of cultural activities on the organisations which undertake them, their participants, and the social and economic environment in which they take place. This research would explore the way in which these cultural initiatives operate in the current paradigm which Jamie Peck has called the failure of ‘neoliberal reason’ (in which Richard Florida’s ‘creative liberties’ used to play an essential role).2 The ‘Culture and Development’ Programme is the result of this collaboration. This publication presents the results of our research based on seminars, conferences and studies conducted at the Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw from 2012 to 2016. The ‘Culture and Development’ Programme arose from the hypothesis that culture is the sphere in which we may identify practices which allow the systemic economic, social, and political crises we are currently experiencing to be overcome. We demonstrate the ways in which culture offers opportunities for stimulating development. Our hypothesis is developed from discussions on the specificity of cultural goods and through observations on cultural and social initiatives which empower their organisers and participants, improve the quality of communal bonds, and stimulate social and economic development in their environment. This hypothesis is presented by Jerzy Hausner in the first essay of this publication, Culture as a Way Out of Crisis. In the course of the seminars and research preparation for the ‘Culture and Development’ Programme, we have identified a number of initiatives which fulfil the following basic criteria of our study: the promotion of development, addressing specific social needs, focusing on collaboration, and actively engaging participants. We explored whether cultural activities could be analysed through the features of projects, events and initiatives which encourage a noticeable and duraJamie Peck, Constructions of Neoliberal Reason (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010). 2 5 ble positive impact on their environment. In other words, we wondered whether culture inspires and stimulates socio-economic development and tried to identify the ways in which it may do so. Twelve initiatives from this programme of research have been chosen for more thorough investigation: Autonomiczne Centrum Społeczne Cicha4 [Cicha4 Autonomous Social Centre]; Fundacja Cohabitat [Cohabitat Foundation]; Koło Gospodyń Wiejskich Lesznowola [Lesznowola Farmers’ Wives’ Association]; Kierunek Kultura [‘Direction: Culture’ Programme]; Kultura na Sielcach [Culture in Sielce] an urban movement; Stowarzyszenie Kulturotwórcze Nie Z Tej Bajki [The ‘Not My Cup of Tea’ Cultural Association]; Praska Biblioteka Sąsiedzka [Praga Neighbours’ Library]; Stowarzyszenie De-Novo [De-Novo Association]; Teatr Łaźnia Nowa [New Bath Theatre]; Stowarzyszenie Terra Artis [Terra Artis Association]; To Tu – Akademia Twórczych Umiejętności [‘It’s Here’ Academy of Creative Skills]; and Zamek Cieszyn [The Cieszyn Castle]. These organisations differ in organizational structure, scale, and the format of activities. The initiatives selected were analysed according to the following six criteria: 1. 2. 3. 4. The creation of relationships and establishment of bonds which become a resource (we asked which practices allowed these cultural initiatives to consolidate the empowerment of their organisers and participants, how community bonds were created, and how they transformed the initiative’s environment); Encouraging increasing participation among members and the target audience; The organizers’ capacity to sustain and develop the initiative, creating conditions for long-term impact; The manner in which they manage to operate beyond the autotelic character of cultural activity and the autonomy of the cultural sphere; 6 5. Whether the cultural activity has developed new, non-hierarchical organizational practices, beyond established systems, and overcoming the dominant idea of management; 6. The extent to which the dynamics of development be measured through their cultural activity. The research conducted through the ‘Culture and Development’ Programme confirms our initial hypothesis. Furthermore, these case studies have deepened our understanding of the categories of ‘culture’ and ‘development’. With regard to the former term, our interest shifted from the domain of art, artistic production, and the institutional field (without abandoning it completely), towards a ‘living culture’ or ‘social culture’ produced within the networks of NGOs, informal groups, neighbourhood initiatives, and social movements. This shift has led us to conclude that, in order to develop, culture must be perceived holistically, in its implementation in institutional, NGO, or informal networks, and attention must be paid to its socio-anthropological interpretation. With regard to ‘development’, holistic research into culture reveals evidence of development beyond neoliberal economics focusing on commodification and consumption, and reducing development to measures of economic growth. In the course of our research, ‘development’ acquired new weight through an understanding of its social and axiological aspects. Development was evident in the transformation of established mechanisms of production, redistribution, and resource evaluation thanks to changes in the way in which social activities were coordinated. Broadly speaking, ‘development’ came to be associated with the growth of the organisation beyond existing mechanisms of reproducing the social order, which, as a matter of fact, also means going beyond the concept of ‘sustainable development’. Against the backdrop of our investigation, ‘development’ becomes a synonym for change, sharing with ‘sustainable development’, nonetheless, the prospect of long-lasting and (environmentally) responsible change. The essay, Stimulating Social and Economic Development through Culture: An 7 Analysis of Twelve Cultural Initiatives Oriented Towards Transforming Their Local Environment, written by Mikołaj Lewicki, Maria Rogaczewska and Agnieszka Ziętek, presents a summary of the research of the ‘Culture and Development’ Programme, alongside detailed analyses of mechanisms for stimulating development through cultural activities, beyond the neoliberal connotations of economic growth. The ways in which a holistic approach to culture contributes to development may be identified in complementary networks of soft and hard resources in both individual and collective life, as well as in its anthropological and sociological dimension. The contribution of culture to socio-economic development cannot be reduced to the parameters of the individual consumption of cultural goods or the size of the culture sector (including creative industries) in the economy. This contribution is visible, rather, in culture’s capacity to empower and to promote communitarisation, in its potential to inspire creativity and innovation, in its ability to shape corporate attitudes and its foundation in axiological circumstance. Culture and Development: Beyond Neoliberal Reason contains examples of definite practices arising from a broad cultural sphere, and demonstrating the power of culture to stimulate development. In the light of our research, from the perspective of culture’s impact on socio-economic development, the function of culture cannot be reduced either to that of a source of fuel for creative industry, commodified and consumed, or to the role of a guardian ‘of higher values’, protecting us against revision and distortion by strengthening culture’s autonomy. Our desire to reveal the relationship between culture and socio-economic development allows us to bridge the division between two perspectives on culture; the conviction that the economy or market dominates culture, and the perception of a cultural sphere in splendid isolation from the mechanisms of resource production and redistribution, organizational structure, and so forth. To be precise, our research relies on the willingness of various social entities to commit to crossing this divide. Our research demonstrates that, at the end of the day, it is the social aspect of these initiatives which motivates both culture 8 and development. The essay entitled On Social Culture: Manufacturing Commonality Beyond Cultural Institutions and Independent Artistic Scenes, explores the characteristics of social production in the cultural sphere which differ from both institutional and independent scenes. The stimulation of culture within a network of various social entities requires systemic support in order to drive social, economic, and political development on a large scale. The essays that make up Culture and Development present conclusions resulting from the analysis of case studies and creates a road map to solutions derived from the institutional order of culture, public policies related to culture, the economy, and sociology of a broadened understanding of culture, and economic analyses which suggest a means of developing a systemic foundation for potential development within the cultural sphere. The essay ‘Living Culture’ in Public Policy: Problems, Challenges and Recommendations, written by Anna Świętochowska and Maria Rogaczewska, indicates the kind of public policies which should be implemented in order to allow cultural initiatives which stimulate social and economic development to flourish. At the end of Culture and Development: Beyond Neoliberal Reason, we return to sociological and economic questions. In his text Between Cultural Hierarchies and ‘Living Culture’: Can Cultural Participation Offer Solutions to Inequality?, Mikołaj Lewicki discusses the possibility of reducing social inequality through different approaches to cultural participation. According to his analysis, there is a clear relationship between open access to culture, or more precisely, cultural participation, and successfully overcoming socio-economic inequality. Two research reports analysing Stowarzyszenie De-Novo [De-Novo Association] and the Łaźnia Nowa Theatre [New Bath Theatre] are presented in an appendix. These particular reports have been chosen for the following reason: while both describe theatrical practices they offer contrasting models for engaging with and improving individual and collective lives. The De-Novo Association prepares a large scale, annual summer theatrical performance inviting informal ‘mass participation’ from residents of Dynów village. The Łaźnia Nowa Theatre is a public cultural 9 institution, which systematically structures their activities. These two reports, therefore, present different kinds of cultural organisations with the same goal, stimulating social development through theatre. This contrast allows us to uncover a variety of possible ways of approaching cultural activities aimed at achieving development goals in different types of organisational ecosystems. Publication of the reports also provides insight into our research process. I believe it helps us to better understand the way in which the authors of the book have reached their conclusions with regard to the relationship between culture and development. The present book is addressed to both cultural practitioners seeking inspiration for their own activity, as well as sociologists, cultural specialists, and economists interested in a thorough analysis of the contemporary world. Last, but not least, this publication is aimed at representatives of public administration on the level of central and local government who recognize the potential for development in culture and wish to implement solutions which may transform into socio-economic development in their environments. I would like to thank all the authors of the texts published in Culture and Development: Beyond Neoliberal Reason, the researchers engaged in the ‘Culture and Development’ Programme, and my colleagues from Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw. The concept of the present publication was inspired by a volume published in Polish as a result of the ‘Culture and Development’ Programme.3 I would like to offer special thanks to my fellow co-editors of the mentioned volume, Jerzy Hausner, Izabela Jasińska and Mikołaj Lewicki. Culture and Development: Beyond Neoliberal Reason is being released within the framework of the Connected Action for the Commons network, launched and coordinated by the European Cultural Foundation which I’d like to thank for their unceasing effort to link culture, development and democracy. 3 Kultura i rozwój. Analizy, rekomendacje, studia przypadków, ed. by Jerzy Hausner, Izabela Jasińska, Mikołaj Lewicki, Igor Stokfiszewski (Warsaw-Kraków: Instytut Studiów Zaawansowanych, Fundacja Gospodarki i Administracji Publicznej, 2016). jerzy hausner Culture as a Way Out of Crisis Introduction The world is overwhelmed by a global crisis to which there seems to be no end. Palliative measures have been adopted with relative success, but it is difficult to discern any course of action that could overcome the crisis itself. For this crisis is systemic in character. It is not a crisis evoked by economic conditions, a crisis in the global capitalist economy, but a structural crisis, a crisis of this system. Consequently, the standard methods of crisis management fail, and conventional methods conducted on the basis of trial and error, intuition and a kind of groping in the dark, turn out merely to alleviate. Political scientists link this persistent inability to overcome the global crisis with a characteristic peculiar to contemporary democratic political systems: namely, that voters can choose who governs, but they 11 cannot choose policies. At the same time, they have no effective tools with which to implement meaningful political correction of bad policies. As a result, we persist in the status quo, stumbling about in our search for a solution. Some see such a solution in increased state intervention, particularly in relation to the economy. Others will not relinquish the dogmatic conviction that the market is the only remedy. Intellectually and practically – in our search for a way out of the current crisis, we move between state and market, in other words we are steered by wellworn, at best refreshed, mental formulae. But they lead nowhere. In this article, I would like to reflect on whether turning to culture might provide the way out that we seek. On a practical level, the intention would be simultaneously to rebuild and open up a public, communal and autonomous platform in contrast to what is either private and individualised, or state-owned, common and generalised. Subsequently, one would pick out civic bodies capable of invoking institutional change to create a framework for a new politics of socio-economic development. Intellectually, this would entail a fundamental revision in our understanding of both state and market and the relations between them. One definition of power might be: the opportunity not to learn by one’s own mistakes, which, practically speaking, means an aptitude for transferring the costs and consequences of those mistakes onto others, or into the future – that is onto future generations. Power understood in this negative way means, on the one hand, the successful avoidance and rejection of responsibility on the part of ruling bodies and, at the same time, the inability of those ruled to force those in government to accept responsibility and correct faulty policies. A state of affairs in which we can, indeed, choose our governments but have no influence on the policies they pursue, can be summarised as ‘an escape from responsibility’, an inability to correct policies and, at the same time, a loss of ability to rule, understood as the effective solving of fundamental social problems and mobilisation of the mechanisms of socio-economic development. A political system that functions in this way prevents both the political opposition and active citizens from carrying out their systemic 12 role, which boils down to coming up with a programmatic-political alternative and means a gradual adjustment of the system to subsequent structural challenges. The system survives, but does not develop. As a result, it grows increasingly dysfunctional and gradually loses its developmental potential. The current crisis is caused basically by the excessive commercialisation of social life. We can see global corporations behind this that meet no effective opposition from the state. Such opposition was still possible while the economic market developed basically within the confines of nation states. In the conditions of global economy, nation states are particularly weak and their interests are too disparate for such opposition to be possible. The neoliberal revolution was enacted under the slogan: ‘the state is not the solution; it’s the problem’. Seen as the main obstacle to growth in the eyes of neoliberals, the state was reduced to a ‘minimum state’. However, when the consequences of the victory of the neoliberal revolution prove dangerous to large financial institutions, it suddenly transpires that the state is the only saviour. Its reserves are mobilised in order to prevent the downfall of those that have become too large to fall, and, indeed, of the entire economy. This alleviates the crisis, but it does not solve the problem. The persistence and spread of the crisis in global market capitalism (in its current form) is undoubtedly under threat of a grand-scale outbreak of anti-liberal and anti-market revolution and the return of national or international forms of totalitarian government. The need to overcome systemic crisis is becoming very urgent. Unfortunately, even unorthodox supporters of market economics are of the opinion that some kind of appropriate balance, some ‘golden means’ must be found for the state–economy relationship. Their deliberations and research are conducted in the conviction that the market and the state are the most important mechanisms regulating the behaviour of economic entities. There is no reason to support this. The basic underlying problem lies in accepting the false notion that it is possible to attain lasting ‘sys- 13 temic (institutional) equilibrium’. Constant change is a characteristic of modern societies. Such equilibrium cannot, therefore, be sustained. Every stage of equilibrium is temporary and transitory. Furthermore, relations between the state and the economy are and must be changeable. Swinging the pendulum first one way and then the other achieves nothing. Solving the problem, that is attaining the ability to create ‘relative equilibrium’, demands that we permit and employ other institutional mechanisms. However, this does mean that the state–economy relation is and must be variable to some degree. The role of the state depends not only on participation in the market, its regulation and constitution, but also on the ability to create and promote other mechanisms of collective (social) coordination, appealing to human motives other than the pursuit of gain or domination. The state thus becomes a kind of ‘meta-regulator’, whose activity is meant to facilitate transformation from certain kinds of institutional governance to others, depending on changing circumstances and the nature of subsequent threats and challenges. This is extremely difficult, since it entails a specific ability on the part of the state to consciously create changes and institutional solutions, following complex reflection on the effectiveness of existing coordination mechanisms. This is not possible without civic discourse and broad social partnership. Furthermore, experimental space on a micro-social level is needed so that the appropriateness of different solutions can be tested without danger of entering upon the path of totalitarianism. It seems to me that Nicolas Bourriaud speaks particularly convincingly about the role of art and culture (and specifically about works of art): ‘What they produce are relational space-time elements, inter-human experiences trying to rid themselves of the straitjacket of the ideology of mass communications, in a way, of the places where alternative forms of sociability, critical models and moments of constructed conviviality are worked out. It is nevertheless quite clear that the age of the New Man, future-oriented manifestos, and calls for a better world all 14 ready to be walked into and lived in is well and truly over. These days, utopia is being lived on a subjective, everyday basis, in the real time of concrete and intentionally fragmentary.’4 In my opinion, there is no way out of the current systemic crisis without turning in the direction of culture. Thus, I believe that the central question is how to turn mutinous (angry) consumers into active citizen-participants in culture and development. Civilisation and culture Władysław Tatarkiewicz has proposed a distinction between the concepts of ‘civilisation’ and ‘culture’ which is close to my heart.5 He writes: ‘Let civilisation mean everything that humanity has created, added to nature to ease and improve life, and which is common to many people; culture, then, refers to the experiences and activities of particular people who have produced civilisation and who benefit from it. Civilisation makes our world today different from the primitive world, and culture makes people today different from primeval people’. Further: ‘civilisation signifies objective formation (. . .) but belongs to the external world. Whereas culture we understand differently, as a subjective, mental, inner individual state...’6 Both civilisation and culture constitute society, uniting the material and spiritual, hard and soft. Both these dimensions of human existence unite and merge uniquely in every social structure. That is why one can justifiably speak about the culture of organisations. Civilisation and culture make up the fundamental components and dimensions of the social world. Both are relatively stable, but also capable of evolving – social change is always due to the impact of both components. But the character of the development, its direction and intensity, depends not only on a given society’s civilisation and culture, but also on the specific Nicolas Bourriaud, Estetyka relacyjna (Kraków: Muzeum Sztuki Współczesnej w Krakowie, 2012), p. 77. 4 5 Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Parerga (Warsaw: PWN, 1978), p. 76. 6 Ibid, p. 79. 15 way in which they interpenetrate, on how their dominant mechanisms combine in that society. It is crucially important to recognise that civilisation is fundamentally a limited and relatively closed space, both with regard to time and space. Furthermore, it has its own identifiable, though permeable, boundaries and works at defining these boundaries within its own domain. This is clearly linked to property categories and precise regulation of property rights relating to resources and tangible assets. Culture works rather differently, since it is understood to encompass the entirety of a society’s intellectual work as well as the conditions in which it functions (i.e., ‘intangible assets’). It is fundamentally an open space whose borders are being constantly adjusted by imagination and creativity. It is not a structure that occupies a territory or exists in time. As a result, it is basically endlessly capacious – constantly throwing up new works of the human mind, different cognitive perspectives that can meet and interpenetrate in this space. The domain of culture thus becomes discursive, encouraging consistent disputation and dialogue. Although it has fluid boundaries, they do exist, nevertheless, because culture can function thanks only to tangible material and the foundations and infrastructure provided by civilisation; without them, it disappears. Civilisation enables culture and its development, but it also restricts it materially. Culture conditions the social function of civilisation and its development, it validates and reinforces its social foundations and, at the same time, it gives it direction. Through mutual interaction, they define the social order, how hieratic it is, and its rigidity and capacity to change. Insofar as the development of civilisation creates a new environment for action, so the development of culture means a broadening of the space of human action – including into domains without a physical infrastructure. The resources utilised derive from both civilisation and culture; recognising and employing them depends on both tangible and intellectual matter. I am not pitting civilisation against culture, since I am convinced that they must co-exist and co-evolve. Certain forms of this interdepen- 16 dence are of great benefit to socio-economic progress – others are not; but without the interdependence of the material and the intellectual there can be no development. However, as Tatarkiewicz stresses in the essay cited above, in some periods civilisation is dominated by technology and then, and only then, does it become a threat to culture.7 Oskar Hansen has some interesting points to make in this regard, in reference to Erich Fromm’s distinction between the two basic modes of human existence – i.e., being and having.8 ‘Having’ is the expression of a biologically conditioned desire for self-preservation; ‘being’, on the other hand, reflects an inborn need to overcome one’s own isolation through uniting with others. Applying these distinctions to civilisation and culture, we can say that civilisation reflects owning, and its essence is tangible mastery of the world; culture is the reflection of human existence as being, which demands validation – a sense of meaning that comes from knowing the world and oneself. Blurring the distinctions between these two modes of human existence, and, behind them, those between culture and civilisation, leads to the acknowledgment of consumption as the area of an individual’s real autonomy.9 If we are linked by civilisation alone, then we are an organised collective; we become a society only when we are also linked by culture. In its cultural dimension, society is made up of a radical multiplicity, or rather diversity, of irreducible individuals. In culture, individuals and social groups ‘participate’ differently than in a civilisation. In the latter, participation consists above all of making use of tangible products – producing them and consuming them. In the former, participation is the creation of meaning, it is interactive in nature, and involves not only taking, but also transforming. Insofar as civilisation has a particular content that is subject to systematic transformation, 7 Ibid, p. 80. Oskar Hansen, Zobaczyć świat (Warsaw: Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych, 2005), p. 9–10. 8 Nicolas Bourriaud, Estetyka relacyjna (Kraków: Muzeum Sztuki Współczesnej w Krakowie, 2012), p. 21. 9 17 culture is a form that grows (evolves), inasmuch as it becomes the subject of dialogue and negotiation. The cultural collective is the result of social relations and reflects those relations; it is formed in the process of interactive communication between individuals. Of course, the cultural platform can be appropriated and subjected to hegemony. For example, its domain can be limited by the regulation, privatisation and commercialisation of intellectual property rights. Culture then ceases to be a generally available resource, its vitality begins to diminish, it ceases to be an open form, or a crucible in which new perspectives and cognitive tools can be created. It will be too late, then, to connect spatially and temporally distant elements and reassemble them into new wholes (narrations); it will ossify and as a result lose its power to liberate and to grow, serving only to maintain the status quo.10 Cultural value resides in the fact that each individual contributes to its creation and that each individual sees differently – subjectively; in civilisation the opposite is true: it functions via objectivisation and universalisation. I am not opposing the individual to the collective in this. It simply seems to me that the realms of culture and civilisation have quite different ways of uniting what is individual. Culture and social change Nicolas Bourriaud is correct when he says that we live in a world whose intellectual dimension is summarised by the prefix ‘post’: post-modernism, post-colonialism, post-feminism, post-humanism, post-historicism – in other words, in an epoch in which we see that what preceded is in crisis and disintegration; it has ended.11 We are left waiting for a new synthesis, a global vision for the world and a new epoch. He writes: ‘The prefix ‘post’ is a great myth of the last days of the 20th century – it refers to a past situation beyond which or out of which one cannot emerge, whose present is not automatic, and whose consequences must be worked out.’ By remaining in this spiritual state, we 10 Ibid, p. 23–26. 11 Ibid, p. 30. 18 relinquish any positive action to overcome the crisis surrounding us; at best, we try to mitigate its effects by intuitively applying technologies we already know. We count on the crisis burning itself out and everything going back to the way it was before, or we hope that someone will turn up to sort out the whole sorry mess. Or if we do look for a way out, it is via an escape into the future and thoughts of expansion and its possible domains, though where this future actually lies and who in this world today could or should indicate its direction remains a problem. Bourriaud convinces us that this is senseless and will not help.12 Instead of marching forwards, not knowing where to go, it is more sensible to reach down, to the roots, in order to penetrate the identity of the institutions known to us, to grasp their real content and to undertake a deep essential review of sources. There is not going to be a broad road ahead, it will be more of a labyrinth, involving non-linear, spatiotemporal wandering, after which the social world will become more like an archipelago than a new continent. This may not be an inspiring vision, but it need not be intellectually empty, especially if it were to transpire that many islands of this archipelago were well connected to each other: not only co-existing, but cooperating effectively. We do not have to reinvent the social world completely from its foundations or plan it afresh in its entirety from a blueprint in order to bring about meaningful social change. We can do this efficiently and securely by linking and using available resources and means according to a formula other than the one that currently dominates. We are not obliged to exploit the territories of others or to explore new ones. It is enough to initiate reflection and dialogue on the creative management of what we already possess and the institutional conditions to make this possible. I have referenced the views of Bourriaud here – an outstanding critic and curator of the visual arts – because they constitute a good point of departure for looking at culture as a source of social change. The approach to culture is currently dominated by thinking about form and not process. Interested parties generally concentrate on existing and established forms of cultural activity, on cultural institutions 12 Ibid, pp. 31-32. 19 and the relations between them – as it is put in Poland. As a consequence, we see culture as a component of reduplication, and not of social change or emergence.13 For my part, I am interested in how and whether culture can be a source of systemic (institutional) and developmental change, and hence the discussion below on the link between institutions and culture. In principle, institutions ‘possess’ knowledge and, at the same time, they are characterised by ignorance, which means that their participants are open to particular information and avoid other kinds. In the realm of knowledge, they are consistently selective. They have limited reflexivity. They are both the source of specific knowledge and its generator. This seems to indicate that, in order for institutional change to take place, it must find an intellectual source – if only in part – from beyond the existing institutional framework or at least beyond the distinct sphere of social reality that the given institutional segment ‘controls’ and stabilises. One such source could be ‘living culture’, understood as the entire range of autonomous cultural practices based on unhindered imagination and creative energy. A second essential condition for institutional (social) change is the appearance of communication connectors (interfaces) between various and relatively independent social structures. They permit the transmission and motivation of resources of latent knowledge, share that which already exists, and generate new social knowledge. Furthermore, these social communication connectors are also activated by culture, and the creative tension and energy that it elicits. Thanks to the influence of culture and social communication connectors, institutions can evolve, and thus assist not only in reproducing but in developing society. Wojciech Józef Burszta, Mariusz Czubaj, Miasto – stadion – kultura: globalny przemysł sportowy i lokalne aspiracje, in: Wojciech Józef Burszta, Mariusz Czubaj, Kacek Drozda, Mirosław Duchowski, Aleksandra Litorowicz, Piotr Majewski, Jakub Myszkorowski, Elżbieta Anna Sekuła, Karolina Thel, Stadion – miasto – kultura: Euro 2012 i przemiany kultury polskiej, Euro przed świętem – rok 2011 (Warsaw: Narodowe Centrum Kultury, 2012), p. 7–21. 13 20 Andrzej Bukowski rightly recognises that social interaction – communication and the interpretation of meaning, is a fundamental mechanism in the formation of institutional order.14 If cultural communality disintegrates and is accompanied in a given collective by declining cooperation between individuals, the consequence is de-institutionalisation. However, if cultural communality transforms itself, develops and broadens, the result, given time, is the re-institutionalisation of a given collective, which, it seems to me, is synonymous with social change or a reconfiguration of society. While claiming this, I would like to point out that culture ‘makes’ the collective a community; institutional order makes the collective a society that is a specific social unity (a system). Furthermore, I believe that each institution has its own cultural component. If social change is understood as institutional change, then it cannot take place beyond the cultural sphere. Of course, social change affects civilisation as well as culture, it occurs simultaneously in both domains, but without the cultural element, it does not occur at all. Unfortunately, most economists neither perceive nor take this on board. They harbour a conviction about universal (general and permanent) behavioural motives on the part of individuals that fundamentally underpin ‘the rational man’. Thus they are not inclined to accept that the market mechanism is an institution that is social in nature, that it therefore demands a cultural foundation, and, furthermore, that it is subject to social evolution. Economic and non-economic cultural values The problem of contemporary economics resides, among other things, in the lack of an adequate theory of goods and valorisation (evaluation) that would discern and respect the difference between civilisation and culture. Goods theory is based on an anachronistic division of goods between private goods (supplied basically by the market), and public goods (supplied basically by the state). In mainstream economics, Andrzej Bukowski, ‚Kultura, instytucje, władza: ciągłość i zmiana porządku instytucjonalnego’, Zarządzanie publiczne, nos 2–3 (24–25), pp. 63–74. 14 21 however, evaluation comes down to market price assessment, so only that which has a price is considered to be economically valuable. An inadequate economic theory of goods results also from the fact that the contemporary economy is one of services and not production. It is highly significant, too, that these services are increasingly intellectual and not material. Consequently, goods important for socio-economic development will be increasingly of mixed character; they will be neither purely private, nor purely public goods. They will be privately produced with selling in mind, but their consumption cannot and should not be restricted to those who are not in a position to pay the market price. This question is particularly linked with the problem of intellectual property rights. Intellectual property cannot be protected in the way that material property can. Ensuring its exclusivity would lead to the privatisation of culture and knowledge, which would impede development, blocking human creativity and innovation. A serious example of this can be seen in the way large media corporations block the freedom of movement of information on the internet, which not only limits the individual expression of aficionados, but, what is worse, separates them from other participants of the virtual world, limiting its cultural and creative expansion. This fundamentally hinders the formation of new important roles in the social circulation of culture, such as ‘stakeholder-producers’ or ‘net distributors’.15 If, as a result, channels of parallel and autonomous circulation disappear, we are condemned to a diet of official culture that, in conditions where there is no alternative, ossifies. The potential for interaction, which invigorates culture, grows weaker. John Holden has proposed a (frequently quoted) division of cultural values into intrinsic, instrumental and institutional values.16 This is an undoubtedly inspired and useful division to which I refer in my disMirosław Filiciak, Michał Danilewicz, Anna Buchner, Katarzyna Zaniewska. (2012) Tajni kulturalni. Obiegi kultury z perspektywy twórców sieciowych węzłów wymiany treści (Warsaw: Centrum Cyfrowe: Projekt Polska, 2012), pp. 12–14. 15 John Holden, Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy: Why Culture Needs a Democratic Mandate (London: Demos, 2006). 16 22 cussion of the economic values of culture below. In my opinion, these values have been located until now in the domain delineated by Holden as instrumental. Whereas – I believe – it is more important to put them in the institutional domain. In recent years, the slogan: ‘culture counts’ has become very popular. It shows, justifiably, that the role of culture is growing in the economy. The advocates of this slogan try to measure culture’s influence on the economy. This undoubtedly contributes to the development of the economics of culture. However, ideas about the relationship between culture and the economic sphere have begun to move in a false direction. Emphasising that culture counts, that it has a value, should be tied in with the acceptance of a few basic premises: 1. Culture produces a variety of values, including, but not limited to, economic values. It is precisely the non-economic values that are fundamental. They constitute the ground on which economic values can grow. 2. However, it is difficult to define what sort of economic value culture creates if we do not first define what we mean by the economy (i.e. what is economic), or find an answer to the question of how culture influences the economy. 3. How to quantify the value of culture seems less important a question than why we should quantify it; what is really worth measuring in relation to culture? What we measure and how we measure it reflects our understanding of the role of culture in the economy. According to currently dominant opinion, the economic value of culture rests above all in what can be expressed in monetary terms. The representatives of various enterprises enthusiastically present figures showing how the appropriate design of their products has increased sales. Re- 23 searchers and analysts of regional development point to the value of the rent monopoly that particular towns/regions will gain thanks to the right business environment built around some unique aspect of the cultural heritage. The contribution of the creative industries to gross domestic product (GDP) is also taken into account (with all the flaws and inconsistencies associated with this sector’s methods of differentiating). Thus, it emerges that, hitherto, we have been viewing the link between culture and the economy in the following context: a. economic growth (GDP); b. the consumption of cultural goods (e.g., household expenditure, cultural participation); c. the participation of cultural sectors in the structure of the economy (e.g., creative industries); d. the market for cultural goods, in particular art works (e.g., scale of turnover). This being the case, we see the link between culture and the economy primarily via categories such as: the market, turnover, profit, economic growth and demand. In practice, the economics of culture has become a component of the neoliberal economic paradigm. Within the framework of this paradigm, culture is presented as a production factor and ultimately as an economic asset. In this way, we reduce its meaning for the economy to that of a product (or outcome). If we treat everything as a product and a commodity, then everything is subject to market exchange and relations between people are reduced to economic transactions.17 The direct consequence of the hegemony of economic thinking in the public sphere is an inability to perceive and initiate valorisation mechanisms other than those of the market; the common good then becomes reduced to the interests of the individual. 17 Mirosław Filiciak, Michał Danilewicz, Anna Buchner, Katarzyna Zaniewska, Tajni kulturalni. Obiegi kultury z perspektywy twórców sieciowych węzłów wymiany treści (Warsaw: Centrum Cyfrowe: Projekt Polska, 2012), p. 6. 24 Thus the dominant approach to culture turns out to be a great and dangerous simplification for culture. Continuing the neoliberal-market paradigm, we calculate the economic value of culture in order to ascertain whether something is cost-effective and, in doing so, we reduce the economic value of culture to its market value, and cultural achievements to commercial and private goods. The direct profitability of culture is also evaluated. We measure and weigh the value of culture in order to decide how to finance it. As a consequence, cultural policy amounts to no more than the public financing of organisations carrying out cultural activities or particular cultural goods. It seems to me, that we need to take a significantly broader approach to the link between culture and the economy, understanding culture as: a. the foundation (social underpinnings and apparatus) of economic activity; b. an economic resource; c. a production factor; d. an essential component of the mechanism of development. In this approach, we see the links between culture and the economy not through the prism of growth, the market and demand, but much more broadly through its reference to economic development, economic order (the institutional economic system), and the supply of a variety of forms of development capital. One should note that, in the case of cultural (symbolic) goods, participation constitutes both consumption and creation, which means that cultural assets are an inexhaustible economic asset. Culture as a resource differs from traditional resources not only because it is a renewable asset, but also because its use engenders its growth. The inclusion of cultural resources in business simultaneously initiates a process of change of economic mechanism. This produces more opportunities to tap into cultural resources and encourages their growth. 25 Such an approach enables us to measure the value of culture not only in order to evaluate it, to assess what is profitable and what is not, but in order to ascertain what facilitates development and how, what leads to stagnation, what is beneficial to development and what is not. At the same time, we acquire knowledge that is not only instrumental in character and intended to assist micro-economic decisions, but engages the question of identity and can stimulate and direct economic development. Users of such knowledge include not only the individual homo economicus or public decision-maker, but also various autonomous subjects who, while continuing to interact (co-govern), influence economic activity, and, above all, shape institutional governance in the economy in such a way as to serve the growth and capitalisation of economic assets. In this way, the economic meaning of culture is contained most importantly in the processes it prompts and boosts and not in the products it creates. Development cannot be evaluated and measured purely by the scale of results, e.g., the level of profits of domestic economies, but must take into account how these are achieved, since this determines whether it is sustainable – that is, viable from the perspective of long-term outcomes. Market valorisation that depends on the creation of goods and services cannot continue to be recognised as the most important, dominant and unfettered mechanism of creating economic value. It is necessary to economic growth, but it cannot eliminate other mechanisms without leading to economic breakdown. The same is true of an economy in which the market valorisation mechanism is imperiously marginalised. We have to admit, in today’s global crisis, that the market valorisation mechanism will not be effective if we do not permit other mechanisms of creating surplus value (valorisation) and do not broaden the playing fields available to them. Such mechanisms will be generated only when the business sphere sees a significant increase in organisational forms other than private and commercial enterprises. The same goes for crossing different organisational forms to create hybrid forms. However, in order for different valorisation methods to coexist, there must be favourable systemic conditions, such as cultural education and a strong social economic sector. 26 On the whole, we fail to perceive these new and different opportunities, mainly because we are stragglers on well-worn paths and the prisoners of currently dominating schemata. The conversation between people of culture and economists leads through force of habit to two extremes – either to the creative industries (and therefore modern commerce), or flight in the direction of state patronage. The perspective proposed here does not aim to oppose economic and extra-economic cultural values. It is a different matter when we identify the economic value of culture with market value, which signals a drive for maximum commercialisation. This, in turn, weakens and marginalises the influence of culture on economic development. The neoliberal revolution pushed contemporary economics in the direction of universal commodification and excessive consumption driven by credit (credit consumerism). Reversing this tendency is conditional upon overcoming the present crisis. This will be possible only if, when reaching for cultural assets, we make a space available for relations between market, state and civic society, giving all kinds of subjects the opportunity to use a variety of existing means, as well as establishing new ones, to create economic goods and valorisation mechanisms, and resorting, among other things, to an affiliated pooling of resources controlled by a variety of organisations. Mainstream economics, which has dominated economic teaching and research for decades, is fundamentally acultural. As such, it is not able to perceive that the economy is rooted and encoded in culture. This culture – of common values, codes of behaviour, symbolic codes, the understanding of meanings handed down and formed from the beginnings of the process of socialisation – determines the level of social capital, creativity, trust, social cohesion, social action and participation. It shapes what is intangible but essential in our contemporary economy; everything that will determine gaining a sustained competitive edge in the 21st century. Helping out the creative industries is not an effective response to the current global crisis. The economy itself must become creative. 27 Market economic systems are subject to trade vacillations and that cannot be avoided, but they do not need to succumb to severe breakdown. They will gain this kind of resilience if the economy is subjectively diverse. New and different responses to structural challenges and crises can then be set in motion, which will evolve as they develop. This can only happen if a given society demonstrates a sufficiently high potential for creativity. The latter is simply an emanation of culture. Thus the domain of culture becomes also the domain of socio-economic development; again, culture influences the economy and development occurs due to the high cultural competence of individual citizens. The development of culture and cultural politics Jürgen Habermas wondered ‘how to ensure the unity of the lifeworld in the face of growing diversity in its spheres of validity?’ His reply to this great contemporary (postmodern) challenge is the axiological creative and socially engaged individual. It is a romantic and attractive vision, but is it sufficiently realistic and viable and, most importantly, can it really bring about the social cohesion and integration of different communities and constitute social subjectivity? Edwin Bendyk is rather doubtful, maintaining that, ‘The youth of today are individualists seduced by consumption, who construct their personal identities mainly by drawing on cultural patterns and resources, particularly those of popular culture. Their mode of social being depends on the creation of temporary ties and experimentation, even as regards their most intimate relationships.’18 Thus, if we strive to enable social subjectivity through culture, then we are bound to recognise that culture not only liberates, but also socially categorises and binds the individual. Such bonds enable the individual to act, but also limit, and even constrain them. Thus, if we wish to actuate the socially liberating power of culture, then we need to focus particularly on the following: 18 Edwin Bendyk, Bunt sieci (Warsaw: Polityka Spółdzielnia Pracy, 2012), p. 149. 28 • encouraging culture, as a sphere of activity of individuals and of individual creativity, also to be the domain of collective communication, discourse, cooperation and social innovation; • enabling a multiplicity of cognitive perspectives and languages of social communication; • fostering dialogue as a principle of social debate. Among other things, it is a question here of employing open and inclusive concepts in debate, and eliminating concepts that are closed and pre-emptive. One such example might be the concept of ‘national heritage’, which at one point supplanted the markedly wider concept of a ‘cultural heritage’ for us. The consequences of this can be seen when applying the two approaches to the case of Wrocław to determine the possibilities and directions of its development; • opposing linguistic and cultural hegemony, indeed all hegemonies; the currently dominant form of cultural hegemony is the mass-medialisation of societies. Another example, characteristic of my country, are the systematic attempts of the Church to place religious symbols in public spaces while at the same time seeking to suppress commentary with regard to these symbols;19 • choosing and using language not to conserve and regenerate ideas and intellectual constructs, but in order, above all, to redefine them in the context of contemporary challenges; • posing consistently new questions of our past, born of what is current, in order to find a variety of paths leading into the future; • recognising culture as a field of axiological discourse and making it so practically; • demanding axiological openness on the part of participants in public debate and a willingness to engage intellectually with different axiologies. 19 Maria Anna Potocka, To tylko sztuka (Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Aletheia, 2008), p. 113. 29 It seems to me, that such a programme of action will encourage culture both to pursue technological growth and product-generation (civilisation), and to shape and direct it. This approach should be reflected in cultural policy, and expressed in our expectations with regard to its policies and management. A point of departure should be to consider not only what we want from cultural policy, but also what we decidedly do not want. We do not want to end by finding ourselves in a situation of dependency. So we must reflect precisely on what needs to be done and what needs to be disposed of in order to ensure that we avoid undesirable aspects of cultural policy, or at least prevent them from becoming dominant. It was this intention that inspired the creation of the Citizens of Culture movement. The state should not, therefore, be treated as the highest and infallible authority – a New Vatican – but as a public partner, whether ready and able or not, to cooperate with other types of autonomous subject, including the non-public. Searching for a way out of the crisis via the cultural sphere, a way leading to the opening up of new developmental possibilities, depends on the functioning of new public platforms, understood as territory within which civic collectives can be formed and activities undertaken for the common good (the common use). Aggressive commercialisation throughout various areas of human activity is causing this territory to shrink. This is glaringly evident in the case of large cities, in whose terrain precipitated commercialisation has led to privately controlled entities pushing what is public and communal to the margins. The cultural potential of large cities has grown weaker as a result, despite the ostentatious evoking of the concept of creative cities and stressing the significance of creative industries. Of course, cultural potential includes the market and the commercial, but it is undoubtedly the case that wholesale commercialisation of the cultural domain leads to a narrowing of its potential and contribution to socio-economic development in general, including the development of great cities. In addition, hidden behind the creative city idea is the fact that it has essen- 30 tially copied a solution that worked elsewhere, in the sense that it was spectacularly successful and publicly acclaimed. The ‘Bilbao Effect’ becomes a caricature when a cultural creative solution is reduced to nothing more than a huge building project by a ‘star architect’.20 It seems that Warsaw’s Golden 44 skyscraper will fulfil precisely such a role. Stressing the importance of public space, I want to signal the need to distinguish at least three of its dimensions: 1. The material (physical) – the organisational-technical infrastructure of the discourse and the cooperation of citizens. 2. The institutional – the complex of values, norms and rules that guide citizens working in the public sphere. 3. The communicational – the whole ensemble of means and forms of communication used by citizens in conducting dialogue. Part of this dimension consists of the virtual domain in which – thanks to information technology – fast long-distance mass communication has become possible. Identifying these basic dimensions of the public domain enables us to discover the multiplicity and diversity of its components, among which we should include: libraries (and media libraries), cultural and civic buildings, public cultural institutions, buildings for public use, public social portals, public media, forms of social mediation, social campaigns, citizens’ observatories, public consultations and social pacts. Masza Potocka has some interesting things to say about the public domain: ‘So we have two conditions defining public space: the first is a sort of life function, the other a democratic ideal. These give rise to two prohibitions concerning the public domain: the first says one must not disturb the life function; the second that one must not im- 20 Martyna Obarska, ‚Na przekór’, Respublica Nowa 2013, no 21, Spring, p. 8. 31 pose any ideals.’21 The failure to fulfil these conditions leads to the disappearance of the public domain that is equivalent to the extinction of society, which has neither a way nor a place to manifest itself. As Anna Giza-Poleszczuk acutely observes, a clear example of underestimating this problem can be seen in the substitution of opinion polls for social dialogue.22 The public domain has its own civilisational, material and cultural indicators. It can be treated as a demarcated and accessible sphere where citizens can be voluntarily, communally present. However, it truly becomes a common domain when citizens actually meet together and cooperate. In order to exist, it must be co-created and actively complemented and not simply preordained and completed. Thus it is essential to beware that a revived public domain does not become privatised through either market and commerce expansion, or ownership by a particular local initiative that blocks access to other initiatives and projects.23 The measures and actions indicated above are absolutely necessary in order to take on Poland’s cultural challenges. I would also add: 1. 2. 3. 4. strengthening creative potential; improving the ability to make use of and to (re)interpret cultural heritage; carrying out fundamental changes in the educational system with regard to culture, art, media and citizenship; creating a new order in the area of social communication, above all public media, which will ensure universal access to cultural heritage, knowledge, and information and which will function interactively; 21 Maria Anna Potocka (‘Masza’), To tylko sztuka (Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Aletheia, 2008), p. 237. Anna Giza-Poleszczuk, ‘UEFA Euro 2012 Polska – Ukraina. Obsesja infrastruktury i nieobecność społeczeństwa’, Kultura Współczesna 2012, no 2 (73), p. 101. 22 23 Martyna Obarska, ‚Na przekór’, Respublica Nowa 2013, no 21, Spring, p. 9. 32 5. forming a public domain that will generate civic and creative communal action. Moving to a new model of economic development depends on meeting these challenges – a new model based not only on private assets and not dominated by the private sector. This in turn will open up the possibility of a pro-innovative reorientation of the Polish economy. Three dimensions of public politics The fundamental difficulty in establishing what is essential to public policies resides in the fact that very often, in practice, we can see a definition of the solution lurking behind the definition of the problem. This means that, practically speaking, we are beginning from the end. The aim of a given set of measures disappears, and its place is taken by the means that lead to it. In the case of public policies (as well as economic policy) we must begin with three types of question: (1) What for, why? (2) On what basis, based on what rules? and (3) How? These three key questions emerge from different dimensions of the social order and answers must be provided in different forms that demand different types of knowledge. The first question: ‘why do we undertake public action and what do we wish to achieve?’ belongs to the axiological order, the normative, and is concerned with recognising what is good and bad, or socially beneficial or not. Removing these questions from the realm of public policy does not mean that questions of good and evil disappear, but only that the decision-makers do not engage with them, they avoid the issue, and at the same time excuse themselves from responsibility for the consequences of actions they have undertaken; then again, questions concerning basic objectives are decided arbitrarily or imperatively, taking only their own considerations into account. As a result, sooner or later, their actions will benefit only themselves and their own maintenance of power. The second type of question: ‘what is the basis of our actions, on what basis do we operate, based on what rules?’ belongs to the order of 33 system that determines, among other things, procedures followed by public authorities. This area of public policy can be described also as institutional order, which defines the scope of public authorities: it defines their jurisdiction and objectives. Institutional order (including constitutional order) undoubtedly sets definite limits on public authorities. It reduces their powers of discretion (e.g., the constitutional prohibition on exceeding 60% of public debt to GDP). But these are beneficial constraints without which public authorities would have no democratic mandate and could not be regarded as socially legitimate. Public authorities undoubtedly gain greater freedom of action by liberating themselves from such restrictions. Their power seems to be greater. In actual fact, it grows weaker. Lacking a social mandate or support, it becomes naked and powerless. Finally, we come to questions relating to the instrumental dimension of action (public policy), such as ‘How?’, ‘By what means’, ‘Using which instruments?’ This is the operational level of public policy. Without addressing issues at this level we can achieve nothing; at the same time, reducing policy to the instrumental (technical) level condemns it to failure. We need knowledge to answer these three types of question. However, this knowledge takes different forms, is differently generated, and found in different ways. When we come to the operational level, we need professional and expert knowledge, practical knowledge, gained through practical experience and research. The concept of evidence-based policy is justified here. Thanks to such knowledge, we can reach for the appropriate instruments (means), calibrate them accordingly, and verify their effectiveness. Such knowledge can be systematically accumulated, and professionalism in public affairs can grow. Institutional order is a different matter. Here, straightforward cause-and-effect relations do not enter the picture. The actions undertaken (establishing rules) are subject to much greater uncertainty, and their effects emerge notably later and are always conditioned by many (changeable) elements that cannot be controlled. These types of uncertainty cannot be removed, since the actions cannot be separated from their context – they are by nature experimental and exploratory. How- 34 ever, this uncertainty can be reduced. Such action provokes irrevocable change – there is no possibility of return to the point of departure. The impact of a particular institutional solution can vary depending on the context, but some effect is invariably provoked, which means that a new situation then emerges. We are never in a state of being able to precisely plan and foresee effects. For this reason, this kind of action is usually adopted when operational action proves to be inadequate or begins to grow increasingly ineffective. We then change procedures, rules and structures – in other words, the institutional order. The opportunity to reduce uncertainty linked with systemic changes can depend, among other things, on the ability to evaluate the consequences (effects) and to carry out the necessary adjustments to the solution adopted. However, in a situation where new systemic solutions are necessary and a change of rules enters the agenda of economic policy, the question arises regarding what criteria we should adopt in order to carry out the changes needed. Once more, I stress that this type of change is not self-evident. There is no sure, comprehensive or universal knowledge in this case. It is conjectural and partial – both in an objective sense (we know some things, guess at others, and are ignorant of many more) and in a subjective sense – many actors have their own approach, perspective and view of the problem. Thus, even if we manage to diagnose the problem communally, there will still be many – or at least several – ways of solving it, and uniting these into a single approach will be out of the question. Nevertheless, one must arrive at some kind of solution, without being sure which is best or even vaguely helpful and, even if it is, there might be (negative) side-effects, which, with time, will neutralise and outweigh the expected beneficial gains. In my opinion, one cannot use the internal logic of the system to draw out a criterion for choosing a new systemic solution. External contribution is necessary in this case. This contribution must come from the axiological order, in which substantial and not procedural rationality is key. It is only when we can normatively define the overriding aim of our actions, what we want to achieve, and what is a value in itself for us, that we can deter- 35 mine which rules of behaviour are completely unacceptable to us, and which of those remaining we feel are appropriate to achieve our goal. It should be noted that, in this case too, knowledge is necessary, but of a completely different kind. It is a knowledge that emerges from human-civilisational experience and human convictions with regard to what is good and valuable. This type of knowledge is generated in a completely different way from instrumental knowledge. It is also necessary to refer to the axiological order when we evaluate a particular course of action, when we consider if the means used have contributed to achieving a goal and to what degree, and if they bring about what we recognise as good and desirable. If we can carry out such an evaluation, public policy (including economic policy) is conducted in a way that is likely to serve socio-economic development. I would like to draw attention, once again, to the fact that providing answers to the three basic types of question concerning the practice of public policy demands drawing on different types of knowledge – generated in different ways. I understand the concept: ‘means of generating knowledge’ to mean the social mechanism of creating, distributing, and utilising it. This being so, the differences of approach indicate also a diversity of actors and roles. Instrumental knowledge is basically expert, professional knowledge – it is both created and applied by specialists in specific areas. It is usually disseminated within a given professional group or among the representatives of various professional groups. Decision-makers who wish to utilise it must be experts themselves and know how to cooperate with experts. Knowledge related to systemic order is, in part, strictly expert in character, particularly in regard to the relationship between specific institutional solutions and the possibility of applying specific tools. On the other hand, it must take into consideration a much wider view of the whole domain in which a given decision-maker functions. In this case, the latter fulfils a managerial role (in fact, a co-managerial role) and must have access to a more general knowledge that refers to some kind of vision (narrative) of reality out of which the decision-maker’s 36 established doctrinal convictions emerge. Such knowledge must span the instrumental, the objective and what is recognised as correct, and thus subjective and normative. On the one hand, it must be rooted in operational order, and on the other in axiological order, to some extent. The application of such knowledge cannot be purely instrumental in character. It demands interaction – communication, persuasion and cooperation. The concept of governance conveys well the essence of the decision-maker’s role, acting within a systemic order and aiming for knowledge of this kind. It also shows that, in order to succeed, such a decision-maker must know how to share his knowledge with other actors. The development of systemic knowledge is not a process of accumulation, but a sort of intellectual meandering, in the process of which knowledge is altered and modified, in a process of constant reinterpretation. Such knowledge cannot be directly applied – it emerges from interaction and its application is the effect of interaction. In the case of axiological order, however, knowledge is generated by still other actors. These are actually the intellectual leaders of significant social groups. Such knowledge is born exclusively as a result of collective deliberation, saturated with axiological discourse in which various perspectives (narratives) of the person and the world collide, and in which different systems of values and world views confront each other. Such knowledge exists only in so far as it is combined. The creation of commonality signifies a common identity. It lasts as long as the common identity persists and is articulated. The decision-maker who reaches for this knowledge and is able to use it becomes, in fact, a leader – someone who liberates and directs social energy. Such knowledge could be called ideology. One should not fear or avoid it, as long as the system of public governance disables its unilateral imposition and direct practical application. It works in two ways. First, by establishing common values, a common recognition of what is good and what is bad. Therefore it acts directly, but in the normative, or moral order, and manifests ethical judgement. Secondly, it works through its impact on the systemic solutions adopted, 37 which is carried out by systemic decision-makers who emerge differently from intellectual leaders. These decision-makers must be autonomous in their actions in regard to ‘spiritual’ leaders, but they cannot be outside institutional limits and social control in any way. This part of the argument must conclude with the assertion that no human activity should be conducted without a clear ethical position. Without this, responsibility vanishes. It also demonstrates the necessity of invoking culture as a condition necessary to conduct good public policy. Summary Culture, in order to develop, must be an open space allowing meaningful social interaction. For this to happen, it must also be an axiological, interpretive and communicational space and a space of exchange (not only market exchange, although this is included). Such a perspective makes one aware of how narrow and damaging it is to reduce culture to a specific type of economic activity, i.e., ‘creative industry’. I aim to reverse this way of thinking and to show that instead of a short-sighted reduction of culture to economy, we should take a wide view of economy as culture. Only then will we find a way leading from culture to development – of individuals as well as society. Furthermore, we will correctly interpret the relations between civilisation and culture only when we recognise that, in order to develop and serve the common good, the economy must encompass both civilisation and culture. One must not, then, drive questions of meaning and ethics out of its sphere, maintaining that only efficiency is relevant. If today we are increasingly aware of the meaning of non-material assets, albeit above all in the context of the value of the firm, then we must also understand that, in the case of these assets, the process of accumulation proceeds differently than it does in the case of material assets. They gain value and become capital (assets) only in specific ways, in context; they demand intellectual leverage and a defined social ecosystem. They are not mechanically transferable assets. 38 Cultural potential becomes developmental potential only when we combine these tangible and intangible resources appropriately. The general premise behind this attempt is as follows: without material assets one cannot generate non-material assets, but the value of the material assets (or the value of what we can produce using them) can be multiplied by the appropriate use of non-material assets. This thesis is easily understood in relation to enterprises, organisations or cities, but it also has meaning on the macro level – to society, the state and the economy. Moreover its operationalisation on this level is much more difficult – it is linked with forming a specific institutional order and conducting appropriately oriented public policies, which the institutional order conditions and enables. Solving the problem in practice requires that culture is properly included in the mechanism of socio-economic development. The recommendations below are meant to serve this end: • • • • • • • • education constitutes the foundation of real relations between culture and the market; for a politics of equal opportunity, access to cultural capital is fundamentally important, particularly through the development of a variety of cultural competencies; access to culture and participation in culture should be practically recognised as an individual right; creativity develops with the awakening of cultural needs; formation of needs and cultural competencies stimulates development; strengthening enclaves of creativity is the most important way of escaping developmental drift; it is indispensable to allow a diversity of competing legal organisational forms of cultural activity; culture cannot be privatised and commercialised, but must be basically ‘common good’, a common and uniting resource (‘Creative Commons’), understood in the broadest sense; 39 • • • • • the internet economy demands both social communication and cultural competence; society and culture are not just mediating institutions between the state and the market – if they do not achieve the necessary level of self-organisation and autonomy then neither state nor market will function well; development is not about dynamics or increased intensity, but an evolutionary social change, it is a response to a challenge facing the social system; development is a trajectory determined by civilisation and culture; culture is not only the ground and context of development, but its key mechanism and dimension. Culture can serve development well, but when there is no development, it begins to break down and people begin to battle over a limited pool of material assets; culture then begins to manifest its negative face: it stigmatises and categorises. On the other hand, it is not that a society can function without culture and that the latter must be introduced from the outside, into a cultural desert, as it were, in which there is nothing of social value. In order for culture to serve development it cannot be imposed from above. One must free up cultural activity and awaken the cultural needs of citizens. It is not a question of the modernistic creation of a new world on the rubble of the traditional world, but the gradual and subjectivising transformation of its components.24 Culture is increasingly linked with development. At the same time, we are slowly emerging from the model that perceives the economic value of culture only through the prism of economic growth and employment generated by creative industries and cultural tourism. However, this opening up of culture to development is carried out primarily Etnografia/Animacja/Sztuka. Nierozpoznane wymiary rozwoju kulturalnego, ed. by Tomasz Rakowski (Warsaw: Narodowe Centrum Kultury, 2013), p. 9. 24 40 by attempting to redefine the concept of sustainable development and by adding a ‘fourth pillar’ to it, alongside the economic, ecological and social. Without negating such an approach, I believe that it is decidedly inadequate. The very expression ‘sustainable development’ seems doubtful to me. Indeed, the greatest doubt concerning the concept of ‘sustainable development’ stems from the fact that development means change – a series of changes, to be precise; a process that has no goal and does not aim for some kind of destined state. Development does not lead to equilibrium, as the advocates of ‘sustainable development’ hope. Of course, it is not that development disrupts all equilibrium; it does in certain areas, and not in others. The postulate that development should not disrupt certain types of equilibrium is sensible, especially if such a disruption (e.g., global warming) can lead to catastrophe. Balancing development with respect for specific kinds of equilibrium – that is, not allowing critical points of disequilibrium to be exceeded – is justified and possible, but in this case we are speaking more of what should be avoided and what change should not bring about, rather what it should lead to or consist of. There are many and diverse actors in social reality whose activities bring about a variety of results that fall within the continuity–change spectrum. If one can talk about equilibrium in relation to development, then it is precisely an equilibrium between continuity and change. Continuity itself excludes development, while complete change would mean social disintegration. Development is consciously oriented social change that ensures essential continuity of the social structure, giving it the ability to react to external threats and internal crises. Development is the outcome of the tension between continuity and change, and at the same time, it is a change in the conditions of that continuity. It unites two states in itself, since it leads from the familiar to the new (innovation), but at the same time leads from the new to the familiar (absorption, diffusion). Each delineated model of development creates specific conditions to reconcile continuity and change; it obvi- 41 ously never eliminates the tension between them, but it has a specific way of marking out the mechanisms of stability and adaptability and their intensity.25 It emerges from this that sustainable development is essentially impossible. For this reason, its advocates are considering not so much the idea of some ideal state of equilibrium, as the possibility of maintaining development. They expect politics to balance the various characteristics and aspects of development rather than to aim for equilibrium. A move in this direction is the concept of natural capitalism, in which the natural environment is acknowledged not as one of the factors of production but more as a skeleton, whose maintenance is essential for development and human stability.26 Such an interpretation is wide-ranging enough to allow everyone who is amenable to categories of development, and therefore social evolution, to subscribe to it. The demand to balance continuity and change cannot be read in such a way that we relate continuity to social systems, and change to its components. Development affects systems as well, including organisation. Systemic adaptation (change) is also the essence of development. Development constitutes institutional transformation and social institutions are at once the product and the source of development. Without questioning the existence of universal biological (genetic) human makeup and the ensuant human instincts, motives and behaviour patterns that determine our actions, we must recognise social institutions as the product of culture and not nature, and a result of evolution. At the same time, institutions are neither universal nor eternal. They are established and long-lasting, but not definitive – they come into being, disappear, and evolve, which means a change in the identity of social actors. 25 Bart Nooteboom, Towards a Cognitive Theory of the Firm. Issues and Logic of Change, paper for the AFEE conference, San Francisco, 5–7 January 1996. Paul Hawken, Lovins Amory, Lovins L. Hunter, Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (London: Earthscan, 1999). 26 42 The following conclusions emerge from this wide-ranging digression: • • • • development cannot be equitable, one can only try to make it so in the sense that one does not permit specific critical points to be exceeded as this would mean social disintegration; development takes place in constant tension between continuity and change; it involves solving specific social problems while generating new ones and depends on the adaptation of institutional order to changing conditions; culture is undoubtedly an important resource and developmental factor, but its role today is much greater due to the fact that it is becoming an indispensable component in the mechanism of development; culture enables institutional order to adapt to changing conditions. If we locate culture only on the side of the assets and factors of development, then we treat it instrumentally and narrowly as merely a ‘raw material’ of production. If we see it as a component of the developmental mechanism, then we have to ascribe to it the status of an autonomous and autotelic dimension of social life. It then fulfils its instrumental function, but more than that: the more it is recognised as an independent and self-contained dimension of human activity, promoted because of its autotelic values, the better and more comprehensively does it supply instrumental values. Deprived of its anthropological meaning and effects, it gradually declines, despite its instrumental usefulness. Nicolas Bourriaud writes beautifully about the role of art (and culture generally): ‘No one demands that it realise the Grand Project, but that by ancient roads it should discover a route, seek out paths of knowledge, mark out short cuts, draw maps on the surface of chaos, in a word – construct the tools of navigation’.27 This thought seems truly to crown my thinking. Nicolas Bourriaud, Estetyka relacyjna (Kraków: Muzeum Sztuki Współczesnej w Krakowie, 2012), p. 28. 27 43 The following thought from Władysław Tatarkiewicz is a fitting conclusion to this essay: ‘An exchange is carried out between culture and civilisation: individuals of higher culture contribute to the progress of civilisation, and this progressing civilisation contributes to lifting the culture of other individuals’.28 If one acknowledges that the present crisis is a crisis of market civilisation, then in order to find a way out, we must turn undoubtedly in the direction of culture – understood in anthropological, not economic terms. Only in this way can alternative thinking gradually emerge and become the basis for a profound transformation of our civilisation. For my own part, I would like to add that if culture is to really become a way out of the systemic crisis, then we must first look at its relations with economics and politics. The conviction has reigned to date that culture is essential and useful when we make it a part of the economy – i.e., the creative industries, or a political component such as Critical Art (of which the indefatigable Artur Żmijewski is a passionate promoter in Poland).29 It is time to look at this from another angle and consider how the economy or polity can become part of culture. And it seems to me that there is no other way for societal development. 28 Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Parerga (Warsaw: PWN, 1978), p. 84. Artur Żmijewski, Żmijewski. Przewodnik Krytyki Politycznej (Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politycznej, 2011). 29 mikołaj lewicki, maria rogaczewska, agnieszka ziętek Stimulating Social and Economic Development through Culture: An Analysis of Twelve Cultural Initiatives Oriented Towards Transforming Their Local Environment The concept of this book, and of the research project from which it originates, stems from a protest against the symbolic domination of the language that has come to be used in reference to development in Poland for many years now. Notions related to the economy, such as economic growth, human (and social) capital, and profitability, stand out in this discourse. The hegemony of several concepts applied not only to the description, but also to the assessment, of many complex processes, has extended into numerous spheres of cultural and social life, causing deep changes in our thinking about the system of economic relations, community building, and goal attainment. Numerous specific examples of the hegemony of this language can be quoted. We have become used to calling this greatly differentiated sphere of mutual aid, cooperative activity, and reciprocity, ‘social economy’, and to assessing 45 entities in this area according to their profitability, rather than evaluating other aspects, such as sustainability or networking. For this very reason many of the collective activities of individuals and groups, many grassroots projects in the local environment, are assessed harshly by decision-makers (e.g. on the level of the voivodeship or nationally), since the scale upon which they operate is small, and therefore does not contribute to large-scale employment. In order to overcome the monopoly of this discourse we have decided to propose a coherent template of concepts which we have termed ‘development categories’ and ‘mechanisms’. They serve us as an analytical ‘leverage’ which, as we demonstrate, allows a better understanding of the complexity of relations between culture and development. By development we do not only have in mind the development of culture (and cultural institutions), but also social and economic development. Our assumption is that, contrary to the common premise, not only is cultural development more than just a derivative of economic development, but that such divisions are misleading. The introduction of the development categories and mechanisms into public discourse, along with routine writing strategies and development plans (at the national and local government levels), can in our view serve to attain at least three goals. The first goal is to promote an inter-disciplinary dialogue in the sciences and among various institutional stakeholders of the cultural field, in particular, between the public and business sectors and the third sector. Increasingly, leaders and activists of various sectors are required to cooperate in practice on a day-to-day basis. This cooperation, however, engenders many obstacles on the level of articulating the expected outcomes and agreeing on the means by which to measure the achieved results. The development mechanisms and categories proposed in this study serve to suggest a basic, universal matrix of concepts for planning outcomes and evaluating various socio-cultural initiatives. 46 The second goal is to extend the concept of culture. Recently the term ‘culture’ has been applied as a kind of metaphorical ‘lubricant’ in mechanisms made up of hard matter, the latter meaning economy and market, state apparatus and its administration, the sphere of politics, education, or law. Hence we speak of ‘the culture of running a business’, ‘organizational culture’, ‘lack of culture [manners] among young people’, etc. Without disavowing the right to criticize such usage, we would like to point to the fact that culture is colloquially understood at best as a ‘superstructure’, and more generally, as a set of behaviours which are meant to signal a positive evaluation of the attitude of those who are being described. In short, it serves as a label which describes behaviour or legitimizes it. This is not the only function that the concept of culture has achieved. The concept of creative industries emerged in the early twenty-first century, which, according to Jerzy Hausner, also limited the function of culture to that of a tool which ‘lubricates’ an existing market or as a resource to be incorporated into the establishment of a new one.30 This perception of Culture has become popular and will continue to be so, despite the fact that criticism of such an approach to cultural function is not only present in off-the-record discussions at ‘sectorial’ conferences on culture (and its decline). To put it in a broader context, the relation between culture and economy means first of all the creation of a new circulation of resources and money. Such an outlook on culture is but an outlook ‘from the market to culture’. It is worth noting that a similar perspective is recognized by economists, experts in management and business. Numerous analyses point to the fact that this results to a great extent from the transformation of the globalised economy: the development of the service sector, and the emergence of ‘commodified’, quantifiable knowledge and information. The next extreme holds the approach ‘from culture towards the market’. Culture, perceived as a symbolic structure and a number of 30 Jerzy Hausner, Culture as a Way Out of Crisis, in this book. 47 permanent habits and behaviours, is the sphere which ‘produces’ meaning, authorizing control over resources and their distribution, over the production of desires or authorizing the claims to justly distribute goods. Culture, in such a perception of its connection with the economy, leads to the rejection of economy as a sphere in which the structure of social divisions is reproduced. Culture is the ultimate mechanism determining transformation of the social structure. In both of the approaches outlined above, the relationship between culture and the market is defined through their asymmetry and functional submission: culture serving the market or vice versa. The third goal is the criticism of an automatic reduction of culture to ‘cultural institutions’. The institutionalized circulation of art and culture, is dominated by a perspective underlying the autonomy of culture perceived, first and foremost, as practice related mainly to the institutions of culture and art. This perspective is often expressed in appeals to authorities, representatives of the public sector or business, to maintain the autonomy of culture, its institutions and its resources. This perspective implies that culture follows its own rules which cannot be reduced either to market principles, or even, to a certain degree, to the conventions or customs characteristic of popular culture. Such appeals related to creative freedom, proclaimed both by artists and on their behalf, emphasize the importance of creative activity by making reference to its universality (e.g. the cultural legacy of a given country or European heritage). Simply put, in the case of conflict with other spheres, the sphere of culture (and its representatives), claims superiority either explicitly or implicitly, through an assumed distinction between high and mass cultures. This discourse has much in common with the mechanisms of cultural hegemony of a definite social group, i.e. the intelligentsia.31 Simultaneously, however, the mechanisms of resource allocation n these Tomasz Zarycki, Ideologies of Eastness in Central and Eastern Europe (Abington– New York: Oxon, Routledge, 2014). 31 48 institutions are unstable, frequently benefitting from the support of the public sector. In effect, the allocation of resources and links with economy (e.g. limited resources, for instance financial ones) paradoxically result in the lack of redistribution resources necessary for the sphere of culture to function. The paradox consists in the fact that, in defending their autonomy, those who adhere to this perspective do not raise the issue of a dearth of resources, the criteria of their redistribution, and the mechanisms by which this allocation of resources might be improved. The claim to the autonomy of culture does not legitimize its financing or its special status in public sector activity. Briefly speaking, the spheres of artistic freedom or cultural initiatives end with the question of resources, and the justification of allocating resources to culture over other spheres (e.g. of the public sector financed through the redistribution of public means) and respectively in a definite proportion. As one female respondent emphasized during the study, there remains the need to justify the construction of a cultural centre which has been built instead of a new clinic. Similarly, sponsored events have to legitimize the added value for the sponsor’s brand. Therefore, the autonomy of the sphere of culture turns out to be relatively conventional, not to say illusionary. The new language presented in this publication enables the identification of the concept of development, allowing researchers to tackle the issue through a language other than that of economics. In fulfilment of the first goal, we propose five development mechanisms, namely mechanisms of social coordination which have a direct impact on development. The second goal leads us to an extension of established categories, such as human capital or social capital, making references not only to the language of economy (capital as a resource), but through the implementation of slightly different concepts. The proposed development categories, like the proposed mechanisms, create an analytical structure which opens up a path towards a clear description of socio-economic development. Therefore, instead of talking of 49 human capital, we suggest an analysis of ‘empowerment’, we recommend that the concept of social capital be substituted by forms of communitarisation, and that the criteria of effectiveness are replaced by that of sustainability. We perceive development as breaking with the established reproduction of social relations and as heralding social change through the emergence of new mechanisms coordinating collective activity. In the present chapter we broaden this reflection on the concept of development, demonstrating the way in which change can be measured and how it may be referred to: to the past, to a model (an imagined target of change), and the definition of those who undergo change, etc.; we subsequently show the measures (indexes) by which to measure that change; to finally define which coordination mechanisms among individuals are responsible for development. This does not mean that the reproduction of existing social relations, conducted cultural initiatives, and existing institutions cannot be socially useful or effective. Existing institutions can also be said to contribute to social change over the long-term. However, this study refers to development only when new social configurations appear, allowing a new resource allocation, redistribution, inclusion, simultaneously safeguarding sustainability of the initiatives. Our analysis has been based on case studies conducted in the course of the ‘Culture and Development’ Research Project. In order to make the text below more comprehensible, the next section presents the ‘socio-demographics’ of the cultural initiatives under research, compiled by Anna Świętochowska and Igor Stokfiszewski, consisting of a description of research activities and the core conclusions of the singular research reports. The relevant acronym for each cultural initiative, where necessary, appears in this table and will be used in the following analysis to refer to these initiatives. In the forthcoming analysis the name of the individual researcher will be used to refer to individual research reports. The ‘demographics’ table below introduces the individuals upon whose research we have bases our analysis. 50 demographics of the initiatives included in this study information Autonomiczne Centrum Społeczne Cicha4 [Cicha4 Autonomous Social Centre] (ACS) l ocat ion: Lublin act iv it y for m at: informal network of social and cultural initiatives (from foundations and associations to non-formalized initiatives), countercultural and independent in character; active from September 2013 to December 2014 in the tenement house provided free of charge by the foreign owner; ended after the sale of the house. http://www.cicha4.org/ r ese a rch t e a m: Rafał Czekaj, Agnieszka Ziętek Researched Initiatives’ Demographics elaborated by Anna Świętochowska and Igor Stokfiszewski activities and conclusions of the research report The central idea of individuals committed to ACS Cicha4 was the establishment of a space for unconstrained, independent artistic activity, outside of the mainstream, free of financial commitments resulting from public funding. The groups associated with the initiative acted in compliance with common principles related to the non-commercial character of the space; respect for the dignity and equality of every individual, focus on the social development and inclusive character of the activity, cooperation, commitment, co-responsibility, and the absence of internal hierarchy. ACS Cicha4 brought together a dozen organizations of various type, informal groups, and initiatives: DIY Bike Workshops, FabLab Lublin, Queer Clinic, Screen Cleaning Workshop, Fencing Group, Amnesty International Lublin, Anarchist Federation. The Centre also served as the venue for yoga classes and the cafeteria, ‘Love’. Among the fundamental mechanisms promoting development within the Centre’s activity, the following elements must be recognized: effective resource allocation, exchange, and generation, resulting in the emergence of ‘synergy processes’, as alongside a departure from a business management model, creating alternative organizational solutions not based solely on free-market economics. The entities active within the Centre’s team attempted to manage Cicha4 through a collective assembly which reached the decisions related to ACS though direct democracy. Thanks to the cooperation of the ACS groups with the local community, namely the residents of neighbouring tenement houses, ACS activity can be referred to in the context of its substantial contribution to building up social capital (through an increase in the level of participation, social commitment and trust, and a consolidation of the conviction that more can be achieved collectively) and satisfying the needs and development of individuals(through the development of knowledge and skills, broadening horizons, transforming convictions and attitudes towards conscious activism and social involvement, and developing a sense of agency and a consciousness of an individual’s environmental impact). Fundacja Cohabitat [Cohabitat Foundation] l ocat ion: Łódź, all over Poland act iv it y for m at: from 2007 as an informal group, foundation since 2012 http://www.cohabitat.net/ r ese a rch er : Bartosz Orlicki Fundacja Cohabitat is one of the first and most dynamic initiatives in Poland to be involved in DIY culture. The total number of its participants currently amounts to 57,000. Fundacja Cohabitat’s mission is to promote to the use of natural materials, self-sufficiency, and open technologies, while the major goal is to assist people in establishing natural habitats which preserve the natural functions of established ecosystems. Fundacja Cohabitat’s activity encompasses the coordination of a network of organizations and informal groups, the organization of festivals, workshops, and web conferencing, as well as the implementation of complex designs that require special expertise and tools. All the initiatives undertaken by Fundacja Cohabitat follow the responsibility for the natural and social environments. The technology developed by the Foundation and the facilities it establishes are based on local natural materials and must be environment-friendly. Their work model is based on social bonds, cooperation, and sharing. Fundacja Cohabitat is an example of an innovative form of organization within which dispersed teams of flat structures operate. Fundacja Cohabitat manages to accomplish complicated and extensive projects despite the lack of institutional support. It operates predominantly thanks to its competencies and an effective use of the internet. It also serves as a catalyst for the transfer of knowledge: it searches for information, collects, and willingly shares it. The practice worked out by the organization, its accumulated knowledge, and implemented prototypes is important nationwide from the point of view of innovative economy development. Koło Gospodyń Wiejskich Lesznowola [Lesznowola Farmers’ Wives Association] l ocat ion: Lesznowola, Grójec Commune (Mazovian Voivodeship) act iv it y for m at: from 2009 an informal initiative, association since 2012 r ese a rch er : Jan Mencwel Koło Gospodyń Wiejskich Lesznowola is an initiative founded by a group of young women. Despite its traditional name, the Association’s female members are from among the new residents of the village of Lesznowola, who have come to live there in recently built houses. The initiative was originally conducted as a series of informal social meetings, nevertheless the inspiration they offered encouraged participants to participate in the creation of a public space for the local community by organizing contests, charity fundraising, and events which promoted local identity, such as a competition for the Lesznowola Commune emblem, or the celebration of 600 years of Lesznowola. Group membership, social activity, and a space beyond the home, give the Association’s members not only the feeling of community, allowing them to identify with other young women, but also allow them to realise their potential and strength through cooperation. Additionally, they reveal one’s perceived agency and self-esteem. Thanks to communitarisation and the energy that is created within the group, new ideas and initiatives benefitting the activation of the whole Lesznowola community are conceived. Furthermore, a spontaneous flow of resources is observed, as some of the ladies boast high professional competencies (organizational, business) which they use to benefit their group’s activity. The activity of the Koło Gospodyń Wiejskich Lesznowola serves as an example of the way in which a traditional form of cooperation can be a vehicle of active modern content, enriching cultural life, forming new social bonds, and contributing to local development. On the other hand, it shows the strength of the development of new forms of activism rooted in the tradition of collective action, within historical organization types (e.g. women’s associations). Kierunek Kultura [Direction: Culture] l ocat ion: Mazovian Voivodeship act iv it y for m at: programme run by the Mozavian Centre of Culture and Art, currently the Mazovian Institute of Culture, launched in 2009 and implemented for four years. In 2013, the Programme was suspended, with the potential to be reactivated. www.kierunekkultura.waw.pl r ese a rch er : Mikołaj Lewicki Kierunek Kultura is a many-stage programme targeted at organizers, animators, and the leaders of local communities involved in the planning of cultural events. However, in the eyes of its founders, it is meant to transform the region, and not just the institutions which operate within it. Three stages can be identified in the initiative’s development. The first stage, from the ‘promotion of the region’ to ‘identifying participation in culture’ was a legitimization of cultural programmes at the local level on the grounds of Commune’s promotion goals. The programme developed its participants’ skills in fundraising, project planning, and marketing. During the second stage, related to the creation and promotion of cultural animation development understood culture as a mechanism responsible for social integration. It emphasized the intention of mparting meaning to collective activities and participation in culture as a mechanism building a number of civic competencies . The last stage, consisting of local actions and interventions, was characterized by the transfer of focus from organizers and artists to recipients of culture. The concept of an ‘active participation in culture’ emerged, while the contribution of culture to development was defined at the level of generating social and creative capital, that is the resources which would allow the development of local communities to be measured by its variety and opportunities it offers. Kierunek Kultura revealed the potential for development of the initiatives undertaken by public institutions through combining the competencies and activity of local animators, as well as cultural activists, and communities. The programme included continuous self-reflection and evaluation, it adapted to developing circumstances and with the needs of the local environment. Kultura na Sielcach [Culture in Sielce] l ocat ion: Sielce, Warsaw act iv it y for m at: informal residents’ initiative, formed in early 2014 r ese a rch t e a m: Agnieszka Ziętek, Rafał Czekaj Kultura na Sielcach arose from the protests of residents against plans to privatize the site on which a former kindergarten in order to construct an apartment block. The initiative intends to turn the abandoned building into a place dedicated to socio-cultural activity in order to integrate local residents. The group’s stated aim is to ‘improve the quality of life of Sielce residents, broadening opportunities for local cultural, entertainment, and educational engagement, as well as a conscious and collective shaping of the shared public space in Sielce’. The initiative stands out for the commitment and integration of residents’s activities for the common good, the quality of District’s space and for the defense of the residents’ right to consultation on potential development. The group’s activism is primarily local. Thanks to the initiative and actions undertaken by its members, on the one hand, there appears a chance for the residents to enjoy a better quality of life. On the other their sense of empowerment and agency increases, along with a feeling of responsibility for the shared space. Common activities translate into definite effects which directly concretize the local identity and influence the growth of social capital. Activities conducted within the initiative allow its participants to acquire new competencies, such as practical skills in cooperating with public administration. Forms of conduct have been developed to effectively lobby local government in the sphere of communication, agreement, and consolidating a broad front of social activism, which directly translates in a positive way into the manner of public management within the District. The success of Kultura na Sielcach inspires other urban activists; therefore it indirectly initiates changes in a wider context. Stowarzyszenie Kulturotwórcze Nie Z Tej Bajki [Not My Cup of Tea Cultural Association] l ocat ion: Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski act iv it y for m at: association, founded in 2007 www.nieztejbajki.art.pl r ese a rch er : Monika Pastuszko The ‘Nie Z Tej Bajki’ Cultural Association is a non-profit organization which holds artistic and cultural events in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. It organizes exhibitions, film shows, workshops and classes, as well as picnics. Furthermore, cooperates with institutions, organizations, and experts. The present Research Project has focused on one of the Association’s actions, namely the ‘Tyle sztuki’ (So Much Art) Social Campaign, meant to draw attention to sculptures from the 1970s found in urban public space. So far information has been collected on over 40 statues, of which three have been renovated. This action does not have the character of a project (it bears no standard features of a project, such as a goal, budget, or timetable). The organization’s goal is not simply the renovation of neglected art. The higher motive of this action is the residents’ bond with the identity of their housing estate and town, and the involvement of as many local actors as possible in this cooperation. Thanks to the initiative the knowledge of these sculptures has been collected and introduced into public discourse, which allows the chance to prevent them from sinking into oblivion. Apart from its aesthetic impact, the rehabilitation of such spaces also has a symbolic dimension; it serves as a signal to residents that something positive is happening in their town, symbolizing an improvement in their circumstances. It is worth noting that the Association’s activity appears to be an argument in favour of staying in the town or moving into it. This is unusual given the trend of demographic depopulation in the town. The ‘Nie Z Tej Bajki’ Cultural Association emphasizes the importance of the town’s history. This results in the empowerment of the residents and the reconstruction of a communal identity, something which is badly missing in Ostrowiec and which is essential for the town’s development. Praska Biblioteka Sąsiedzka [Praga Neighbours’ Library] (PBS) l ocat ion: Praga, Warsaw act iv it y for m at: Praga Neighbours’ Library – a project by the Zmiana (Change) Foundation founded in August 2012. www.bibliotekisasiedzkie.org r ese a rch t e a m: Piotr Więcek, Marcin Wroński The idea of neighbours’ libraries stems from the tradition of Praga private and social libraries operating in the first half of the twentieth century. The main sphere of activity of PBS is the collection of books, and ensuring their accessibility, acquiring good of everyday use and passing them on to those in need, assistance in communicating with public offices, and the organization of social and cultural events. PBS aims to make books accessible to the poorest and the least educated, while encouraging the middle class to share books and offer their time to benefit the District. The library is a non-profit, grassroots social activity, based exclusively on commitment and trust. There are no library cards, no registers of the books or of those borrowing them, there are no fines either for delays in returning the books or for not returning them at all. Residents, frequently representatives of disadvantaged groups, are very positive about the initiative, and reveal their commitment to taking care of it. An interesting PBS activity is the ‘Book in Jail’ Project which consists of the acquisition of books which are later sent to prisons. The initiative is supported by informal Legia Warszawa FC fans, which improves PBS’s recognisability among the potential addressees and recipients of the Project, while boosting the Library’s credibility in their perception. Praska Biblioteka Sąsiedzka adds to the variety of local cultural institutions. It stands out for its understanding of the environment in which it operates. Its activities, on the one hand, motivate and foster bonds between groups of people who would not ordinarily come into contact. On the other it introduces the circulation of resources important for social development. Stowarzyszenie De-Novo [De-Novo Association] l ocat ion: Dynów act iv it y for m at: Founded in 2003-7 as an informal group, since 2007 an Association r ese a rch er : Anna Świętochowska The main sphere of activity of Stowarzyszenie De-Novo is the organization of large cast, open-air theatre performances in which the residents of Dynów participate as actors, but also as set designers, and costumiers, alongside other elements of show production, culminating in a performance in an urban space. Magdalena Miklasz, an actress and director, with an emotional connection to Dynów, and Ewa Woźniak, a set and costume designer, are the driving force behind the Association. Work on the shows takes a month (July) and culminates in three performances open to the public. The Associations also puts on concert performances, and dancing soirées, among other events. This event of ‘mass participation’ is held annually. Dynów residents, local business people, families with children, secondary school and university students, professional and amateur actors, artists, specialists in choreography, lighting, multimedia, promotion and theatre production, as well as a host of other people, both professionally related to culture and otherwise, take part in this initiative. In return they receive board and keep. The number of individuals eager to participate has grown from year to year. Despite the absence of a professional background for the majority of participants, the productions boast high artistic quality. Among the main resources promoting development generated through the activity of the Stowarzyszenie De-Novo it is worth noting the satisfaction of the needs of individuals to gain experience and skills and to establish personal and professional contacts, along with the opportunity to experiment and create, seek inspiration, solve personal problems, and increase the range of one’s interests. Furthermore, the initiative contributes to the community, forming social capital, and promoting social activism, creativity, entrepreneurship, positive impact on urban space, and a participative management model. The Association’s actions are based on the concepts of culture and art as living models of individual and collective life, encouraging individuals to develop their creative needs and to experiment with unconventional forms of expression in everyday life too. Teatr Łaźnia Nowa [New Bath Theatre] l ocat ion: Nowa Huta, Krakow act iv it y for m at: Active since the 1990s, initially as an informal initiative, currently as an public cultural institution www.laznianowa.pl r ese a rch t e a m: Łukasz Maźnica, Marek Oramus, Jan Strycharz, Barbara Worek The main sphere of Teatr Łaźnia Nowa activity is based on the idea of engaged theatre, rooted in its environment and engaging with the social fabric. The theatre stages repertory productions (its own and in co-production with numerous Polish centres), it hosts workshops and projects in urban spaces. With no permanent theatre troupe, it cooperates with different professional actors and often invites amateurs, such as the residents of Nowa Huta, to join in. Of the many initiatives launched by the theatre, two have been analysed: the ‘Participations’ Project, consisting in the co-production of artistic events by professionals and amateurs, referring to the current situations resulting from the social challenges of Nowa Huta and its residents, as well as the ‘University of Looking’ targeted at young people from disadvantaged families, meant to help them to realise their potential for development. The theatre and its artists are characterized by an extreme sensitivity to surrounding realities, commitment to art and systematic attempts to overcome the barriers between people (personal, social, environmental). Work on stage serves them as a tool to open up and inspire people. In the Theatre’s case one can speak of its impact on development on an individual level, where hardly discernible soft social, material, and spiritual capital interpenetrates and strengthens one another, as well as at a supra-individual one through creating a positive image of the Nowa Huta District, informing the identity of the local community, and changing the surrounding reality through the cultural institution’s investment. Clear evidence of the influence of this initiative on development is the improved quality of life for residents, offering them the chance to become part of a community reaching beyond the familiar circles of work and family. This initiative creates a new context, a new point of view, which can in consequence contribute to the feeling of a purpose in life and the perception of the potential for change in life. The second sphere is the empowerment of participants allowing them to be creative in an atmosphere of approval and trust. Participants stop merely being recipients and take on the roles of actors. Moreover, the initiative creates a space for innovation which allows the interpenetration of stage creativity and everyday life, while also significantly increasing the cultural opportunities on offer in the Nowa Huta District. Stowarzyszenie Terra Artis [Terra Artis Association] l ocat ion: Lanckorona act iv it y for m at: Active since 2010 as an Association, previously engaged in informal activity r ese a rch t e a m: Kaja Chrenkoff, Tomasz Machowski, Łukasz Maźnica, Jan Strycharz The mission of Terra Artis is to enrich the cultural life of Lancokorona near Cracow. The Association permanently runs the Artistic Centre, though the main focus of its activities is the organisation of hugely popular International Guitar Workshops. In the course of an annual 10-day music festival, a group of some tens of children and youths improve their skills in playing the guitar, with the recent addition of the violin and the harp. Additionally, 55 the workshops are accompanied by artistic classes in other arts (such as theatre, dance, and poetry) and concerts open to the general public. For the duration of the Festival, Lanckorona is transformed into a, vibrant, important cultural centre for both participants and tourists. This supports the hotel and restaurant trade. Furthermore, thanks to workshops and the activity of the Artistic Centre, the quality of life of local residents increases: the cultural opportunities on offer are greater, levelling the chances of the Lanckorona children and youth to access cultural events with those living in larger urban centres, as well as providing them with opportunities for artistic development. The activities undertaken by Terra Artis also have an important impact on integration, allowing for the establishment of new social contacts and the development of social competencies. Along with the educational benefit of the Association’s activities, the residents’ need for entertainment and growth are broadened. To Tu – Akademia Twórczych Umiejętności [It’s Here: Academy of Creative Skills] l ocat ion: Czaplinek act iv it y for m at: Active from 1998 in informal activity, known by this name since 2013 www.totuczaplinek.pl r ese a rch er : Jarema Piekutowski The To Tu – Akademia Twórczych Umiejętności is a network of interlaced initiatives concentrated around a group of individuals from Czaplinek and its vicinity who have undertaken culture-related activities for some years. The organization’s prevailing motto reads: ‘Everyone is entitled to a beautiful landscape, and to live in a healthy environment, and harmonious surroundings’. The initiative stands out first of all for its a strong foothold in the milieu and its organic character, it is perceived as a grassroots imperative, dynamic and adaptable, with a low degree of formalization. These principles are also applied to the choice of sites upon which to intervene; the choice does not depend on the utility of a site, but rather on the area’s unique history. The Association’s impact on development begins on the level of individual artists and recipients of the initiative’s activities. Thanks to openness and an individual approach artists and recipients develop their self-esteem, acquiring knowledge and new skills, as well as changing the stereotypical interpretations of the surrounding world. Individuals active with the initiative introduce a new quality, new habits, and permanent education into the sphere of culture. A strong foundation in tradition offers the effective use of the local resources in the promotion of the region, such as creating the Drahim honey brand. The To Tu’ Association’s activities are innovative both on a local and a national dimension. Firstly, because they were independent of public resources for a long period of time, and, secondly by rejecting the discourse of culture based in the language of grant programmes and bureaucracy which has been imposed in recent years. The Association’s innovative, direct, means of communicating with participants is also very successful. Zamek Cieszyn [The Cieszyn Castle] l ocat ion: Cieszyn act iv it y for m at: local government culture institution run by a cooperation between the town of Cieszyn and the Silesian Voivodeship www.zamekcieszyn.pl r ese a rch er : Patryk Dziurski The goal of Zamek Cieszyn is to contribute to the development of innovative entrepreneurship by using the potential of design, based on the conviction that design is an effective tool to increase the competitiveness of companies, institutions, towns, and regions. The institution holds design workshops, exhibitions, Businessman Club meetings, training, and consultancy for local government representatives, the media, designers and business people from around Poland. Zamek Cieszyn promotes the idea of designing for everybody, taking into account physical, social, and cultural differences. The major development mechanisms observed in the activity of Zamek Cieszyn are resource allocation and innovation. As an institution, the Castle possesses some material resources, such as buildings and financial support, as well as certain crucial non-material resources resulting from high competencies of its employees. Among the most important non-material assets, crucial for fulfilling its goals, are knowledge, skills, relations, reputation, image, a strong brand, as well as an effective management system. The employees of Zamek Cieszyn promote 56 cooperation among various entities and operate as a catalyst for the exchange of resources. Innovation in Zamek Cieszyn stems from the institution’s hybrid character, conducting its activity at the meeting point between business and social projects. The cultural initiatives described above and the studies conducted upon them have influenced our understanding of relationship between culture and development. The nature of the this relationship will be addressed, first, through an analysis of ‘development categories’. Development Categories 1. Empower ment Empowerment is a category which does not define a state so much as a multi-phase process of the transformation of individuals and groups, consisting of the transition from heteronomous to autonomous decisions, choices, and activities. Empowered individuals and groups cease to be entirely determined by external structures, e.g. supremacy structures; they are no longer susceptible to being steered from the outside, even if they should remain within oppressive structures, a sphere of internal freedom emerges in them which allows them to make decisions and undertake activities with greater awareness. At an existential level the experience related to empowerment is the experience of internal freedom and a ‘sphere of choices’, greater self-confidence, greater agency (the ability to act even in spheres which previously seemed inaccessible), an increased range of decisions and choices, as well as a consistent aspiration to be identified and a readiness to identify others, too, as separate entities. The relation between empowerment and identification means that this category is not only existential, but it also reveals clear social implications. If a given group within society is empowered, its parameters change, first of all because the group can turn into a nucleus of ‘critical mass’ which will alter the mechanisms of respect which apply not only to itself, but also other groups. This is the mechanism which inspires solidarity between distant groups, which also experience the absence of this empowerment (such as workers of large industrial plants in Communist Poland in the 1980s; gays and miners made redundant in Great Britain; environmentalists from developing countries; as well as wom- 57 en fighting for their rights in those countries). Furthermore, from that moment on, such a group enjoys the right to self-determination of their situation and choices, to be recognized, and to actively criticize the society until it judges that its claims to respect and basic rights are met to the same extent as those of other groups. The process of empowerment is complex, frequently dramatic, and full of difficulties which move the given group back into a position of dependency, with limited capacities and rights. The process of empowerment requires a renunciation fear, or action in spite of this fear, as the history of many emancipation movements will attest, as along with movements founded in solidarity. It was a conscious decision not to focus on large social or emancipation movements in our Research Project (although the Fundacja Cohabitat initiative is a self-declared alternative social movement which opposes consumer society). Despite the fact that our research does not concern the familiar movements for dignity, human rights, minority recognition, establishing agency, and so forth, the category of empowerment has proved to be extremely useful in analysing the socio-cultural initiatives we have investigated. This is because the effects of a successful empowerment process will be perceived not only on an individual level, but on a communal and societal level. In the long-term, the results of empowerment are far more stable than resolution of short-term problems which are related to material deprivation rather than dignity and appreciation. A stable effect of empowerment can be clearly seen on the example of the school. Supplies of goods and services to excluded environments, providing higher quality equipment for schools and other educational institutions, for instance, results only in short-term solutions. A school, even with state-of-the art devices, does not necessarily stop being, for certain groups, a place of degradation, of stigmatization, of prejudices which block opportunities and disempower children from the countryside or migrants’ children (in contrast with children in urban areas or children of an ethnic majority). In order for the school 58 to stop being a site of reproduction of this degradation there must be a middleman, a broker, an agent of change (a role played by an NGO or a cultural initiative). This agent focuses attention on the transformation of ‘mental maps’ and stereotypes present in the institution. Such an agent of change for youths from rehabilitation centres can be found in the Teatr Łaźnia Nowa in Nowa Huta. This theatre has proven that, thanks to ‘taking young people out’ of their routine context, by placing them on stage, giving them responsibility and challenging them, both their self-image and their perception by the local community have changed. In the most recent business and management-related literature32 attention has, increasingly, been paid to the fact that a failure to harness human potential negatively impacts not only society, but also ‘pure’ business. The situation can be found in many different situations: from the failure to encourage the talents of children and youth born to underprivileged families or in the provinces, through society’s incapacity to support people overcoming crises (e.g. debt, addiction, mental disorder), to ‘wasting’ an individual’s life by imprisoning them and thus depriving them of opportunity. Overall, activities meant to empower have a positive, long-term effect on society’s cohesion, human capital level, and a broader context for developing business. In the above context, it is worthwhile emphasizing the example of the ‘Book in Jail’ initiative. This initiative was implemented by informal groups of the ‘Legia Warszawa’ FC fans in cooperation with the leaders of PBS. The aim of the initiative was to bridge a gap between marginalized social groups such as football fans and prisoners, and the middle class. The initiative cannot reduced to the provision these marginalized groups with material resources which temporarily improve their quality of life. It’s impact lies in the creation of an open situation in which the above groups might move beyond their traditional roles, David Peter Stroh, Systems Thinking for Social Change: A Practical Guide to Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, and Achieving Lasting Results (Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Junction, 2015). 32 59 seeing new potential in themselves and in each other (football fans had the opportunity to see themselves as volunteers, people with something to offer others; while inmates were given the opportunity to prove that they could not be reduced to a prison routine, that they were open to alternative practices). The above example reinforces a key concern in this publication: culture encourages people to concentrate on relations. Culture also offers the opportunity to establish a connection between socially distant segments of society, as to the initiative conducted by PBS demonstrates. The cases examined here are not merely a form of ‘mass participation’, gathered around a charismatic leader and functioning only as long as the leader was present. We have examined the cultural organizations that have institutionalized to a certain degree; those applying mechanisms meant to change people’s customs and actions in the hope of altering people’s attitudes. However, the transformation of attitudes, and the move towards a system that is sustainable, adaptive, and offers a permanent change, requires time, patience, and systemic and strategic thinking. Our conclusions are based on case studies. This evidence suggests that such transformation is possible when both individual and institutional empowerment becomes the deliberate strategy of a given organization. The ability to ‘think ahead, to prepare a project for the future with long-term planning is a feature of those initiatives aimed at consolidating empowerment. Initiatives which focus on the ‘here and now’ (such as the initiative from Dynów and, to a certain extent, the ‘University of Looking’) demonstrate a difficulty in acquiring greater empowerment in the long-term. Another reason for the significance of empowerment has as a development category in our research is the impact of increasingly effective communication ‘overcoming barriers’, generating networks and fostering positive energy (such as in business, for instance through marketing communication). Such communication stems from the ability to tell convincing stories. Empowerment shows a definite in- 60 crease in the ability for persuasive narration, the ability to tell a convincing story of oneself or one’s group. The initiatives we have investigated differ in regard to these narrative skills; however, it is clear that their skills in this respect correspond with the success and durability of the initiative and its impact on the environment. This correlation is visible in projects as varied as Fundcja Cohabitat, the To Tu Association, or the Koło Gospodyń Wiejskich Lesznowola. Had the leaders of these initiatives not been able to tell powerful, convincing stories, the impact of their activity would have been neither as durable nor as visible. Therefore the capacity of an institution to empower its participants is based, to a great extent, on quantifiable narrative and communication skills. In conclusion, the category of empowerment provides us with a new perspective on the relationship between culture and economy. We do not lay claim to have discovered a new means of ‘quantifying’ humanitarian activities, such as an improvement in the rehabilitation of inmates. Rather, by evaluating an organization’s capacity to empower through its activities (such as the regulation of results or calculations of the cost of abandonment) offers a completely differently method of ‘weighing’ the effects and durability of various initiatives. Empowerment turns out to be the key to sustainability even in a situation in which funding is either no longer available or has been reduced, and access to resources is diminished. Empowerment gives an institution or a group of individuals with awareness of their own worth, as well as of the value of their activity, regardless of whether there is a customer, employer, or sponsor who finances the activity. Consolidating the empowerment of participants in the initiative, such as young people, volunteers, and senior citizens, allows the ‘institutional memory’ of the initiative to outlast the source of its funding. The activity of the artists and activists of Czaplinek, who did not suffer despite the loss of funding for several years, best illustrates the value of empowering participants. 61 2. Communitarisation The category of communitarisation best illustrates the intersection of analytical perspectives in this research publication: for an economist, it is a category which is understood merely as an individual’s resource, a kind of capital;33 for a sociologist, communitarisation is one of several basic, forms of socialising, without which the coordination of the activities of individuals would not be possible; for an anthropologist, in turn, communitarisation is the centre of scientific observation. When reconstructing the perception of communitarisation among both authors of these cases studies and the organizations implementing the initiatives examined here, we have tried to identify key phenomena and situations which have been secondarily synthesized in the further summing up of this category. A description of communitarisation may be substantially enriched through analysis of the activity conducted by the ‘Nie Z Tej Bajki’ Cultural Association Case Study as part of the ‘So Much Art’ social campaign. The campaign aimed to restore the artistic heritage of the Ostrowiec Świętokrzystki community, in what might seem, at first sight, to be the ‘private’ restoration of urban sculptures. However, even if we do not take into account the non-governmental character of this initiative, it must be noted that, at heart, it aims to reconstruct public space, space which may or may not allow the creation of community bonds. The restored sculptures are embedded in, and attest to, the heritage of labour in the town. Ostrowiec became a typical post-industrial town after 1989. With a high unemployment rate and a large youth migration index, Ostrowiec thus became a town with few prospects. The town was not only space in which a certain model of industrial economy had collapsed, but in which the working class presence had been delegitimized and deprived of its position. Through this initiative the physical and symbolic absence of workers, reflected in the slow decay of the sculptures, has been addressed. No one questions the significance of 33 James S. Coleman, Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital, ‘American Journal of Sociology’, Supplement: Organizations and Institutions: Sociological and Economic Approaches to the Analysis of Social Structure, Vol. 94, 1988, pp. S95–S120. 62 these sculptures, just as no one asks the residents of Ostrowiec what this space, which had once expressed a certain lifestyle and form social organization typical of industrial towns, meant to them. The revival of these sculptures by the Association has provoked discussions, if only through the local media, of the industrial legacy of the town. According to Monika Pastuszko, there have been attempts to label the artistic heritage of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski as social legacy thus offering potentially new forms of communitarisation. This does not mean that the restored sculptures are immediately associated with the Ostrowiec tradition or with their function; they may simply be regarded as characteristic elements of the available space of housing estates or districts. However, they encourage the accumulation stories. The housing estates and districts, predominantly populated by workers, marginalized and increasingly less engaged in the local economy, reconnect with their past thanks to the ‘Nie Z Tej Bajki’ Cultural Association. Pastuszko claims that it is ‘thanks to this initiative that both Ostrowiec’s past and the groups that inhabit the space of Ostrowiec, can be appreciated.’ In the De-Novo Association, communitarisation is characterized not only by non-formalized bonds among its participants and a blurring of the boundaries between professional and amateur actors, but also by the assumption that the participants will undergo a transformation. Participants discover a sense of agency in themselves through relating to others. ‘Discovering oneself’, ‘finding your vocation’, and ‘experiencing a new depth to relationships’, are some of the definitions of their experience given by participants and organizers in course of research. It is this transformation of the individual, therefore, which is the pinnacle of emotional commitment to a cultural initiative. A similar aspect appears in the analysis of Koło Gospodyń Wiejskich Lesznowola. Under this name, the Association brings together recent female residents of the rural district. ‘The female outsiders’, to use a term which echoes the differentiation introduced by Norbert Elias,34 Norbert Elias, John L. Scotson, The Established and the Outsiders: A Sociological Enquiry into Community Problems (Sage, Thousand Oaks, 1994). 34 63 aims to create a community of women, which fosters integration in a district characterized by an increase in new residents commuting to Warsaw. On the one hand, the association aids the integration of mothers, wives, and female members of the local community through shared experience. On the other, it offers a variety of activities, such as the organization of special events on Christmas, Halloween, and Women’s Day, sports events and dates important to the community of Lesznowola, such as a picnic to celebrate the commune’s 600th anniversary, engaging these women in the life of the local community. The community of women is united by a similar lifestyle and values, such as autonomous organization and a desire ‘to engage with the community’, as well as shared interests, like sports. However, this shared lifestyle distinguishes the ‘wives’ from the ‘established’ Lesznowola residents. The latter generally ignore invitations and keep their distance from ‘outsiders’. The community created by the Association, though it aims to be as inclusive and ‘inviting’ as possible, is, for the time being, focused on the experience of new residents and their common lifestyle. The activities of Koło Gospodyń Wiejskich Lesznowola are welcomed by local authorities, on the condition that the Association proposes and promotes these activities rather than publicizing the initiatives of other institutions, such as the Commune Cultural Centre. In this way the members of the Association establish new institutional relations, integrating themselves into a larger network in the local community. Although the study does not provide a clear answer as to whether the activities conducted have occasioned changes in community integration, and overcoming of divisions within this community, it is worth emphasizing that the Association’s initiative clearly aspires to transcend endogenic and association-specific dimensions in the unification of women through women’s issues. Communitarisation Models, a Summary of Case Studies In most case studies, communitarisation is understood, first and foremost, in the context of cooperation and shared activities that 64 translate into mutual benefits. While it may not yield a measurable, durable effect, cooperation becomes valuable in its own right, since it is a formative experience or an alternative to the established social roles of the main actors in each project. This value is best seen in projects that relate to: • • • The formation of alternative accommodation schemes ( Fundacja Cohabitat) and entrepreneurship; Activities which engage the excluded or marginalized, as in the case of the ACS Cicha4 or Teatr Łaźnia Nowa; The mobilization of resources and artistic activity with minimum resources and minimum formalization of both the organization and its funding. Communitarisation thus becomes a means to establish a richer network of social bonds which allow organisations to resolve social and development challenges. Communitarisation, in traditional divisions in sociology, has, in many case studies, been viewed as a derivative of close bonds described more by a strongly defined identity and collectivism than by a social role, which may only co-define identity. However, in Fundacja Cohabitat or Kultura na Sielcach communitarisation is not only based on ‘close ties’.35 The strength of this kind of initiative is to be found in the connections between these close ties, frequently created among leaders, and networks of weaker bonds among participants encouraged cooperating though not necessarily to adhering to collective values, practices, and so forth. It can be, however, argued that communitarisation is a precondition of group’s empowerment. Empowerment, which, in the case of Kultura na Sielcach, occurs through antagonism and the identification of a threat, and not exclusively through ‘ecumenical’ cooperation. Mark S. Granovetter, The Strength of Weak Ties, ‘American Journal of Sociology’, Vol. 78, 1973, No. 6 , pp. 1360–1380. 35 65 3. Improving Participation This category aims to diagnose the extent to which mechanisms involving various social actors in processes which they have previously only observed in a more passive role (as ‘recipients of cultural activities’) are possible and effective. Our ambition is not only to diagnosis the levels of participation in cultural initiatives, but to reflect on the extent to which this activity and models of participation applied therein can impact upon social development. Levels of participation can be analysed through two basic dimensions; external and internal. External participation is understood as the organisation’s degree of openness, the range of opportunities available, conditions on joining initiatives, and participating in activities it. In other words, the different ways in which an organisation may seek to include participants. In this analysis we are interested in internal participation, within the initiative, defined as the capacity for and extent to which members/participants may influence, first, decision making, and second, the final outcome, form, direction of the activity undertaken. The first criteria, therefore, is an evaluation of the extent to which an individual is able to contribute to decision-making and influence the organization’s structure, and the effect this involvement has on forms of participation (formal-informal, vertical-horizontal, centralized-decentralized). The second criteria may be understood as an evaluation of role assignment; creator – active participant – recipient. We evaluate the extent to which individuals are responsible for the coordination of the final objective. Individual participation is thus coordinated on three levels. First, the minimal participation of ‘external entities’, that is, they are ‘merely’ participants in events. Thus, external entities do not influence the final form of the event, but are invited to join it as guests–participants. They are only able to act within the ‘frame’ prepared by the initiative, becoming passive participants. This participation is the most limited and the weakest. Examples of this form of participation include the activities of Stowarzyszenie Kulturotwórcze Nie Z Tej Bajki, Zamek Cieszyn Castle, and Terra Artis. 66 The second level of participation is formed of initiatives which allow participants to influence events to a certain degree, giving them with the opportunity, though limited, to shape the organisation’s programme so long as certain criteria are fulfilled. This form of participation is represented by Teatr Łaźnia Nowa. Once selected to participate in the project (following an audition, or as a member of the ‘target’ group, for instance), participants have the opportunity to influence the creative process. The Praga Neighbour’s Library demonstrates a certain degree of openness in its structure which incorporates the action of participants. In essence, this second from of participation focuses on ‘top-down’ activities, initiated by the foundation, with a clear target group (sports fans and prisoners, for example), which offers the opportunity to cooperate with local residents and other groups. The third and most flexible level of participation concerns the members’ full participation in an initiative’s activities, making decisions as to the direction and form of the activities conducted. The organisation is, therefore, completely open to the voices and opinions of its members, as well as comments from ‘outsiders’. It encourages active participation in the initiatives proposed both by external observers and members. ACS Cicha4 and Czaplinek are examples organisations that operate in this manner. Both organisations are open to cooperating and initiating new projects with people from their environments, and demonstrate an almost complete blurring of the boundary between the creator and the recipient. A similar structure is in evidence in Kultura na Sielcach which operates on the principle of the full inclusion of any interested entities. In each of these cases the opportunity and willingness to cooperate is related to the establishment of certain values ‘operating’ within a given initiative, such as trust, responsibility, a readiness to cooperate, the establishment of reciprocal understanding, and the consolidation of the communication process among the members. Such openness and cooperation are made possible by the resources available to particular individuals. The essential difference between participation and inclusion consists in the fact that participation is the result of the conditioning and 67 structures of an internal initiative, which touches on the commonly accepted social environment of the initiative, rather than on the marginalized and excluded groups alone (as in the case of inclusion). Participation is, therefore, a wider phenomenon, uniting the internal and external spheres of the initiative. The core of participation is an awareness of shared responsibility, both for the decisions made as part of the initiative, and the means of their implementation. The analyses conducted here allow us to conclude that, as in the case of the mechanisms of cooperation and decision making, a high degree of openness and structures which encourage participation influence other categories and mechanisms and thus stimulate social development, including the durability, and reproducibility of solutions. Of the initiatives grouped around ACS Cicha4, which have lost the local foundation essential to their activity, and have, therefore, been forced to change venue, most continue to operate within Lublin’s space. A similar phenomenon is visible in Kultura na Sielcach, which served both as a site upon which participants were allowed to ‘test’ their potential, and as a base for incipient social activism. Participation, therefore, must be understood not only as a postulation, as a means of incorporating ‘grassroots voices’, but also as a category pointing to the potential for development: making space not only for participants to suggest alternative avenues, but also for individuals to define the goals and share in the growth of the initiative. This third model of participation is not possible in every case, as the above analysis demonstrates, however it allows the broadest form of participation. Interestingly, participation is not a natural feature of culture-specific activities; it may even be claimed that social hierarchies are, first and foremost, formed within culture.36 However, the initiatives analysed here suggest that certain mechanisms exist which allow cultural organisations to reduce the danger of domination, though not, unfortunately, to eradicate it for good. Pierre Bourdieu, The Rules of Art: Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field, trans. by Susan Emanuel (Stanford University Press, 1996). 36 68 4. Sustainability The category of sustainability has helped us to identify two issues: the reproduction of an initiative and the potential for change it offers, along with the sustainability of their impact on the environmental development. Let us begin with the observation that some initiatives have an internal focus, a focus on transforming participants and the relationships among them, separated from their environment. Initiatives of this kind, according to Maria Rogaczewska, are incubators of social innovation rather than institutions offering ready models of social change or solutions directly impacting their environment. In the case of Cicha4 ACS, its function was ‘constrained’ from the onset by the decisions and plans of investors. Cicha4 ACS operated for several months as an organisation that required a high commitment from participants with a very modest ‘base’ of resources which had been either donated or contributed by members. It was difficult to believe that Cicha4 ACS could operate in this way forever, even if it had an available space. Strictly speaking, it is not an example of an self-sustaining initiative; sustainability, however, was achieved through the spread of initiatives either developed or launched at Cicha4 ACS, and the fact that Cicha4 ACS demonstrated the potential of alternatives to the market, the state and the public sector. Ideological and direct references to squatter or subculture movements in Lublin’s centre thus extended, according to Agnieszka Ziętek, the local architecture of choice, not only for the participants, but for the Lublin community as a whole. Its existence proved the possibility og alternatives to established institutions, informal initiatives and formal institutions. Cicha4 ACS has generated development sources which extend beyond ‘culture’ as it is perceived institutionally or even in popular imagination. The use of previously unused or abandoned spaces, as in the case of the ‘Nie Z Tej Bajki’ Cultural Association from Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, illustrates the strategy of ‘discovering’ resources, namely the use of the resources previously judged as excessive or useless when offered resources with a specific function, such as the space of old factories or 69 public buildings, railway stations, non-functioning cultural centres, or manufacturing plants. The rehabilitation of such spaces, their use as a site on which to work or stage exhibitions, not only offers the chance to coordinate social and cultural initiatives, but also transforms the social map: ‘black holes’, or rather ‘uncharted territory’, takes on a renewed social character and function. Space rehabilitated in this way may be perceived as a symbolic colonisation, resulting, eventually, in gentrification, nevertheless, as an analysis of Zamek Cieszyn or Kultura na Sielcach shows, the process of gentrification depends on the decision by public institutions and members of the community that coordinates such initiatives. Therefore the production of symbolic and material venues does not necessarily imply their commodification. The era of modernity is predominantly defined through various forms of institutionalization, formalization, and proceduralization, allowing for appropriate levels of standardization and transparency necessary to the operation of any durable institution. When speaking of the sustainability of the initiatives examined here, this habit of seeking signs of formalization poses problems in the interpretation of the practices observed. The Praga Neighbours’ Library (PBS) not only became a library, that is, an institution dealing with the distribution of knowledge and books, but also a local venue where residents of the Southern Praga District could find support in writing official letters, interpreting regulations, and handling issues which demanded experience in communicating with public offices. This, however, did not result in the formalization of relations and communication between PBS and the local community. In fact, a decisive aspect of the initiative’s credibility on a local level, gaining the trust of marginalized groups, is the absence of formalized activities. PBS does not follow any procedures and regulations which its beneficiaries, members of the local community, would associate with formal offices or institutions. Not only does the attribution, ‘neighbours’, in the foundation’s title reference the library’s local roots, it also suggests the lack of formalization of PBS. Communication with Legia FC fans or the assistance of members of the local community 70 is possible because the absence of officials, the initiative’s autarkic organization, and the foundation’s activities, mean that PBS is perceived by Legia supporters and the local community, not as an oppressive institution connected to the public sector or a ‘rehabilitation’ mission. PBS can support and influence its environment because it is not associated with procedures, offices, organizations, or public funding. An analysis of an organisations level of sustainability reveals a basic shortcoming in the structure of cultural initiatives, the absence of a strong institutional and systemic bond with their environment which would offer a stable allocation of funding and fundraising nd ensure the participation of a variety of social actors in projects. Some of the initiatives examined here (in particular, ACS Cicha4, the De-Novo Association, and PBS) operate in a-systemic and anti-systemic ways; therefore it would be difficult to expect them to relate to the local infrastructure of institutions and organizations, particularly in the public sector; however, among the remaining initiatives it is also difficult to find those that had the potential to create local coalitions which could facilitate steady growth in the scale of an organization’s activities. 5. Self-reflection In an analysis of the degree to which an organization engages in self-reflection several factors must be taken into account. Conscious evaluation, linked to a wide range of issues related to initiative’s structure, including the day-to-day functioning and future activities to be must be considered. Self-reflection is understood, therefore, as a consideration of established activities ( the range of social impact, social perception and participation, the extent to which available resources have been used, etc.), prospect analysis, that is, the consideration of potential avenues for development, mechanisms and resources encouraging development, and a critical eye, identifying weak points and shortcomings. One conclusion reached in the research presented here concerns the absence of self-reflection among the initiatives investigated. While a cer- 71 tain degree of evaluation in specific activities is evident, it is difficult to identify both any trend of conscious evaluation, even indirectly, of established operations and plans for the future development of these activities. As a matter of fact, this self-evaluation may result either from external conditions, imposed on an organisation by the requirements of a project, or internally, from an intrinsic need within the initiative has to revisit its activities thus far and to implement further plans. Spontaneous, though not unorganized, self-reflection conducted by initiatives is a far more valuable source of information for our analysis. It is therefore difficult to speak of either a conscious process for developing ‘insight’ into an initiative’s current state and condition (where am I?), or of deliberate planning of long-term (strategic) activities (where am I heading? What are the organization’s goals?, etc.). Development mechanisms As explained above, these mechanisms for development mean that alternatives in the coordination of social action which address key challenges related to the management of limited resources, allocation and redistribution, managing the mechanisms which foster potential and promote inclusion, innovation, decision making and the organization of initiatives. These mechanisms of development, part from being useful categories for the description the key characteristics of the initiatives examined in this publication, reveal social processes which not only define the framework of economic activity, but also determine social change. Therefore, as much as categories of development indicate an initiative’s characteristics, mechanisms relate, in turn, to the processes which ‘organize’ the initiative’s operations, growth, and sustainability. Therefore, in order to understand the evolution of cultural initiatives as projects inspiring change defined by categories of development, description and analysis of these mechanisms of development are necessary. Their definition, at least in part, refers to concepts applied in economics (i.e. resource allocation, (re) distribution, inclusion, and innovation). 72 1. Resource Allocation Economy in management means the coordination of scarce resources. A basic question, specific to development, is how to generate new resources and effectively allocate already existing ones? In resolving this question we must first assume that the generation of resources and their allocation do not necessarily have to be carried out through market exchange as the main allocation mechanism. Second, we assume that material and non-material resources are not necessarily exhaustible, a situation best illustrated by the development of knowledge and skills in individuals or communities. Thirdly, we want to identify criteria for efficient allocation. Our aim is to reveal a system of resource allocation which cannot be reduced to economic calculations (measured, for instance, by the ratio of investments and returns). In the case of the De-Novo Association and Cicha4 ACS the allocation of resources is like gift economy,37 operating in a community which marks its autonomy through the participation of committed members. Shared resources are, primarily, non-material; participants’ work and their skill in organizing and producing material objects and events, such as shows, workshops, meetings, exhibitions, and other services. Similar resources, allocated through an extremely engaging formula for communitarisation (shared decision making, gift economy, co-responsibility), result in the seemingly spontaneous appearance of material objects thanks to individuals’ commitment, their individual resources, and social networks (e.g. through knowledge of who to approach for planks, to run a workshop or in order to connect an electricity supply). In effect, organic growth results, without any particular plan or strategy, from the current needs of members, such as the volume of ACS Cicha4 participants, or the organizers and artists creating shows at Dynów. These two case studies also reveal a complex relationship between the community and their environment. Though they are autonomous, in actual fact they benefit from the resources contributed by participants. In both cases, however, the organization’s activities are 37 Chris A. Gregory, Gifts and Commodities (London: Academic Press, 1982). 73 rooted in agreement with the owner of the space in which they take place. ACS Cicha4 was established as the result of a contract between the informal leader of the centre and the tenement house owner of 4 Cicha Street, who decided to rent the building, free of charge, until project he was planning had begun or the building had changed hands. The Dynów narrow-gauge railway station, in turn, is the property of the local government. The activities and projects of the De-Novo Association are possible as a result of the municipality’s decision to make the space available. The Terra Artis Association, from Lanckorona, combines activities targeted at professionals (international guitar playing workshops) with educational activity and the promotion of fine arts and music. This is an integration of an international workshop with a specific locality. It brings together resources which, until now have been separate; the prestige of an international image, together with local resources, has allowed the Association to plan subsequent initiatives. The Commune’s public resources (Commune Cultural Centre, workshop venue), professionals’ personal resources, and the resources of the company responsible for the promotion of the International Guitar Playing Workshops, alongside organizational issues, create a combination of factors which cannot be assessed simply by the effectiveness of the allocation of funds, either private or public. In as far as it is possible to evaluate the increased income of the local community as a result of the international workshops (tourism, hotel accommodation, catering establishments), it is impossible to evaluate the benefit of incorporating Lanckorona into the circulation of high culture through the response of organizers and artists to local needs and context. The resources allocated by the Commune return to the community in the form of the (unequal) distribution of the financial wealth of visitors in local establishments and in the unquantifiable increase in the access to culture of beneficiaries of the Association’s activities. Significantly, it is relatively well off groups which participate most in the market exchange and who benefit from the local festival. Only activities related to education within the local communi- 74 ty, institutionalized in the form of the Artistic Centre, are available, if only partially (a quota of free workshop attendees, reduced class fees), to lower social groups which tend to participate in the market exchange as consumers rather than producers and intermediaries. The functioning of the Artistic Centre is possible, at least to some extent, thanks to financing acquired through competition for public tasks, from the Commune resources, and through renting the Commune Cultural Centre rooms free of charge. Terra Artis classes and activities constitute an offer of local culture and education which would not otherwise exist. It has thus created a mechanism for generating skills and knowledge resources which either did not exist before or were far more limited. As in the case of Terra Artis, knowledge of art, and the skill to interpret and cooperate in its creation (such as in a musical ensemble established at the Centre), are the resources which are organized by an initiative to be offered to the local community. The ‘So Much Art’ social campaign of the ‘Nie Z Tej Bajki’ Cultural Association, has transformed public art existing in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski into an instrument which acquaints the town’s community with symbols of its heritage that have been either forgotten or denied. The resources created through the ‘So Much Art’ social campaign, in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, represent a restoration of residents’ knowledge of urban space and the inclusion into the public discourse of the debate on the industrial legacy of Ostrowiec. The case study does not so much reveal the way in which resources are generated, rather than making existing resources visible: both on a material level, through the restoration of sculptures, and on a symbolic level, by encouraging debate. Therefore, the basic resource allocated to the local community, with the potential to transform or at least inspire change in the attitude of Ostrowiec residents, is memory and the town’s legacy embodied and represented in the sculptures restored by the ‘Nie Z Tej Bajki’ Cultural Association. It is, therefore, possible to say that the activities of the ‘So Much Art’ social campaign resemble the recycling of resource recycling rather than their creation. 75 In contrast to Terra Artis, the ‘Nie Z Tej Bajki’ Cultural Association has identified resources which could be used to transform the community while also, potentially, generating development. The starting point for this kind of an initiative, therefore, is the identification of problems and concerns for the community. However, while the directors of Terra Artis have accomplished this from the perspective of art and culture, the activities of the ‘Nie Z Tej Bajki’ Cultural Association, those of the Praga Neighbours’ Library, and of the Teatr Łaźnia Nowa, apply art and generate cultural resources to solve problems which emerge in their communities, and which are more generally defined as challenges appearing in the regions and communities whose material status has deteriorated due to social and economic transformation after 1989. Therefore, while books are the principle resource of PBS, the library’s activity is, in fact, intended to develop other of resources; knowledge, and cultural competence (such as textual understanding), defined not only through their absence, but also through the community’s lack of confidence in pursuing them. The target of PBS’s actions are the sections of the Southern Praga District community for whom buying a book is an exotic experience, both due to its cost, and to the absence of an impulse to read it. On a basic level, the mechanism of allocation is simple: books are collected from donors, described by the researchers, Piotr Więcek and Marcin Wroński, as middle class, in order to be distributed to both libraries and prisons throughout the Mazovian Voivodeship. PBS is not, however, only concerned with lending books; it also serves as an informal support centre for local residents. Its office also functions as a cultural and educational centre, providing a venue for cultural events or lectures on Warsaw’s history and the present day. Thus the fact that the library has its roots in the local community defines both its mission and the way in which it functions. The allocation of resources is linked to the definition of the community’s situation as it is understood by the library’s organizers. A similar characteristic in the process of defining culture institution functions can be found in the activities of the Teatr Łaźnia Nowa in Nowa Huta. The initiatives of the theatre which are analysed in this case study are a response 76 to the emergence of the institution from its local environment. The ‘Participation’ and ‘University of Looking’ projects are based in an attempt to involve the local community in art-related activities, beginning with the production of performances through workshops, meetings and discussions with Nowa Huta residents. These events allow the theatre to identify the needs of the groups which form the local community, while the activities of Teatr Łaźnia Nowa are a response to perceptions of the environment in which the theatre operates. Thus, next to the standard activities of cultural institutions, initiatives which perform a circulation of culture emerge through addressing the concerns and ideas of different groups, such as young people from socio-therapy centres or Nowa Huta housing estates, and senior citizens. As a result, the cultural content (information on workshops, participation in activities of Teatr Łaźnia Nowa), circulate beyond theatre. Creative action serves to allocate to participants of Teatr Łaźnia Nowa the resources which they lack. Among these activities, according to the researchers of this case study, there is a desire to identify activity, agency and autonomy. This applies to individuals predisposed to passivity and ‘non-participation’, to resort to the categories analysed in the present Chapter. Teatr Łaźnia Nowa and PBS understand the predispositions of the target audience of their activity in its relationship to their perception of whether or not cultural institutions, cultural life, objects such as books, and the process of self-education are beyond their reach. Thus both PBS and Teatr Łaźnia Nowa identify the conditions which seem essential for engaging in culture-related initiatives those groups which not only lack the material resources to participate in the cultural life of the city, district, or estate, but also do not even consider culture institutions to be accessible to them. Therefore, in order to effectively allocate resources to those groups which do not participate in culture, there is a need for activities that would enable the establishment of a relationship based on trust and the credibility of institutions. It is not enough to open the door and offer free access. The activity of the ’To Tu’ Association, in Czaplinek, illustrates, in turn, the process of producing new resources based on the ‘inven- 77 tion of tradition’38 in the local community and on bestowing new values on existing processes such as honey production or craftsmanship. The objects created are not, therefore, only the material effect of the Czaplinek residents’ activity, but, as the author of this case study, Jarema Piekutowski, emphasizes, they also become a testament to the creative potential of those members of the community who lack the material resources and infrastructure necessary for stable jobs and economic development. Thanks to the ‘To Tu’ Association’s activities the range of social roles work together and be empowered, not as residents of one of the poorest regions of Poland, but as the community which has inherited and develops the material and symbolic culture of Czaplinek. This is phenomenon is visible in the ‘Drahim Card’, a peculiar declaration of the new empowerment and communitarisation of local community members for whom Czaplinek constitutes a major location. The majority of the initiatives presented thus far are local in character, generally limited to one community, or to several local communities grouped around a certain focal point, such as a town, town district centre, or a specific building. The Fundacja Cohabitat and Zamek Cieszyn represent a different scale of activities and more comprehensive mechanisms for the allocation of resources. From the point of view of communication technology, the Fundacja Cohabitat community is primarily a network. This means that while the ‘administrator’ manages ‘profiles’ and seems to take on a central position within the network, they do not claim the right to control the whole of the network. Structurally this claim would be difficult to maintain. Such a network means a combination of both dense, close relations, and weaker, sporadic ones. While the administrator has the right to exclude or ban a fan’s profile within the Fundacja Cohabitat community, he or she is not able to control communication within the network. The positions taken by its participants change often, this, in turn, influences the social service algorithm. Instead, the network is The Invention of Tradition, ed. by Eric Hobsbawm, Terence Ranger (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983). 38 78 ‘regulated by the interests and focus of participants rather than the agenda of the organizer, namely the community’s administrator. The network has a powerful capacity for mobilization: it is able to crowdfund several thousand zlotys over a relatively short period of time (several days); participants interact both online and offline, coming together for the purpose of educational and information exchanges, and these vents can be rapidly organised. The principle resource of the network is information. Participants primarily benefit from the exchange of experience and skills which comes from working with others. According to Bartłomiej Orlicki, the case study’s author, Fundacja Cohabitat’s main resource is its 40,000 members and almost 8,000 subscribers to its newsletter. The main mechanism for generating resources is the connection of this network to the community’s values. The Models and Mechanisms of Resource Allocation The reconstruction of the mechanisms behind the allocation of resources allows the identification of two basic dimensions of this process: the allocation of resources needed to implement and sustain cultural initiatives, and the process of generating new resources or the rearrangement of ‘old’ ones to focus on a specific initiative within the local community. Such processes have an impact on the environment around the initiatives. Researchers have attempted to address the question of what makes cultural initiatives develop and endure. In the majority of cases the answer is the same: cultural activities are based on the resources of the participants’ work and energy, the participants being mainly volunteers. Another important resource circulating within the initiative, yet also frequently impacting on the environment, is the transfer of skills, from a professional craftsman to an amateur for instance). The third type of available resource is the relationships which have been established through the participants’ activity: their perceived sense of agency, knowledge and skills, applied in a new role. These resources all originate in activities and art in particular, as participants acquire new skills which enable personal development. The trend of 79 concurrent development in an organization, communitarisation, and individual self-development, is relatively common in the analyses of the examined activities. Therefore, in contrast to economic theory, the concept of resources should be extended through concepts dealing with the relationships between individuals, such as communitarisation and participant networking. Material and non-material resources are generated through such concepts. Among the first, certain effects of the activities of associations or initiatives are the creation of a venue (To Tu’s Museum Chamber, ACS Cicha4, PBS); the creation of spaces for the local community (restored statues in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski); the production of objects (craftsmanship or prototypes; To Tu, Fundacja Cohabitat); and finally, material testament to the initiatives and cultural activities within public space (the kindergarten and its vicinity in Sielce; Teatr Łaźnia Nowa’s audience). Primarily, however, with regard to the ‘production’ of resources, the most significant effect of an organisation’s activity is the generation of new perspectives which make space for new avenues of activity. Thanks to the Drahim Card, the production of Drahim honey has started in Czaplinek, although it is a case, not of a new product, but of the launch of a brand. The De-Novo Association has made possible the organization of performances for several hundred people, whereas Koło Gospodyń Wiejskich Lesznowola organizes a women’s community. Zamek Cieszyn not only facilitates industrial design, but also provides a space for local resources to network with regional or international ones. The starting point for resource allocation in many of the initiatives investigated here is the absence of or limitation to material and financial resources. In the more autonomous initiatives, which keep their distance from the public and private sector as potential sponsors, it may even be said that they operate in a state of a permanent ‘economics of shortage’. This clearly hinders the development of initiatives, both preventing their promotion and their comprehensive institutional development. At the same time, however, this situation generates alternative ideas on how to overcome shortages, circulate gifts as community resources, or reuse existing resources. 80 A different pattern of resource allocation can be found in initiatives aimed at establishing relations among the local community or targeted at specific groups: activity participants or beneficiaries. In the majority of these initiatives the main resource is space, or the venue in which activities are undertaken. This is the case of To Tu – Akademia Twórczych Umiejętności, PBS, and Terra Artis. This space is often a public resource or the property of the local government, often leased in return for some rent, or private resources, as is in the case of the ‘Nie Z Tej Bajki’ Cultural Association, and ACS Cicha4. The principle reason for the initiatives’ instability is a lack of permanent sources of finance and their changeability. In general, financing is public (from local governments or the central government, from competitions and programmes to which the organizations submit their applications). Funding may also be supplemented by private resources (donations or individual fundraising). The aim of the activities of an organization which are targeted at a local community is, first and foremost, the creation and distribution of knowledge, skills, and information, which may alter the perceptual framework of, or discourse among, addressees. This definition may be applied, first, to the activity of Koło Gospodyń Wiejskich Lesznowola which aims to integrate a community of women into the local community; but also to the activities of PBS which target the local community and inmates; the activities of Terra Artis which promote art and culture; the activities of Teatr Łaźnia Nowa which aim to encourage debate in the local community and support to its members and non-participants in accessing culture; or the activities of the To Tu – Akademia Twórczych Umiejętności in Czaplinek, aimed at strengthening the local identity. In the case of each of these initiatives the resources generated are predominantly non-material. The resulting material resources, such as the Drahim honey, the proposal for Lesznowola’s logo, the organization of a show, or book distribution, are a means of accomplishing a particular objective rather than the final product which, operates within the local community regardless of the intentions of organizers. 81 The third form of resource allocation is connected to systemic solutions, institutionalized, or based in the construction of broader local coalitions or networks. Such initiatives, undertaken by Zamek Cieszyn, the Mazovian Culture Institute (‘Kierunek Kultura’), or the Fundacja Cohabitat from Łódź, are aimed at utilizing existing material and non-material resources and producing new reserves of resources in short supply. The scope of the impact of such initiatives is broader: influencing both the local community and the region, or even, as in the case of Zamek Cieszyn and the Fundcja Cohabitat, acting on a national scale. The resources generated though their activities become: • Further institutionalized (rules for the creation and distribution of resources, and organizations or initiatives to manage them, are established); • Stabilized, thanks to the acquisition of resources which allow the opportunity to generate furtehr resources (such as permanent funding sources, a growth in the scale of activities or the diversification of financial sources); • Standardized, a model system for generating resource is established allowing resources to be allocated more easily in a range of conditions, independent of the local environment. A fourth form of resource allocation is evident in mechanisms created in the course of activities organized by Kierunek Kultura. These mechanisms constitute an alternative, and are even constructed in opposition, to the existing rules of allocation. They aim to establish a different evaluation of the existing resources, in this case the space of a former kindergarten, and more broadly, public space and potential communal resources meant to serve the cultural activity. In order to access these resources the initiative uses mobilizes the community through a protest or a conflict. This different, 82 defiant approach forms the identity of this community and defines its goals. Conflict becomes a source of new resources, primarily new connections in the local community and symbols creating the group’s identity. The resources, a network of contacts among Sielce residents, material resources such as leaflets, the material used to organize events through which the community is united, offered by individuals and protest participants, and knowledge of the activity of the Commune Council or developer, must be considered a ‘lubricant’ which makes the community’s activities effective and durable. Significantly, these activities aim to develop the local community, either forming or altering the collective identity. In this way, the residents of Sielce form a community engaged in debating and making decisions which influence its environment. Legally and Illegally Valid Resource Beneficiaries: Cultural Activities as a Peculiar Mechanism of Resource Distribution These case studies have allowed us to identify the mechanism of resource allocation typical of cultural activities. In economics, resources are attributed to their owner, the entity that possesses and manages them. Therefore their scarcity, as observed in traditional economic theory (Smith, Ricardo), refers only to the political problem of their division and participation in their production; this is an issue which serves as the foundation of political economy. Generally, the problem of resource shortage is analysed from the perspective of macroeconomics, institutionalized mechanisms that allow society to implement regulation of the distribution of resources and claims to property. In this context, the division of resources into private and public may be regarded as a derivative of this problem. The allocation and distribution of resources may be perceived differently once they are detached from a focus on ownership, and attention is paid to the mechanisms which enable the ‘discovery’, identification, and circulation of resources in the community. These case studies shed light on other side of resource allocation; the absence of resources among 83 groups excluded from or marginalized in the market exchange and the public sphere, or deprived of access to public resources. In economic analyses the question of exclusion and marginalization is presented as a lack of the confidence or competence necessary for an individual to manage a shortage of resources, through the purchase of resources. The means of combatting this exclusion is through skills training and motivation.39 The focal point of resource allocation, therefore, is individuals and their capabilities; it is only when individuals are motivated, set a goal, and have the appropriate skills that they are able to find their role and function in society. The analysis of the Teatr Łaźnia Nowa programmes, in which marginalized youth from Nowa Huta participate, reveals, however, a different logic. The participation of ‘amateurs’, members of the local community and groups deprived of the access to culture (such as socio-therapy centre participants, and pensioners) suggests another understanding of resource allocation. The departure point is not the individual and his or her capabilities (i.e. the appropriate skills and motivation), but the individual’s relationship with their environment, and the relationship between the artistic space (theatre) and its surroundings. Firstly, this new perspective on resource allocation alters the established sequence of cause and effect (exclusion, marginalization, individual’s social position and degree of inclusion), offering insight into the social context, and secondly, it is only on this basis that ‘role swapping’, or rather function swapping, of amateurs with professionals, and the audience with artists, may be facilitated. This results in empowerment and transformation through self-evaluation, perceived increased sense of agency, and the re-evaluation of one’s potential (‘how much can I do?’). The impact of initiatives organized by the Teatr Łaźnia Nowa, the De-Novo Association, and Kierunek Kultura is an increased sense of personal development and potential, and the creation of social status for participants from deprived backgrounds. The motivation issue is often presented as a ‘claimant’s attitude’ and ‘lack of willingness’ (euphemism for laziness) among the excluded groups. 39 84 By way of a general conclusion, we claim that an improvement in the allocation of resources such as knowledge and skills (e.g. professionals) s not based exclusively in the teaching and training of individuals, but also in community resources, shared knowledge, and in both existing and potential relationships which contribute to the formation of an individuals’ skills and motivation. In an analysis of entrepreneurship, discipline, creativity, the motivation to act results from an increased sense of the individual’s agency, influence upon, and control of their surroundings, and from the perception of new opportunities that an economist would most likely define as preferences. These ‘preferences’ are not concrete and immutable, but the stability of such perceptions among disadvantaged groups is the primary obstacle to development in the eyes of organizers and authors of such initiatives. In defining the situation of individuals who are excluded and deprived of resources, the challenge is their preference for spontaneous action and a rapid resolution of current problems. The consistency of such a preference, resulting from a perceived absence of any alternative, should be considered within the dimension of the ‘choice of the necessary’. 40 Through role swapping participants of the above-mentioned initiatives have the opportunity to recognize their impact on others and on the environment; the local community or the audience in a theatre, for instance. This allows them to identify their own resources, developing their knowledge of their environment, the ability to give new value to places and symbols around them, and the capacity to collaborate. This increases the impact of initiatives which aim to foster inclusion. 2. Redistribution Redistribution, as one of the mechanisms of coordination in the economy – next to the principle of reciprocity, household economy (au- Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, trans. by Richard Nice (London and New York: Routledge, 1984). 40 85 tarky), and bartering – is one of the pillars of modern societies. 41 This mechanism is particularly relevant to culture and cultural institutions (cultural policies, the redistribution of public resources, and so forth). We will make an effort to expand this concept so as not to leave it associated exclusively with state activity (public sector). Redistribution, contrary to market exchange, generally has articulated goals and values. Therefore our study intends to demonstrate the way in which this mechanism exceeds economic understanding alone and may be applied to resources beyond public funding, though the latter will also be significant in our analysis. In the initiatives analysed here, the main form of redistribution is the employment of a mechanism which balances or supplements the market. Thanks to these initiatives, participants are provided with resources that neither the market nor the public sector can supply in sufficient quantity. The clearest approach to redistribution concerns three resource categories: in kind (PBS); competence redistribution (Teatr Łaźnia Nowa, Terra Artis, Fundcja Cohabitat); or the redistribution of public resources into the local projects through competitions set by public institutions such local governments or ministries. Public resource redistribution, however, does not necessarily have to be reduced to financing. In the case of Kierunek Kultur, the redistribution of resources is achieved through the organization and animation of cultural projects. Meanwhile, Zamek Cieszyn may be located at the intersection of these three spheres. PBS functions as a ‘centre’ which connects loosely bound social groups or circles, and a loosely connected circulation of resources. The Praga Neighbours’ Library locates donors, mainly among the middle class, and distributes books among the classes with which the middle class does not ordinarily have contact, the poor and marginalized. The circulation of second-hand books among the poor and inmates would most likely not fall within the purview of public libraries or institutions which focus on promoting reading. The activities of the PBS Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time (Boston: Beacon Press, 1957). 41 86 ill gaps in the established structure42 and, with reference to theories of network analysis, it combines actors and circulations of resources which in the established system remained separate with little probability of coming into contact. An additional aspect of the circulation of books by PBS is the connection of this redistribution with other, less obvious resource allocation processes, such as taking advantage of the transportation of inmates to or from Warsaw to deliver books from the library to prisons. The authors of this case study demonstrate that activity of PBS is effective, in the sense that it achieves some benefit without deterioration in the condition of other community members. Even if one were to assume that the scale of these activities is insufficient, and the supply of books could better meet the needs and expectations of inmates, this model of redistribution can hardly be evaluated as inefficient. In essence, Zamek Cieszyn performs a similar function in the redistribution process: it ‘collects’ public resources, starting with the space on the premises made available to artists, producers, and designers, acquiring sources of knowledge and of skills from training programmes and through experts employed within the organisation, and establishing relations among entities and institutions at various levels and to different extents. From business people, active in the local market and in the region (the Silesia Voivodeship), to the entrepreneurs and designers of the Silesian Entrepreneurship Cluster, and designers of from art schools of Silesia, the Castle’s function is the identification of resources, and the design and models for products and services which develop the economy, and the target community. Zamek Cieszyn, therefore, occupies the position of keystone or creator in the network circulating information or knowledge, and distributes of the solutions developed through this network. The central role of Zamek Cieszyn in this system is not based on its ownership of generic resources for distribution to community members, entreRonald S. Burt, Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition (Harvard University Press, 2009). 42 87 preneurs, or residents of a given territory. It is assumed that ‘project oriented thinking’, products specifically devised and adjusted to meet the needs of producers and their clients, will regulate the market, but connecting businesspeople with designers through the market is relatively inefficient. As members of Zamek Cieszyn have noted, this is a result of the perception of design held by the subjects theoretically most interested in its effects, namely entrepreneurs. They regard design, and the design process, as an additional cost only justified merely in the case of surplus revenue. Design is perceived as a luxury; however, representatives of Zamek Cieszyn claim that design is, in fact, an investment and that the ratio of cost and benefit in this investment will balance out over time. Creating the conditions necessary to change of the perception of design is a key task. Moreover, representatives of Zamek Cieszyn emphasize that the design process and the potential of new models and designs nevertheless entails the risk of failure. In this sense the perception of design by businesspeople is confirmed; the more unusual and unknown the design or idea, the higher the potential costs and losses. This may be too simple an explanation of the lack of business innovation in Poland. However, it reveals that the assumption of market efficiency can be misleading; a higher risk, which would translate into higher profit, is rarely acceptable. Courageous projects need public institutions. 43 Zamek Cieszyn identifies the complex processes related to designing and to implementing new solutions. As a public institution, it may offer the chance to ‘invest’ in initiatives that would not be undertaken through established mechanisms of market exchange and investment processes. In the case of PBS, the resources redistributed by the organization entail two aspects. The first is the material character of the book and its distribution, or more justly speaking, its recycling. The second is the symbolism of the book’s ‘use’; an increased understanding of Mariana Mazzucato, The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths (London-New York: Anthem Press, 2013). 43 88 the world and culture. Both the material and symbolic dimensions of this resource address a need among groups who do not have access and the predisposition to use this type of resource. The parallel quality of the dimension of competence and the use of communication technology – to resort to the research into literacy as a form of thinking, is extremely important here: PBS plays the role of a ‘neighbour’ from whom one can hope to get some information or expect help in more formal or office issues. Therefore, PBS does not only have the potential to strengthen cultural capital in the local community, but also distributes the resources which enable that capital. PBS creates networks and relations allowing for this particular form of distribution to appear. In the case of Zamek Cieszyn, redistribution is related primarily to knowledge and skill, however, as in PBS, the key mechanism defining redistribution is the formation of a network of relationships. In Kierunek Kultura redistribution consists of sharing attitudes and ways of thinking of cultural activity, and mechanisms integrating cultural activity into the local community. Thus in the Kierunek Kultura neither ready products nor material resources are distributed. As with Zamek Cieszyn, the redistribution function of the Mazovian Culture Institute does not consist in supplying ready-made packages of solutions and information to the local cultural institutions. It is not enough to simply transfer knowledge packages, on how to promote local events or how to compete for resources, to local culture institutions, though these issues are important too. The key lies in the facility to analyse and disseminate information on the engagement of cultural activities with challenges and problems in the local community. The forms of redistribution may vary, from workshops to support in planning and organizing local projects and social interventions. Cultural initiatives, implemented by or supported within the framework of Kierunek Kultura’s programme encourage development; they aid social integration and foster values that bring together local resources such as knowledge, skills, and venues (space). 89 The establishment of institutions which allow for this dissemination of resources is particularly important for redistribution mechanisms. The operation of such institutions, in turn, allows for distribution and redistribution which is adapted to local conditions, to the community, and different development challenges. Two functions of this distribution in the cultural sphere which should be recognized are the identification of obstacles and the potential to integrate individuals. Both seem less obvious when we think of culture in relation to social and economic development. This relates not only to social integration and the legitimization of meanings, but also to the diagnosis and creation of relations as functions related to the social and economic development of the cultural activity analysed. In the case of redistribution, this function of diagnosis is of particular importance. The central problem of redistribution in economy theory or political economy lies in the authority legitimization of the centre having limited resources and principles ruling their distribution; the rules are nothing more than a ‘working’ definition of justice. In the Teatr Łaźnia Nowa or Mazovian Culture Institute programmes, challenges to the implementation of activities are diagnosed and resolved through the use of mechanisms of coordination such as resource distribution, thereby resulting in the development of such cultural activities. Thus mechanisms for the resolution of challenges, such as the redistribution of resources, emerge, along with regulation which legitimizes this circulation of resources. 3. Inclusion Mechanisms Inequalities in the distribution of innovation and opportunities (each country has its own, of a slightly different background and dynamics) have become the subject of interest to economists (Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Piketty, Salvatore Babones), sociologists and demographers (Richard Wilkinson). This interest includes material resources and access to skills and knowledge which substantially increases an individual’s access to different types of capital. 90 The social and cultural changes which have taken place over the past few years reveal new forms of inequality which may easily overlooked if one focuses only on a traditional understanding of inequality (that which is visible at the level of basic socio-economic factors). These are: • Inequality in access to refined means of communication, products, services, culture goods, life style elements and innovation which have recently appeared, yet whose impact on the quality of life is relatively high • Disconnection of many groups (to varying degrees) from a modern ‘communication ecology’ consisting of various forms of communication within digitalized space (e.g. online learning platforms such as Coursera), special events with online participation (e.g. the TEDx series); programming courses and workshops or incubators of start-ups for young people, often established in universities in the large cities. Access to this modern ‘communication ecology’ is currently the condition of effective participation in the public sphere, of making one’s voice heard, and of civic self-mobilization • Finally, despite objective indexes, the subjective perception of inequality and of one’s own status is a most significant factor. Though objective macroeconomic trends, such as the spread of the precariat, a decreasing number of opportunities in the labour market, and the increasing postponement of an individuals’ financial independence, affects everyone to the same degree, in Poland and throughout Europe, subjective perception of one’s relative opportunities varies. Those faced with marginalization or exclusion from mainstream social paths perceive more obstacles in decision-making relative to individuals of higher social classes. The transformation of such an ‘in- 91 ternal map of opportunities’ implies a need for to alter of one’s perception of self and of the world. It thus requires multifaceted approach, transforming values, everyday routine, collective activities; it requires change that not only effects individuals, but also their families, and their environment. The internal ‘maps’ contain an individual’s expectations from life, models of social engagement, social norms (e.g. understanding of collaboration, reciprocity, loyalty); as well as perceptions of what constitutes ‘success’. Clearly, with regards to the transformation of this subjective mental schema it is not sufficient to influence only an individual’s convictions or ideas. The motivation to change is also necessary. However, the motivation to change, and the belief that such change is worthwhile, is not only a question of individual psychology; it is axiological, a question of cultural background, and of the institutions that influence the individual. The architecture of choice theory suggests that, in order to transform an individual’s behavioural mode, a change on the level of the design of the institutions around that individual that counts. Such change, altering the way in which councillors and other adults engage with young people; offering new responsibilities to senior citizens) transforms this internalised schema faster than a direct intervention in an individual’s behaviour (e.g. through training). It is precisely the institutions and circles that are the closest to the individual: family, school, parish, sport club, association, and peer groups, that are capable of inspiring or suppressing and individual’s motivation to collaborate with others to develop the community. The initiatives we have examined have endeavoured to design their activities to initiate ‘inclusion leverages’, that is, mechanisms which integrate individual’s into social life, providing them with the opportunity to grow and develop, through the relationship between the individual and their environment. The following table summarizes the ‘inclusion leverages’. 92 organisation group threatened with exclusion resources applied to create ‘inclusion lever age’ individual and environmental mech anisms to promote inclusion exclusion (the limitations of the ‘inclusion lever age’) to tu – akademia twórczych umiejętności Residents of the rural areas; women in a difficult life situation; youth from dysfunctional families Network of professionals of various fields who, from the outside, support the cultural initiative with their knowledge. Transformation of the ‘mental map’ of certain target groups participating in the Association’s initiatives. Ending ‘self-exclusion’; instead of only perceiving the negative aspects of their environment (provinces, and the periphery), participants start to identify the area’s unique resources and possible avenues to capitalize on these resources. The initiative does not succeed in reaching elderly people. Leaders focus on the younger generation as they believe only the young can effect real change. Experience, passion and strong leadership of initiative’s leader. The skill to deliver a very convincing narrative concerning local identity and value of the region. Skill of creating unexpected links between social groups, for example between beekeepers and designers. Use of space as a mechanism to consolidate social cohesion; increasing the number of places open to everyone, ‘inclusive’ ones, so-called third places: space (separate for the poor and the rich) ceases being yet another exclusion mechanism. Places in it open to unite people (artistic plein-aires, Museum Chamber created as a grassroots initiative, gardening centre in Studzienna Str.) The range of impact is small As a result of financing problems, an unwillingness to cooperate with officials and to increase the scale of the initiative. Consequence and determination in realizing the activities which compose into long-lasting permanent project. praga neighbours’ library Residents of the poorer districts of Warsaw, including individuals highly vulnerable to the risk of exclusion (unemployment, poverty), inmates Strong leadership and high professional competence of the long-standing initiative’s leader. The establishment of a physical ‘third space’ (neither public nor commercial), open and inclusive in character, with no barriers to access and selection. Capacity to conduct unobvious networking and joining distanced groups (middle class, football fans, prisoners) The offer of a new form of social engagement to groups often socially stigmatized and regarded as a burden on society, such as prisoners and football fans. Gradually growing capacity to obtain public resources (including a substantial Norwegian grant). The groups have been given the chance to occupy a new role (prisoners as individuals who read books, who care about their personal development; fans as people sharing their energy, who care about others, and show solidarity with others). Spontaneous, cumulative energy of a mobilized social group which has, thus far challenged mainstream society (i.e. the enthusiasm of fans for collecting books for prisoners). teatr łaźnia nowa autonomiczne centrum społeczne cicha4 (acs cicha4) 'University of Looking' Project: Dysfunctional youth (undergoing rehabilitation), ‘Participations’ Project: residents of Nowa Huta; senior citizens Socially excluded individuals, the precariat, ‘poor employed’ The skills of professional actors, directors, cultural animators. Proficient acquisition of public resources for projects targeted at marginalized groups. Large multifunctional spaces in Nowa Huta available to the organization. The promotion of such solidarity, the sharing of resources and energy by marginalized individuals instead of self-exclusion and self-contempt. The increased ‘visibility’ of groups previously considered as ‘invisible’. Thanks to the activities offered by the theatre marginalized individuals are empowered, developing their confidence on the and also in the local community as a creative group. The establishment of links between professional actors, artists and amateurs. Through job-shadowing and shared performances with professional actors, amateurs earn the skills of professional artists, including self-expression, though this effect may be transitory. Although the ‘Book in Jail’ initiative is aimed increasing the social integration of inmates (increasing their chances to alter their negative life path, equalizing opportunities for self-development), no mechanism to measure the effectiveness of this strategy has been devised. The quality of the books donated to the collections has not been regulated (library usefulness), nor have the ways in which the books are used by prisoners. This is a substantial limitation of the initiative and challenges the effectiveness of its ability to include. With few exceptions, the theatre projects, in which amateurs (senior citizens or vulnerable youths) participated, were short-term. The participants are not offered a permanent position in the organisation’s structure, with no clear impact on their future development (he extent to which new motivations and perceptions are incorporated into the permanent motivational and ideological scheme of individuals is unclear). Establishing an extensive network of leaders, and activists, artists and Cracow’s cultural elites. Through ‘catharsis’ and the transformation of an individual’s motivation system. Improvisation and role playing, offered many participants the strength and willingness to try something new, and to embrace change and experimentation. The space (a tenement house) made available to activists, centrally located, offering a welcoming space for meetings and fostering community bonds. The creation of an alternative (non-financial) exchange network, namely an economy based on sharing resources. An individual may benefit from range of services (coffee bar, eatery, repair services) in exchange for a commitment to the place. Paradoxically, the success of the initiative (in bringing together many individuals, circles, and alternative groups in one place) has resulted in the stigmatization of this venue. The inclusion of outsiders in the cultural scene and public life, through allowing them to run a public place on their conditions, in compliance with the principles they believed in and which may challenge the mainstream perceptions. A space which was supposed to be open to all residents, has come to be associated only with a certain lifestyle and, therefore, perceived as ‘closed’. Variety within the ACS Cicha4 initiative; interdisciplinary character; and a willingness to learn from one another. High level of conviction in the activities of the organisation. The initiative’s social impact may be more durable, however, as it serves as benchmark for other organizations and cultural pioneers. Positive feedback from participants indicates that there is little to be done to prevent this outcome. 4. Innovation In the present analyses innovative designs and procedures are a mechanism of development which most heavily relies on the specific circumstances of the organisation involved. Innovation here refers to change (transformation) in the structure or operation of an initiative within its ‘natural environment’, the local context in which it functions. Innovation encompasses everything that distinguishes the initiative from other projects, while at the same time constituting a factor positively affecting mechanisms and categories of the orgnisation’s development, both on an individual level (the perception of social status and potential; ‘resources’ and their allocation; motivations for engagement; the scope of participation in the initiative; ways of entering the group; self-definition), and on the level of a group(proposing activities, decision making, communication, relationships, forms of action, task division) both internally, within the group, and externally, with regards to the organisation’s environment and stakeholders. Local context is significant to the effect of innovative ideas within an initiative. Innovation encouraging development in one initiative, would not necessarily promote development in another. In other words, innovation is a definite mechanism, a cause-effect activity that can be replicated, though its contextual dimension must be taken into account. The research which has been conducted reveals three major spheres of innovation. The first encompasses innovation on an institutional level, referring to the organization’s transformation, changes in its structure and means of operation, perception of its role in the social environment, means of internal organization and decisions, and the acquisition of finance. The second domain of innovation has been defined as relational innovation, referring to a modification of the definition of the relationship between the institution or organization and the participant in which the recipient takes part in the proposal, planning and organisation of activities. The activities of the De-Novo Association, ACS Cicha4, and PBS are examples of this form of innovation. 94 The third sphere of innovation relates to the symbolic and discursive sphere and concerns the organisations influence in its environment. For instance, an organisation may alter the ‘language’ defining its social role and meaning, or effect a transformation within the applied spheres and meaning codes. This form of innovation concerns the effort to foster ‘active participation in culture’. ACS Cicha4 is one of the most innovative of the organisations presented here. It was the first organization in Lublin to be fully independent, operating with neither local nor national public resources. Founded on the principle of ‘DIY’ , using their own resources and the support of local people from its environment, ACS Cicha4 organised truly independent activities, and extended the possibilities to ‘use’ the skills and resources of the members of respective initiatives forming ACS Cicha4. The conditions created within the organisation encouraged the development of a sense of agency, responsibility, and integration into a wider community, exemplifying the conviction that ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’, and refusing to allow financial issues to prevent the implementation of socially valuable activities. Furthermore, ACS Cicha4 operated through a unique organizational structure based on anti-hierarchical principles, voluntary inclusion in preparing any initiatives, and democratic decision-making. A similar phenomenon, horizontal structure, democratic decision-making process, openness to cooperation and ‘outsiders’, is evident in the activities of Kultura na Sielcach and in the De-Novo Association. In the case of the latter, as well as inviting participants to actively cooperate in the creation of activities, the organisation also brings together amateurs and professionals. The De-Novo Association introduces a new quality into the environment in which it operates creating new resources. PBS, in turn, serves as an example of an initiative which works to reconfigure the perception of excluded and marginalized individuals. Their work serves as an example of ‘removing the spell’ cast on a certain social group (prisoners and football fans). Innovative thinking is present in activities and their objective in including certain groups, in 95 the engagement of participants (groups and individuals); the lack of formalization of the library’s operation, basing its activity, instead, on mutual trust (there are no library cards, borrowing is not registered, etc.). Another innovative aspect of PBS is its interdisciplinary character, bringing together many spheres of activity (the collection of books and necessary everyday objects, a library, short-term assistance, and the organization of cultural events). Zamek Cieszyn introduces innovative thinking about design, first through a new self-definition consisting of the interaction of social goals (change in thinking about design, its perception, and ‘propagating ideas’) and business (commercial attitude). Kierunek Kultura, along with the ‘Nie Z Tej Bajki’ Cultural Association, represents the third, discursive or symbolical sphere of innovation. Each of these initiatives, however, introduces innovative aspects of its own. The ‘Nie Z Tej Bajki’ Cultural Association ‘restores’ the symbolic significance of certain elements of urban space fundamentally connected to the identity of the town and its residents, as if ‘rediscovering’ them, simultaneously laying the foundations for a revival of the community spirit. Kierunek Kultura, on the one hand, testifies to the ‘purpose of the existence of supra-local culture institutions’ (stimulating their development, transformation within the undertaken tasks, means of perception of their social role), while on the other, inspiring the establishment of a framework for ‘new perspectives on participating in culture’, promoting grassroots, participative, and empowering culture. 5. Decision Making and Cooperation The questions of inclusion and empowerment have thus far been appeared as either a claim, or as practice in the case studies. The analysis of mechanisms of inclusion proves the significance of the relations established over the development of the initiatives presented here. It is relationships, and not individuals’ resources, that seem to determine the extent to which participants were engaged more fully in an initiative, in both artistic and social activities, through estab- 96 lishing a collective identity. This leads to the question of the extent to which the organization of the projects analysed here incorporates the potential for future development. To the extent that hierarchy is an inherent feature of business structures, these twelve organisations are, in contrast, more democratic in character, particularly in terms of decision making, the identification of goals, and resource allocation. Therefore, this analysis has focused on the internal structure, or the means of organizing these initiatives. As in the case of participation and empowerment, questions of democratic decision-making and task-assignment, emerged among researchers as both a demand and an observation on cultural practice. The opposition between a hierarchical, leader-centric, formally defined function, and horizontal, networked, largely informal structure has led to an awareness of: a) the antinomy between the ability to direct an organization based on leaders or clearly defined decision-making centres and cultural initiatives such as these, in which tasks, goals, and organizational changes are continuously discussed; b) tension between formalization favouring the organization’s durability and its reproduction, and informal coordination allowing adaptation to changeable conditions. Cooperation is therefore understood here as the scope of ‘collaboration’ invited from members of the initiative, in particular, with regard to influencing decisions, identifying the direction of an activity, and, more broadly speaking, the strategies, chosen and implemented, and the means of defining one’s role in the social or public domain. The case studies collected here have allowed us to create a division into two essential structural variants: • A structure tending towards a horizontal, non-hierarchical organization that in turn either takes on a more formalized variant (To Tu), or is de facto entirely informal (ACS Cicha4, the De-Novo Association), concerning the third level of participation (participants make decisions); 97 • A formalized hierarchical structure focused around clearly defined functions (Zamek Cieszyn, whose employees echo the model of a well-managed business), or in which development originates with the organization’s leaders. It must be noted, however, that initiatives with a strong leadership have been characterized by varied dynamics. Among them some leaders stand back, taking on a supportive role, while decisions are made by all the initiative’s members as equal and partners (ACS Cicha4, Kierunek Kultura). On the other hand, there are also organisations in which the leader is the ‘commander in chief’ in decision-making (Teatr Łaźnia Nowa, To Tu, the ‘Nie Z Tej Bajki’ Cultural Association, and PBS). Therefore, in the first case one may identify a democratization of the decision-making processes (the leader’s auxiliary, supportive role), while the direction of organisations of this latter structure follow the direction of a single leader. At this point it is hard to unequivocally identify the conditions which determine the formation of an organisation’s structure. One might believe that the decisive factor is to be found in the initiative’s ‘history’, in the initial ‘mobilization’ of the leader who coordinates the group’s activities in an increasingly formalized way, resulting in the emergence of a leadership structure. A more thorough analysis, however, indicates that there are exceptions to this rule, best illustrated by ACS Cicha4 (the leader initiates and coordinates activities without imposing a particular way of thinking, actions, or implementation of the task, occupying an ‘auxiliary’ role). The stronger and the more important the leader’s position, the clearer the danger of the leader’s withdrawal, weakening, or resignation. In this sense many initiatives suffer of the same fate as NGOs which have been developed by a charismatic leader who gradually burn themselves out with personal commitment, fatigue, and inability to delegate. Democratized organizations with stable and formalized decision-making mechanisms avoid this fate. In initiatives of this kind the direction of ideas, activities, and decisions, are preceded by a democratic discussion, with the active participation of all its members. Among the committed 98 individuals this helps to create a sense of collaboration in decisions-making and in the implementation of activities, encouraging a sense of agency and a strong identity (through commitment to the initiative). The opportunity to participate in decision-making has a significant effect: • • • • • It strengthens the bond between the initiative and other individuals; It intensifies an individual’s identification with their role; It shares the sense of responsibility; It increases an individual’s sense of agency; It establishes the social relations necessary to communicate effectively at the moment of shared decision making. This communication is especially important given that none of these organizations offer solutions guaranteeing partial internal control, such as supervision of the institutions through a programme or supervisory boards) to control the extent to which activities comply with the organisation’s mission and the potential current and long-term effects of such joint decisions. Summary and Conclusions If the connections between the development categories and mechanisms are analysed, it would become clear that almost all the initiatives examined here are both distinct from an association with contemporary culture and art as a domain of autonomous artistic or cultural activity, and from the dominant individualizing model stimulating market consumption and the objectivization of creativity through money. This detachment from the culture of both individualism44 and consumption arises from the choices made by the researchers involved, who sought, almost by definition, the processes which surpassed the two regMałgorzata Jacyno, Kultura indywidualizmu (Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2007). 44 99 isters above: both ‘culture’ as a variation on consumption and the market as an instinctive synonym for the economy. The case studies discussed obviously do not directly touch the main trends in the discourse and mass activities. However, at the same time they reveal the ways in which alternatives to the dominant processes generate the potential for development. In particular they reveal the opportunities for development where a shortage in resources may seem to preclude this development. Although the majority of the initiatives described here are seemingly autonomous from the market, the state (public sector), and often also from the sphere of art, an analysis of their structure and activity reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the principle of autonomy. The complexity of the resources available to these initiatives, which cannot be reduced to familiar sectors, whether public, private, or non-governmental, is a striking feature of their structure. This does not mean that the initiatives have turned their back on the state and the market. On the contrary, market coordination, regulation and public resources play an important role, either as allies, or obstacles to development. The link between the alternative allocation of resources, based on bonds among the participants, and the sense of empowerment and inclusion among participants is clear. Similarly, redistribution and allocation neither have to be based on the circulation of material goods nor stimulated by individuals’ preferences. On the other hand, this does not imply that the initiatives analysed here offer ready models of development in the configuration of their categories and mechanisms of development. Although there is a strong correlation between empowerment and redistribution and inclusion, this does not imply that the initiatives presented here have overcome the challenge of ensuring durable change and sustainability. According to our analysis, each organisation manifests a degree of limitation, in self-reflection, in participation, and in their capacity to cooperate with the public sector. In summing up the results of the case studies conducted within the scope of the ‘Culture and Development’ Project we do not aim to draw comprehensive encompassing the diversity of the analytical material. Our intention, rather, is to indicate the implications of this anal- 100 ysis on our understanding of development categories and to highlight opportunities for further research. Each of the categories of development proposed in this publication is linked to a mechanism of development. The processes of empowering and transforming members, and encouraging communitarisation, form a transformation of an initiative’s mechanisms of coordination. New possibilities of resource allocation emerge, alongside new avenues for their (re)distribution; new social initiatives are launched. Empowerment offers opportunities for the formation of a new community identity, and gives participants and local communities new tools with which to resolve development challenges; problems which may, on the one hand, prevent development, but, on the other, offer the potential for change. The process of diagnosis does not necessarily occur as a result of cooperation between the organizations or individuals who undertake actions within the framework of existing community relationships. Initiatives such as ACS Cicha4 or the De-Novo Association define their identity in opposition to the existing order of both formal institutions (of culture) and social norms (e.g. exchange principles). The activities of ACS Cicha4 and the De-Novo Association challenge established organisations, expanding the range of social activities available or defending the authority of the already existing institutions. In both cases researchers have observed resistance to these organizations on part of existing institutions. Such a reaction is not in the lease surprising, as both initiatives question the established systems of resource distribution, by offering alternatives to activities conducted with the support of official institutions or ‘obvious’ resources such as funding and support from the public sector. In initiatives such as Kultura na Sielcach, it is conflict within the local arrangement of actors (public office, investors, and residents) that prompts the aspiration to change, creating new institutions which offer an awareness of resources within the local environment. In general, projects which addressed local concerns, such as a shortage of cultural institutions or activities, expanded the community’s architecture of choice, by providing new resources and forms of cultural engagement. 101 Therefore, while the sources of development are varied, it is important to understand the ways in which the mechanisms which promote development complement one another: through the autonomy of the initiative, through challenging the existing system, and through the introduction of new definitions or mechanisms for change into the community. As our analysis demonstrates, these mechanisms are inseparable: the drive to establish an autonomous organisation generates resistance; this conflict inspires a protest community, which is, in turn, another sign of the organisation’s independence. Significantly, the impulse to act, or to select certain mechanisms of coordination do not arise from the preferences of the individuals which come together through such initiatives, but rather through the perception of the relationships among these agents, sometimes articulated through resistance or conflict. Concretely, it is through the articulation of relationships within respective groups (initiatives), and the communication of the group with its environment, the local community, that resources and their allocation mechanisms have appeared. Therefore an understanding of the logic behind this activity may be extended to economic activity: its source is not necessarily found in individual preferences, but in the values, institutions, or collective identifications of the agents, the subjects of change. One of the main conclusions of this research is that cultural initiatives transform social composition. The status of the relations among the actors is transformed, increasing their feeling of self-worth, and improving the perception of a situation (e.g. the definition of local problems), and increasing the diversity of the bonds between participants, improving (social) innovation and allowing for the better allocation of resources. Moreover, the research presented here demonstrates that the course of action common in the economy, which holds that the development of an action, through appropriate resources, will generate the desired results, contrary to the rationale of this model, does not always lead to the outcome intended. In this scenario, anything that impedes the linear progression of this process is perceived as an obstacle to be overcome. However, some of the activities undertaken within these ini- 102 tiatives have hidden and unintentional effects. One such example of unintended effects is the production of Drahim honey. Produced by community of beekeepers, with a local identity, or a brand, which makes their products recognizable, Drahim honey fits perfectly into the logic of positioning.1 The creation of the Drahim Card and the establishment of a new collective identity did not envision the production of market resources. Similarly, the unforeseen outcome of the activities of Zamek Cieszyn is the identification of the barriers to design development in Poland, and an understanding of this barrier among entrepreneurs. Once the transformation of the community’s perception of the challenges facing design in Poland had been altered, a path to productive cooperation between business people and design was opened. These unintended effects, however, are not an anomaly, or a mere side effect of activity, but rather a surplus value: a new resource which prompts new mechanisms of coordination or resource allocation. They can only be regarded as a hindrance to activity if the organisations goals are viewed within a simplified, market-economy scheme. The unforeseen consequence of the activity of PBS or Fundacja Cohabitat was to set up new networks (football fans and prisoners with the middle class; between permaculture activists and the hackers’ environment), which led to the creation of new social arrangements and the discovery of the resources available within them. In the case of Kultura na Sielcach, the unspoken conflict between the residents of Sielce and the district office was based on the local community’s rejection of the municipality’s intention to sell public space in order to generate additional income at the expense of residents. The response of the Mokotów District Office confirms the limitation of an economic rational in understanding the actions undertaken by cultural agents.2 The effects of social change, in particular, are not always expected or explicit. However, the extent to 1 Al Ries, Jack Trout, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (London-New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001). Alejandro Portes, Economic Sociology: A Systematic Inquiry (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010). 2 103 which these implicit or unintentional effects may encourage or prevent development depends on those who initiate an activity or on the mechanisms of coordination involved. Many avenues of development are seemingly precluded in this reductive, rational perspective; any unforeseen impact is actually viewed as an anomaly.. It was rare to find a concrete final goal among the initiatives analysed; they demonstrated an inherent openness to the unforeseen effects of their activities, while their actors (both those initiating and participating in these activities) were often uncertain of their final preferences. Many of the initiatives examined here encourage participants’ to articulate their needs and expectations. This flexibility precludes the ability to control the processes of the activity undertaken. The expectations articulated often differ from those originally intended by the initiators (see e.g. the activity of Teatr Łaźnia Nowa or that of Kierunek Kultura in Mazovia). However, it is precisely these modifications resulting from cooperation with participants that ensures the initiative’s durability and the continued involvement of participants as representatives of the community. The complexity of the organisation’s structure increases proportionate to this alternative approach to activities. The articulated gaols and expectations may change due to the intervention of participants. The engagement in an activity of new participants results in a situation in which a new direction or relationship than that which has been expected, may appear, in the form of unorthodox alliances between the excluded and privileged, such as in the activity of PBS. On the grounds of the analyses of these twelve case studies, we put forward the thesis that, first, cultural activities identify the relationships which form the foundation of social structures, opening a path to the diagnosis of diverse preferences. And, second, they encourage the search for new frameworks for collective activity which extend beyond an agreement on individual preferences and the selection of the optimum (sic!) means of their accomplishment. igor stokfiszewski On Social Culture: Manufacturing Commonality Beyond Cultural Institutions and Independent Artistic Scenes Past years have been the period of substantial revision. Cultural activities of public institutions have been undergoing transformation due to artistic practices reaching beyond producing artefacts and in view of influential aesthetic theories supporting these practices (such as relational aesthetics in visual arts, raising the status of shaping human relationships rather than producing artworks,1 and performative aesthetics in theatre, where the main means of expression becomes the event designed to affect its participants2). Artists do not supply objects; they create situations, build relations, organize events, strive to have an 1 Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics, trans. by Simon Pleasance and Fronza Woods (Dijon: Les presses du reel, 2002). Erica Fischer-Lichte, The Transformative Power of Performance, trans. by Saskya Iris Jain (London and New York: Routledge, 2008). 2 105 impact on reality (political and social included).3 Audiences no longer contemplate works or performances; they have become active subjects of events, they experience artistic situations and are transformed by them, they are influenced by the course of events. Mainstream institutional culture is being scarified by the subversive approach of artists, it is changing under the surge of disputes within the field of culture (including the most publicized ones: labour and democratization disputes4) and research on the mechanisms of producing culture within institutions5 and at their meeting with the social field.6 The institutional mainstream of cultural activities is supported also by the achievements of organizers of cultural activities, and by artists influenced by experiences in the field of cultural education, pedagogy and rehabilitation through art. These people usually function within a specific subfield of public institutions (cultural centres, education departments of central and local artistic institutions or Artur Żmijewski, ‘Stosowane sztuki społeczne’, Krytyka Polityczna 2007, 11–12, pp. 14–24; ‘To nie sen awangardy. Z Arturem Żmijewskim rozmawia Piotr Kosiewski’, Didaskalia 2012, 112, pp. 47–80; ‘Sztuka działa. O tym, jak sztuka staje się faktem politycznym opowiada Artur Żmijewski – kurator niedawno zakończonego w Berlinie Biennale – w rozmowie z Igorem Stokfiszewskim z Krytyki Politycznej’, Przekrój 2012, 28/29 (3497/8), pp. 70–71; effectiveness of contemporary art was a subject of ‘Nie lękajcie się’, a special issue of Krytyka Polityczna 2012, 30. 3 Katarzyna Górna, Karol Sienkiewicz, et al (eds.), Czarna księga polskich artystów (Warsaw: Obywatelskie Forum Sztuki Współczesnej, 2015); Iwo Zmyślony, ‘System nas wykorzystuje. Rozmowa z Winter Holiday Camp’, Dwutygodnik.com, 2014, 1, p. 124 [accessed: 6 November 2015]; Krytyka Polityczna 2015, pp. 40–41. 4 Michał Kozłowski, Jan Sowa, Kuba Szreder (eds.), Fabryka Sztuki. Podział pracy oraz dystrybucja kapitałów społecznych w polu sztuk wizualnych we współczesnej Polsce (Warsaw: Fundacja Nowej Kultury Bęc Zmiana, 2014) [accessed: 06 November 2015]. 5 6 Teresa Wilk, Rewitalizacja społeczna poprzez współczesną sztukę teatralną w ocenie reprezentantów (twórców i odbiorców) sztuki dramatycznej Legnicy, Nowej Huty i Wałbrzycha (Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 2010); Maciej Gdula, Przemysław Sadura, Klasowe zróżnicowanie stylów życia a stosunek do teatru (Warszawa: Instytut Studiów Zaawansowanych, commissioned by the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute, 2013) [accessed: 6 November 2015]; Wojciech Józef Burszta, Krystyna Duniec, et al, Badanie publiczności teatrów w stolicy (Warsaw: Fundacja Generacja, Fundacja Obserwatorium, Instytut Teatralny im. Zbigniewa Raszewskiego, TR Warszawa, 2013) [accessed: 6 November 2015]. 106 in academia). And the last observation: challenging the sufficiency of mainstream culture for satisfying the public’s cultural needs also comes from research conducted in recent years in anthropology, sociology, economy and culture studies. Disclosure by rural sectors with little access to mainstream culture of ‘their own cultural repertoire’,7 recognizing culture practices of folk classes as well as models of self-regulation and illegitimate institutions of folk culture, revealing the processes of adjusting and aestheticizing of urban spaces by their users, clearing the identity-forming potential lying in collective performance – ceremonies and protests – and many other phenomena visible in recent years indicate the insufficiency of mainstream culture in sustaining, stimulating and the organization of cultural expression of social communities. See through these lenses, cultural and artistic institutions become the object of criticism that corrodes their framework and demands reform of their practices. Looking at the network of these institutions from the outside reveals a different picture. In view of the insufficiency of official circulation of culture, an autonomous circle of cultural practices and institutions emerged from various forms of social self-organization: a field of grassroots, organized social production of culture, characterized by a substantially different approach in this field to cultural practices, defining functions of culture and structuring organizations than mainstream culture. This paper is an attempt to characterize this field. One of the reasons for attempting to describe the field of social production of culture is the fact that it is a rich reservoir of practices arising from anthropological and philosophical foundations and may direct our thinking about culture (including mainstream institutional culture) towards its deeper social roots and liberating creative potentials for identity, community and development. For the sake of simplification, I shall call this field ‘social culture’. Similarity to the category of ‘social economy’ is not 7 Tomasz Rakowski, ‘Etnografia/Animacja/Sztuka. Wprowadzenie’, in Etnografia/ Animacja/Sztuka. Nierozpoznane wymiary rozwoju kulturalnego, ed. by Tomasz Rakowski (Warsaw: Narodowe Centrum Kultury, 2013), p. 29. 107 without significance here. In both cases, it is about an autonomous field of producing goods and values as well as operating philosophy, sociology of culture and economy, and anthropology of a cultural subject different from the ones developed in the area of public activities, since the main focus here would be on the social aspect.8 The map of social culture Meeting the challenge of characterizing the field of social culture requires revealing the process of its mapping. The story behind drawing the map of culture covering the territories independent from the ‘jurisdiction’ of mainstream institutional culture was told by Edwin Bendyk in his paper ‘Metakultura rozwoju’ [‘Metaculture of Development’]: ‘The Polish Culture Congress 2009 organized under the heading ‘Culture Counts!’ released a broad debate concerning relations between culture and dynamic social and economic development’ and this resulted in the wide influx of sociological, anthropological, economic and cultural research that had been continuously conducted over the past six years while looking for an answer to the question about culture practices shaping the social community and their position related to institutional circulation of culture.9 They are nowadays the resources based on which we can recognize the widened field of culture or outline its autonomous areas. I also believe they are the reservoir for our knowledge about social culture. Bendyk has also contributed to this mapping of culture. The objective of research programmes he conducts is to deliver knowledge about peripheral culture that has real transformation and development 8 The expressions ‘social culture’ appears in the title of ‘Artistic Culture – Social Culture’ in No Culture, No Europe: On the Foundation of Politics, ed. by Pascal Gielen (Amsterdam: Valiz/Antennae Series, 2015). The authors of the volume do not explain this notion but their observations suggest that their understanding of ‘social culture’ is close to the one I propose in this paper. Edwin Bendyk, Metakultura rozwoju, in: Kultura i rozwój. Analizy, rekomendacje, studia przypadków, ed. by Jerzy Hausner, Izabela Jasińska, Mikołaj Lewicki, Igor Stokfiszewski (Warsaw-Kraków: Instytut Studiów Zaawansowanych, Fundacja Gospodarki i Administracji Publicznej, 2016). 9 108 potential.10 These issues are also the subject of extensive anthropological and ethnographic research conducted by Kolektyw Terenowy [Field Collective]. Action research conducted in two villages, Broniów and Ostałówek, in the south Mazowsze region, revealing ‘their own cultural repertoire’ in rural communities and indicating practices supporting self-expression, creating community, becoming a driving force of social and cultural activities as well as transforming material manifestations of rural life, are a mine of knowledge about social creativity and production in peripheral areas functioning without access to official circulation of culture and which, according to indicators, should be characterized by social collapse.11 Inspiring studies have been conducted on rural environments and small towns in terms of cultural diversity not understood as cultural production but rather a ‘cultural offer’12 and on urban culture in all its richness of forms and aspects.13 These explorations demonstrate the variety of cultural circulations with their own particular institutional autonomy, reception habits, participation patterns and – last but not least – their own aesthetics. Research analogical to Field Collective studies but applied to urban areas revealed the existence of ‘invisible cities’, i.e., a self-organized and aestheticized layer in the urban tissue. These express expectations of its users and thus fall outside notions of aesthetic, architecture and urban planning, organization and development of public space.14 Grass10 Detailed descriptions and results of the programmes ‘Kultura i rozwój’, ‘Spisek kultury’ and ‘Fraktale. W stronę metakultury rozwoju’ conducted by Edwin Bendyk can be found on https://spisekkultury.wordpress.com/ [accessed: 06 November 2015]. 11 Rakowski. Stan i zróżnicowanie kultury wsi i małych miast w Polsce. Kanon i rozproszenie, ed. by Izabella Bukraby-Rylska, Wojciech Józef Burszta (Warsaw: Narodowe Centrum Kultury, 2011). 12 Wojciech Józef Burszta, Mirosław Duchnowski, et al, Kultura miejska w Polsce z perspektywy interdyscyplinarnych badań jakościowych (Warsaw: Narodowe Centrum Kultury, 2010). 13 Niewidzialne miasto, ed. by Marek Krajewski (Warsaw: Fundacja Nowej Kultury Bęc Zmiana, 2012). 14 109 roots cultural production led researchers to take a closer look and analyse probably the most common form of self-expression: mass-produced photography. The ‘radical programme of visual sociology’ formulated by Marek Krajewski and Rafał Drozdowski enables one to see the advanced universality of the impulse to create cultural representations of reality and at the same time the complicated nature of the only seemingly banal impulse of ‘taking photos’.15 Other investigated areas include cultural production in the digital environment16 and subcultures such as reconstruction groups.17 Our knowledge of means of cultural expression according to social differences had been enhanced by studies conducted by sociologists Maciej Gdula, Mikołaj Lewicki and Przemysław Sadura. Their Praktyki kulturowe klasy ludowej [Cultural Practices of the Popular Class] reveals the cultural stratification according to distinctive and economic lines (i.e., according to social codes and symbols and according to economic resources).18 The idea of competing institutional circulation – an official network of cultural centres versus self-organization and illegitimate folk institutions, including fire departments and rural women’s associations, also emerges here. There are studies on institutions and ‘non-institutions’ of culture (including squats)19 and ‘social museums’.20 Performance studies as the 15 Rafał Drozdowski, Marek Krajewski, Za fotografię! W stronę radykalnego programu socjologii wizualnej (Warsaw: Fundacja Nowej Kultury Bęc Zmiana, 2010). 16 Mirosław Filiciak, Alek Tarkowski, Dwa zero. Alfabet nowej kultury i inne teksty (Gdańsk: słowo/obraz terytoria, 2015). 17 Tomasz Szlendak, Jacek Nowiński, et al, Dziedzictwo w akcji. Rekonstrukcja historyczna jako sposób uczestnictwa w kulturze, (Warsaw: Narodowe Centrum Kultury, 2012). 18 Maciej Gdula, Mikołaj Lewicki, Przemysław Sadura, Praktyki kulturowe klasy ludowej (Warsaw: Instytut Studiów Zaawansowanych, 2014) [accessed: 6 November 2015]. 19 ‘JASKÓŁKI: nowe zjawiska w warszawskich instytucjach i nieinstytucjach kultury’ was implemented by the Association of Creative Initiatives ‘ę’ in 2014 [accessed: 6 November 2015]. ‘Social Museums, Local Collections: Dynamics of Changes in the Cultural Landscape’ was implemented by the Ari Ari Foundation in 2013 [accessed: 6 November 2015]; ‘Social Museums, Local Collections: Report from the Research’, ed. by Monika 20 110 research field encompassing the theatricalization of collective actions that have identity-forming power and that can give meaning to the social experience of reality, revealing deep roots of Polish cultural performances in the pre-Christian tradition and Romantic messianism, also deserve attention.21 The catalogue of studies on the instances of cultural activities not limited to the institutional network cannot fail to mention the work of Obserwatorium Żywej Kultury [Observatory of Living Culture], the research network clustered around Prof. Barbara Fatyga (University of Warsaw), aiming at developing the complete methodology of description, analysis and evaluation of ‘living culture’, understood anthropologically and sociologically.22 Last but not least, the wide framework of research described includes long-standing projects undertaken under the supervision of economist Jerzy Hausner, based on the hypothesis that culture is a collection of practices, initiatives and organizational solutions that can become the flywheel of social and economic development. On one hand, they result from observations concerning the exhausting development potential of previous social and economic ideas and, on the other hand, from the belief in the innovative character of approaches characterizing grassroots initiatives in the area of culture that go beyond the paradigm of culture industries and ideas of the creative class.23 Along with typically scientific-research projects, activities combining practice and theoretical reflections deserve special attention. A special place belongs to Mazowiecki Instytut Kultury [the Mazovian Institute of Culture] and its project ‘Kierunek kultura’ Maciejewska, Longin Graczyk, the Ari Ari Foundation [accessed: 6 November 2015]; Krzysztof Żwirblis, Muzeum Społeczne / Social Museum (Zielona Góra: BWA Zielona Góra, Galeria Arsenał Białystok, 2014). 21 Dariusz Kosiński, Teatra Polskie. Historie (Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Instytut Teatralny im. Zbigniewa Raszewskiego, 2010); Kosiński, Teatra polskie. Rok katastrofy (Warsaw–Kraków: Wydawnictwo Znak, Instytut Teatralny im. Zbigniewa Raszewskiego, 2013). Information on the activities of Obserwatorium Żywej Kultury is available at http://ozkultura.pl/ [accessed: 6 November 2015]. 22 Kultura a rozwój, ed. by Jerzy Hausner, Anna Karwińska, Jacek Purchla (Warsaw: Narodowe Centrum Kultury, 2013). 23 111 [‘Direction Culture’], which included organizing cultural events around the Mazovian region as well as three theoretical publications edited by Wojciech Kłosowski.24 The approach proposed by culture animators engaged in the project, characterized by empowerment, enhancing community bonds, participation, individual change and transformation of reality, was reflected in many activities that I classify as social culture. These explorations complement the institutional map of cultural activities with ‘cultural ‘hot spots’’,25 creating a multi-layered image of practices, organizational forms and circulations that constitute current cultural space densely ‘populated’ with ‘cultural subjects’: individual practitioners, initiatives, informal groups, NGOs, institutions, etc.26 It is impossible to enumerate all subjects that drew attention from researchers within the past six years, participating in analysis, animation and action research. These include social centres, NGOs, rural women’s associations, urban movements, social libraries, public cultural institutions, cooperative enterprises, grassroots, non-institutional action makers, cultural centres, station houses of volunteer fire departments, squats.27 This list should be supplemented with foreign centres linked 24 Kierunek kultura. Promocja regionu poprzez kulturę, ed. by Wojciech Kłosowski (Warsaw: Mazowieckie Centrum Kultury i Sztuki, 2009); Kierunek kultura. W stronę żywego uczestnictwa w kulturze, ed. by Kłosowski (Warsaw: Mazowieckie Centrum Kultury i Sztuki, 2011); Kierunek kultura. Uwaga na podmioty!, ed. by Kłosowski (Warsaw: Mazowieckie Centrum Kultury i Sztuki, 2012). 25 Rakowski, p. 12. 26 Kierunek kultura, p. 51. Initiatives worth mentioning include: Autonomiczne Centrum Społeczne Cicha4 (Lublin), Hackerspace (Warsaw), Cohabitat Foundation (Łódź), Stowarzyszenie De-novo (Dynów), Stowarzyszenie Kulturotwórcze Nie z Tej Bajki (Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski), Stowarzyszenie ToTu – Akademia Twórczych Umiejętności (Czaplinek), Stowarzyszenie Terra Artis (Lanckorona), Raft Association (Olsztyn), Village Theatre ‘Węgajty’ (Węgajty), Political Critique (Warsaw) with its network of community centres and clubs organizing, for example, grassroots celebrations of the anniversary of 1905 Revolution in Łódź, forums of culture in Cieszyn and conducting long-term work on preserving the heritage of industrial culture in Ursus, a Warsaw district, in the Gdańsk shipyards, in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski and Gniezno, the Rural Women’s Association (Lesznowola), the social movements Kultura na Sielcach (Warsaw) and Otwarty Jazdów (Warsaw), Praska Biblioteka Sąsiedzka (War27 112 with Polish establishments and initiatives or coinciding with them by virtue of comparative studies,28 and many others operating in the field of creating new ‘perspectives on commons and culture’.29 And this list cannot even begin to outline the scale of these phenomena. Przemysław Sadura estimated that the NGO sector in Poland includes about ten to twelve thousand organizations concerned with culture. As Sadura concludes, the collection of studies ‘reveals the image of the cultural sector dominated in the financial dimension by the state and public institutions and in terms of initiatives by formal and informal self-organization’.30 Obviously not all these places are ‘cultural ‘hot spots’’, but the most distinctive subjects of the social culture support the claim that ‘this is the [...] dimension that has the most innovative and pro-development character’.31 Independent culture and social culture The Polish Culture Congress organized in 2009 by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage was a catalyst for studying unofficial circulations of culture. The grassroots movement of social production saw), Łaźnia Nowa Theater (Nowa Huta, in Kraków) and Zamek Cieszyn (Cieszyn), ‘The Districts’ studio of socially engaged art (Lublin) and collectives gathered on the Off Piotrkowska premises and in other places around Łódź. 28 Including Teatro Valle Occupato (Rome), culture commissions of the 15-M Movement (Spain), autonomous social centres such as ESC Atelier and Cinema Palazzo in Rome, cultural centres deriving from the domain of social economy such as Les têtes de l’art (Marseille) or Platonique (Spain), social movements such as Culture2Commons (Zagreb), hybrid establishments , for example the cultural centre Pogon in Zagreb (social-public) and Subtopia in Stockholm (social-public-private). From the title of the book describing these organizations and institutions, Build the City: Perspectives on Commons and Culture, ed. by Charles Beckett, Lore Gablier, et al (Warsaw-Amsterdam: Krytyka Polityczna, European Cultural Foundation, 2015). 29 30 Przemysław Sadura, Inicjatywy nieformalne, NGO-sy, hybrydy: zróżnicowanie poszerzonego pola kultury, in: Kultura i rozwój. Analizy, rekomendacje, studia przypadków, ed. by Jerzy Hausner, Izabela Jasińska, Mikołaj Lewicki, Igor Stokfiszewski (Warsaw-Kraków: Instytut Studiów Zaawansowanych, Fundacja Gospodarki i Administracji Publicznej, 2016). 31 Sadura. 113 of culture, however, was developing independently from the ministry’s involvement, since this was also when the book opening the cultural-anthropology perspective changing the idea of centres and peripheries was released: Łowcy, zbieracze, praktycy niemocy. Etnografia człowieka zdegradowanego [Hunters, Gatherers, Practitioners of Powerlessness] by Tomasz Rakowski, analysing people of culture digging in Wałbrzych district bootleg-mine shafts, farmers from Świętokrzyskie district and hunter-gatherers living by the open-pit mine near Bełchatów. The same year, the Brave New World Cultural Centre opened – a social cultural institution active until 2012, one of the most ambitious attempts at establishing the institutional model within non-public circulation.32 In Kraków, along with the Culture Congress, an ephemeral cooperative, Goldex Poldex, rooted in the situationist spirit, hosted an anti-congress of culture initiated by circles associated with the Ha!art Corporation, one of the most dynamically developing publishers in the third sector. These three events reveal a different approach to culture than the mainstream one – while at the same time varying among themselves – and which gained importance in the past several years. Rakowski’s book demands special attention for grassroots cultural production, self-creativity and cultural production rooted in local communities; the opening of the Brave New World Cultural Centre focused on establishing social cultural centres as the key culture-formative subjects; and the anti-congress emphasized the power of non-institutional circulation of independent culture. The point in mentioning the anti-congress is not to weaken the legitimization of the ministerial initiative of the Polish Culture Congress as the catalyst for new approaches to culture. The anti-congress contributed to the search for self-definition on the part of the artistic environment that recognized its values and practices as different and often alternative to mainstream institutional culture. It resulted, for example, in the publication of Kultura niezależna w Polsce 1989–2009 Tomasz Rakowski, Łowcy, zbieracze, praktycy niemocy. Etnografia człowieka zdegradowanego (Gdańsk: słowo/obraz terytoria, 2009). 32 114 [Independent Culture in Poland 1989–2009].33 ‘The report of the history of enthusiasm’, as the volume is described by its editor, Piotr Marecki, shows how nine areas of artistic activities (literature, visual arts, theatre, comic books, music, Net art, cinema and the circulation of zines) were developed during the first two decades after Poland’s political and social transformation in the third and ‘fourth’ sectors, that is, created in NGO working conditions or in the situationist model, as ephemeral activities based on resistance to the dominant cultural, social and economic patterns. From the perspective of five years after the publication of this volume, it is interesting to notice that the ‘independence’ of the culture described in the report was related particularly to the system of artistic production, but not to the philosophy of creativity. Independent culture, as perceived by the writers of the volume at the time, still remained the domain of artists who produced and exhibited their works. The fact that they were operating outside mainstream institutional culture allowed them to present content and formulate criticism in ways that could not find their legitimization in official culture. Therefore, if ‘independent culture’ would result from the transformation of cultural production, social culture would result from the changing approach to the functions of culture, its objectives, its social roots, i.e., approaches to such issues as subjectivity, community, locality, resources, ecological responsibility, democracy. The foundation for emergence of social culture is the ‘democratic turn’34 and its manifestations are visible in politics (for example, in the form of implementing participatory instruments), social sphere (the renaissance of social movements, which in Poland manifested as urban movements or the labour-democracy movement), as well as in culture. Here it is related to the idea that cultural production is the domain of each and every one of us, and that its functionality depends on the way Kultura niezależna w Polsce 1989–2009, ed. by Piotr Marecki (Kraków: Korporacja Ha!art, 2010). 33 34 Christina Flesher Fominaya, Social Movements and Globalization: How Protests, Occupations and Uprisings Are Changing the World (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), p. 187. 115 it implements social values and extra-artistic objectives of these practices. This distinction may seem a sophism designed to multiply discursive entities. However, we are now in the heart of the debate about the future of non-institutional circulations of culture. I want to clearly state that the difference between systems of cultural production (whether art is created in public, private or non-governmental, or even informal institutions) does not guarantee the release of creative potentials and says nothing about the social impact of culture. The fundamental issue is the change of approach to who creates culture, how and by what means, within which organizational and institutional framework and, most importantly, for what purpose. If culture created outside institutional circulation is to have the right to demand recognition and legitimization, it must be a form of counterculture, i.e., it must present an alternative anthropology of an artist, attribute them with different qualities, skills and functions, build bridges between their creative activities and social space, demand other approaches to art than the mainstream ones. The sphere of social culture I am interested in encompasses organized forms of activities (within the limit of the widened field of independent culture) aimed at practices exceeding artistic production or works. The circulation of social culture includes independent movements, organizations and institutions oriented towards democratic, pro-subject, pro-community and pro-development social impact by means of cultural instruments. Manifestations of social culture Mapping manifestations of social culture is a risky undertaking, since the borders are unclear. It may result from the inner dynamic of its development as an autonomous area of social and cultural activity or from cognitive limitations (meta-culture of research that still creates analytical barriers). The fact remains that cultural activity in the area of my interest is not easily distinguishable from other types of social activity. It would not be easy to explain why an urban movement aiming at neighbourhood integration and objecting to its opinions being ignored 116 in making decisions concerning the repurposing of an old preschool building and its adjoining area on one housing estate in Warsaw called itself Kultura na Sielcach [Culture in Sielce]. There was, indeed, an appeal in the neighbourly postulates for ‘more culture in Sielce’ (in the sense of community culture centres), fewer new blocks and apartment buildings, but hardly any practice applied by the collective (protests, legal interventions, meetings) is rooted in the sphere of culture. Why do we include the activities of the Łódź Cohabitat Foundation into the sphere of culture? Most distinctive among its operations is creating and providing access to prototypes of green building. In this sense, it is a proposition of alternative lifestyle and, therefore, indirectly a different culture. These practices could be successfully analysed as stemming from architecture or even digital culture, if the main resource of the foundation is the community of their Internet platform users. Alternative life cultures can also be found in squats and autonomous social centres, and happening-type instruments used by urban movements (such as the parade among wood houses organized by Otwarty Jazdów [Open Jazdów] collective activists in the Warsaw city centre) are to some extent a legitimized methodology of social resistance in both social-movement theory and art theory.35 Moreover, these ‘cultural ‘hot spots’’ are not differentiated according to their organizational form. They include public establishments, NGO institutions and informal groups. It is possible to defend a claim most of them stem from the grassroots activities. For example, the Łaźnia Nowa Theater from Kraków–Nowa Huta was an association before it became a municipal institution. Nevertheless, it seems that today the area of social culture falls outside this type of classification and its borders are more like vast lands rather than borderlines or border posts. Therefore, any attempt to name the autonomous area of social culture has to be based on designing a catalogue of approaches, values, operating philosophies and, only further on, include institutional forms or organizational structures. 35 See ‘Cultural Resistance in a Globalized World’, in Fominaya, pp. 81–104. 117 The catalogue of approaches, values and operating philosophies is composed of practices and determinations reflected to various extents in initiatives, organizations and institutions of the cultural sphere. Nonetheless, in my opinion it is the foundation of activities of every initiative, organization and institution recognized in recent years as a ‘cultural ‘hot spot’’. The following list includes the most characteristic qualities of social culture: • Expression of subjectivity. Initiatives within social culture are directed at creating platforms for individual expression of its participants. The relation of a given practice to individual ways and content of these expressions becomes the measure of its openness. Mechanisms of limiting them are eliminated and instead mechanisms of absorption and inclusion are developed. The form and content of individual expression are not evaluated or described according to artistic criteria. Enabling it is treated as an axiom. • Individual creativity. Practices within social culture are oriented towards creativity rather than imitation, performing according to a score or repetition of a previously proposed scenario (in the case of theatre performance, they result in common work on content proposed by participants). • Individual resources. For that reason, the ability to extract and use individual resources of participants becomes so important. I have in mind mostly immaterial resources: skills, knowledge, cultural competence, but also material: objects (becoming props or costumes), spaces (becoming the space of collective work), devices (to create stage design, objects, etc.). • Interaction. In the area of social culture, individual creativity is only a component (or starting point) for collective 118 expression. The effect (event, activity, work) is the result of collective creativity. This collective creation is possible due to the richness of interactive practices, from being together to exchange of experiences and collaboration. • Communication. Initiatives in the area of social culture generate rich means of communication, information exchange and maintaining contact. It is not necessarily related to digital communication, though in some areas this is highly developed. Nevertheless, a constant communication, irrespective of its form, is characteristic for all groups, organizations and institutions of social culture. • Collaboration. The effect of a given practice does not result from the composition of individual expressions but rather from co-creation, cooperation, collaboration. • Trust. Achieving the result in the form of common creation requires building trust within an initiative. It is about developing strategies of interaction that exclude (or minimize) mutual distance and prejudice, and that base cooperation on belief in open motivations. Interactive practices mentioned above also contribute to building mutual trust: spending time together, exchange of experiences, etc. • Conciliatory approach. Initiatives, organizations and institutions developed their own mechanisms of reaching consensus related to undertaken activities, reconciling differences, antagonisms and conflicts. • Mutual practices. One of such mechanisms, which also performs other functions, is practising mutuality: exchange of goods and services between individuals, repaying, offering 119 gifts, barter, disinterested sharing, popularizing individual skills or knowledge. • Respect for individuality. Initiatives in the area of social culture developed their own mechanisms of respecting individual qualities, desires, preferences and interests. The mechanism of recognition is not related here to authority, skill or achievements; it is rather treated a priori – recognition comes from being a person (or a non-human actor, an animal or plant36). • Focus on diversity. Such practice is by definition focused on diversity of its participants in terms of age, nationality, gender and other identity parameters. • Common resources. Social culture developed the mechanisms of sharing individual resources (for example, through mutual practices, interaction, collaborative activities) and, therefore, defining common resources: skills, knowledge, competence, identity and memory shared by all participants. • Communal ownership. This leads to redefining the issue of ownership. A given initiative, organization or institution in the area of social culture belongs to all its participants. The ownership is a resultant of identification with the initiative, cooperation, consensus. • Participation. Social culture is focused on participation. It is not addressed to consumers, but rather to participants and (co)creators of culture. Bruno Latour, Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy, trans. by Catherine Porter (Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard University Press, 2004). 36 120 • Shared decision-making. Participation leads to shared decision-making in all aspects of activities of an initiative, organization or institutions of social culture. They developed decision-making chains enabling the making of decisions to take into account many participating subjects. This also allows avoiding situations in which decisions are made by some and implemented by others who do not identify themselves with these decisions. • Co-management. Participation and shared decision-making are reflected at a formal level in co-management. The legal foundation for co-management in the area of social culture remains an open issue. Nevertheless, internal regulations of initiatives, organizations and institutions unambiguously move in this direction. • Inclusiveness. As with mechanisms of interactivity, initiatives in the field of social culture developed a rich set of instruments enabling the inclusion of new subjects (participants, performers). • Accessibility. Widespread accessibility is one of the most important parameters of activities within the area of social culture. It can be achieved through various communication methods and with different results, but the characteristic feature of planning activities within these projects is aiming at the widest scale of accessibility, which is related to the belief in the necessity of inclusiveness. • Openness. It is understood as the mechanism of various levels of engagement. Simply put, initiatives, organizations and institutions in the area of social culture plan their activities so as to allow for participation, perform support functions, 121 accompany them, be their ‘spectator’ or casual witness, according to individual preferences and capabilities. • Responsibility towards stakeholders and respecting their position. Social culture operates in an environment saturated with many stakeholders. Cultural activities in public spaces, in social areas, at the meeting of various circulations require precise definitions of stakeholders and mediates between them. • Diversification of funding and remuneration. One of the most complex aspects of operating within social culture is the issue of its stability and sustainability. Financial resources (as far as they are necessary) come from public and private sources, membership fees, other fees, crowdfunding. There are resources that are treated in the framework of practices as financial (for example, equipment). Remuneration for participation is a separate issue. There is an observable tendency towards financial gratification taking into account also other immaterial benefits of participation. • Institutionalization. In the area of social culture, there is an observable tendency towards institutionalization, enabling further development of activities but at the same time retaining the organic, separate nature of initiatives within social culture. Still, this area has been institutionalized, but the pursued model is set by common good institutions – co-managed by their participants, open and inclusive, with mediatory approaches and common ownership. • Social mechanisms of sustainability. In the case of loose organizational structure or lack of institutionalization the area of social culture, social mechanisms of sustainability are developed, such as continuous communication and frequent 122 meetings, achieving short-term objectives integrating the group and sustaining vital collaboration. • Self-sufficiency. Aiming at self-sufficiency or treating self-sufficiency as an idea guiding activities is a noticeable tendency within social culture. I have in mind both resources at the disposal of a group or community allowing it to operate without external support, as well as social and ecological responsibility. • Social and ecological responsibility. Social culture takes into consideration such parameters as the quality of life, social security of its participants and high quality of relations between them. It also takes into account their well-being, dignity, sense of fair treatment, appreciation of efforts and contribution. It also considers its impact on the environment and its sustainable development. Natural resources, energy and pollution are used reflectively. Recycling – reusing materials used in a given action – is a very important practice. There is a preference for local resources and locally available products, skills, etc. • Multigenerational horizon. Social culture attempts to postpone the time horizon of their practices. The ambition is to take into consideration long-term consequences and the quality of life of future generations. • Critical attitude. The ideal guiding activities within social culture is the critical attitude towards their own practice and surrounding reality. The ambition is also to develop instruments for correcting the direction of activities according to initiative development and changing external – social – parameters. 123 Philosophy of social culture The foundation of approach to culture within social culture is belief in the transformative power of everyone’s self-expression. Transformative, that is to say, enabling the inner change of a human being and making a change in reality. Social culture is based on the anthropology of a powerful subject and the instrument of its implementation is empowerment of others. These are the three elements of the fundamental practice within social culture and its organizations and institutions establish a platform for expression of non-professional creators, setting the framework (and supplying basic material resources) for self-expression of others. Also aiming at self-sufficiency, achieved through self-organization and establishing their own institutions, is a manifestation of the anthropology of a strong subject. Strong subjects establish strong communities. The sociology of social culture enables recognition of the idea that the grounded subject does not lead towards weakening community bonds by conflicting individuals. On the contrary, uncertain and weak individuals are more inclined to conquer territories of recognition by means of conflict. The strong subject is open to collective experiences. Being deeply set in oneself allows seeing others as separate, authentic entities rather than some kind of danger. The community such subjects create through interactions within the practices of social culture is integrated, dense, emphatic. It does not happen naturally. The area of social culture developed protocols that strengthen tendencies towards creating collective bonds. They are based on co-management and democratization of decision-making processes. Participation is not understood here as simply including ‘members of their audiences’ in activities in the field of culture, but rather co-determination of the overall process in social culture. These approaches translate into questions of agency. The transformative foundation – the idea that culture can transform individuals and reality – leads to an increased level of the potential of collective agency in communities bound by social culture. This is why cultural 124 groups are also at the same time social or urban movements attempting to achieve political goals. Social culture attaches importance to sustainability processes – innovative approaches to funding, but also triggering mechanisms of sustainability based on conscious shaping of group relations, for example, by circulating leadership, including new subjects into practices, intertwining various areas of activities (from creating culture to social activism, towards producing knowledge and coming back to creating culture). Thus social culture is heading towards production of common good, i.e., immaterial values shared by all people, values essential for living, which cannot be appropriated by anyone. I have in mind both natural resources and cultural heritage, language and human relationships. Creating the common good is achieved by institutions of social culture that should reflect the idea of common good: they should belong to all participants, shared, democratic, adjusted to expanding resources of commonwealth. How to develop social culture? I am convinced that the philosophy of social culture based on practical manifestations of its implementation in the form of initiatives, organizations and institutions, which have been the objects of analyses, studies, animation and action research in recent years, are at present the most valuable manifestations of culture as the process of collective creation of social reality existing, due to negotiating of values and meanings reflecting objectives of social community. Social culture can definitely become a model for other cultural circulations (institutional and independent). The autonomous area of social culture, however, needs to be allowed to grow as an original domain of cultural practices. Discussions concerning the de-hermeticization of cultural institutions, pluralizing the system of cultural production and organizational diversification of the field of culture seem to be dominated by the idea that building bridges between various approaches to culture is the right direction. It is true, but in view of the advantage of the public sector and 125 operating potential of the private sector, before we decide to include social culture into interaction with both these sectors, it should be allowed to enhance its power as an autonomous area of activities. Only then can it develop its own practices and strengthen its approaches, and only then can it have an impact on the shape of the culture in general. Therefore, in conclusion, I would like to express my strong belief that today we can develop social culture most effectively by creating frameworks supporting its self-development: enabling grassroots cultural production, organization and functioning in service of practising social culture and, last but not least, establishing social institutions of culture. anna świętochowska, maria rogaczewska ‘Living Culture’ in Public Policy: Problems, Challenges and Recommendations In the present book we aim to demonstrate that ‘living culture’ or ‘social culture’ is a repository of impulses stimulating social and economic development. It goes without saying that not all of the initiatives investigated here constitute cases of ‘living culture’, strictly speaking, namely spontaneous, grassroots, and informal. Some of our research covers public institutions or typical NGOs whose agenda, however, stood out in its ambitious nature and openness to forming partnerships and relations. The element that all the entities researched have in common, regardless of their formal stature, is a clear ambition to find, within the domain of cultural activities, catalysts for change in other spheres (including: sustainable development, spatial development, entrepreneurship, working with the marginalized, etc.). In our view such aspirations are worth appreciation and the opportunity to be implemented on 127 a greater scale, not necessarily by only means of direct funding, but also through other forms of support. ‘Living Culture’ as a Space for Formulating Development Goals Paradoxically, the departure point for the change of attitude towards ‘living culture’ can be found in the ‘down to earth’ reality of writing, implementing, and evaluating local development strategies. It is not possible to speak of culture and cultural policy as isolated or detached from other public policies. It must be perceived within specific and pragmatic terms as ‘leverage’ for the implementation of many essential claims from within the sphere of common good which are crucial to the local community (not only cultural, but also social, health-related, and economic). The way of thinking characteristic of ‘living culture’, in which value is attributed to the complexity of phenomena, their multi-level interdependence, and the axiological sphere, can provide an extremely valuable tool for planning local development goals. An analysis of the way in which such goals are generated is worthwhile, so as to avoid automatic and routine assumptions. In a classical model of a rational public policy based on the concept of the rational activity of the actors, setting goals is one of the major elements of the policy-makers’ activity. These goals can be simply implemented by the politicians themselves. The rational planning of the policy-makers (officials responsible for public policies) may be reduced to a choice of ways and means to achieve these goals. New goals, however, can be introduced into the agenda of public policy through processes which do not form part of political games: advocacy, citizens’ initiatives, organizations, social movements, and, more and more frequently due to the growing complexity of multi-level governance, resulting from the increasing connection of a given level of governance with another (e.g. EU structures). There are also goals which serve solving short-term problems (e.g. overcoming results of a natural disaster in, for example, cultural infrastructure). 128 Setting up goals for public policy is becoming more complicated now not only because of the growing complexity of social problems today, but also as a result of new research on the ways in which public policies function, which prove that the rationality of actors who are both the creators and recipients is quite limited.1 In other words, when making a decision on the goals of public policies and the means of their implementation, one must take into account mechanisms which, though hidden, are still powerful; cultural mechanisms which hinder even the most rational changes; thinking schemes; habits; norms; and quasi-formal networks, which both include people and direct their behaviour; mental shortcuts; stereotypes; fixed operating systems, and so forth. The specialists who can most often intuitively identify and describe these mechanisms are artists, creators, and cultural innovators themselves. Furthermore, social and public problems and challenges may be interpreted in various ways, (there are numerous definitions of development and cultural competences, for instance); they can also be differently operationalized (there exist, for example, different ways of measuring cultural competences). In view of this multitude of possibilities, Ryszard Szarfenberg proposes a new concept,2 within the context of social policy, which may also be applied to other policies implemented by local government institutions, that is, the specification of public policy goals. ‘Specification of goals is ground zero,’ writes Szarfenberg, ‘when no politically valid solutions have been adopted, for instance, the government may declare the intention to fight against poverty, though how this poverty is understood, how it is measured, and when and on what scale this intervention will take place, remains unclear. Therefore, in the process of specifying the goals of public policy goal it is essential to 1 For further information consult the trend of so-called behavioural analysis of public policies and the last report of the World Bank on the topic: http://www. worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2015. Ryszard Szarfenberg, ‘Konkretyzacja i koordynacja celów polityki publicznej w wielopoziomowym rządzeniu Przykład celu Unii Europejskiej w zakresie ubóstwa’, Instytut Polityki Społecznej Uniwersytet Warszawski, 2015 (http://rszarf.ips.uw.edu. pl/pdf/koordynacja_celE2020.pdf). 2 129 make the following decisions: 1) the manner in which the goal will be conceived[…]; 2) operationalization, that is, quantifying the goal’s general definition; 3) setting the goal’s target outcome, pointing to either an absolute or relative figure or range; 4) determining the period within which the goal is to be achieved.’ According to Szarfenberg, specification has an impact which extends beyond a rational model, potentially creating a better environment for holding agents of government accountable for their stated intentions. We suggest that the environment of ‘living culture’, which seems to be the environment of ‘soft’ skills only, can be, to a great extent, helpful in the ‘hard’ specification of local public policy goals. It may, for instance, turn out that the vague target of ‘building social cohesion’ (the implementation of which is difficult to evaluate) cannot be implemented without constructing a mechanism of inclusion mechanism which encourages collective participation in culture. This ‘specific element’ is precisely what cultural innovators can provide. An Environment Friendly to ‘Living Culture’ The subsequent claim: to create an environment friendly to the whole archipelago of ‘living culture’ as a separate, public policy-specific goal, results from a situation in which a broad, varied, and extremely important range of social and cultural activities of the third and fourth sectors constitutes merely a marginal interest of the authorities in formulating and implementing cultural policies, which seems grossly negligent, to say the least. It is not sufficient to incorporate support for ‘living culture’ institutions in the funding of single events and projects (and this difficult enough to obtain!). It is essential to rationally design activities which consist of the transfer and capitalization of innovation, in building synergy among dispersed entities, in the shared use of the resources, fertile inter-sector connections (e.g. between ‘living culture’ and public health, sports, education), and whose number and quality can be precisely planned. 130 The arguments justifying the rationale of the proposed change in public policies within culture are as follows: 1. First, the more important inter-sector connections, synergy, shared use of resources (e.g. of new public buildings raised in the last programming period) are, the more visible the interdependence among various actors (decision-makers, residents, artists etc.) in modern society, this is demonstrated in the fact that one group can fulfil its interests only when the remaining stakeholders have the conditions to achieve their goals.3 2. Second, in the most innovative municipalities the change in thinking about culture occurred a long time ago and the actual impact of culture on development, defined not only as a contribution to economic growth, but as a widely perceived social change, has been continuously emphasized. The instrumental value which culture may contribute to socio-economic development does not have to oppose the autotelic value of culture as such. On the contrary, the two values are strictly interlaced and supplement one other. 4 3. Third, as is often emphasized by cultural innovators (e.g. Krzysztof Czyżewski of the Borderland Foundation, Marzanna Groblewska of the ‘To Tu’ Association), it is important not be misled by frequently erroneous thinking which claims that only large-scale cultural activities re influential; or that the greater the number of people connected with an idea, or a project, the better. On the contrary, these innova- Andrzej Zybała, Polityki publiczne (Warsaw: Krajowa Szkoła Administracji Publicznej, 2012), pp. 117-119. 3 John Holden, Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy: Why culture needs a democratic mandate (London: Demos, 2006). 4 131 tive thinkers encourage small-scale, specific, activities; they encourage the creation of several small-scale centres, ‘small world centres’. It is important to recognize the impact of these micro-scale activities and emphasize that worthwhile change takes time and cannot be confined to an annual budget. 4. Fourth, the activities of cultural innovators are in fact the perfect instrument through which to implement local government goals (i.e. improved quality of life, actively engaging residents, and building social capital) and should be provided with individual modes of support, often non-financial. Culture is, first and foremost, created by people, not by institutions. The goal of public policies should consist in creating the optimum conditions for creation, dialogue, and cooperation, not in defining concrete goals for organizations, which in fact reduce the potential for cultural development. Challenges to the Argument for Supporting ‘Living Culture’ In the classical, rational public policy model, based on the concept of the rational action of a given agent, setting goals is one of the basic elements of a policy-maker’s activity. By this token governments impose their own political vision onto programmes and actions in order to achieve the expected results; the desired changes in the real world. However, as emphasized by Jerzy Hausner,5 this requires from public administration representatives a combination of expertise and a broader, socially transparent accountability to the policy’s addressees and beneficiaries. Experience has shown that the accountability of decision-makers is limited mainly to fulfilling formal requirements, which often fail to reflect actual social needs. This status quo cannot be blamed solely on decision-makers. Thus far there has been no effort to formulate pubJerzy Hausner, Zarządzanie publiczne (Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar, 2008), p. 47. 5 132 lic policies based on consensus, there has been little civic commitment, and the format of citizens participation in shaping and implementing tasks in the field has not been defined. There is an absence of awareness of the significance of taking such steps, along with a lack of motivation and experience to uncover methods of solving public problems based on shared participation and responsibility, and, most of all, dialogue. Given the structure of public funding for culture in Poland,6 it is tempting to state that local government has a decisive influence on the shape of the culture sector. In practise, however, legally local government bodies have little influence on cultural policy. Certain exceptions are made, such as registering and removing a monument from a register of heritage sites, but only when such a decision is justifiably left to the administration,7 in the great majority of cases the situation significantly limits the sphere of the influence of local governments, actually reducing their potential to shape local and regional cultural policy. Therefore their power to promote the appropriate use of local potential to develop and construct a friendly environment in which ‘living culture’ may flourish, is limited. The basic challenge is found in the provision of the Act on Organizing and Conducting Cultural Activity (Journal of Laws of 2012, Item 406), which clearly neglects the activity of informal grassroots cultural activities in defining the following as forms of cultural activity: theatres, operas, light operas, symphonies, orchestras, film institutions, cinemas, museums, libraries, cultural centres, artistic centres, art galleries, and research and documentation centres in various spheres of culture (Art. 3.2). By this token, commercial performances of public theatre, not requiring much intellectual effort either from the artists or from the spectators, are treated as non-profit events, while the street theatre, whose main goal is to raise awareness of local concerns through establishing Central Statistical Office, Kraków, 2012: http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/ gus/KTS_wydatki_kultura_2011.pdf. 6 7 Jacek Purchla, Raport na temat funkcjonowania systemu ochrony dziedzictwa kulturowego w Polsce po roku 1989, 2008: http://www.kongreskultury.pl/library/File/ RaportDziedzictwo/dziedzictwo_raport_w.pelna%281%29.pdf. 133 contact with spectators and engaging the local community, is treated as a commercial activity, and is, therefore, subject to the same fiscal rules as business operations. In compliance with the provisions of Article 9 of the above Act, ‘conducting cultural activities is a compulsory task of local government bodies.’ However, in the same Article it is emphasized that local government bodies organize cultural activity by establishing local cultural institutions. Subsidizing the remaining cultural activity depends on the good will of the administration and available resources. This results in a situation in which almost all culture-related financing is allocated to public institutions run by the local government, regardless of their mode of operation and quality. Therefore NGOs are given merely a fraction of the financing allocated by local governments to culture,8 and there is no means of directly subsidizing independent, grassroots, and citizens’ initiatives in the sphere of ‘living culture’. Within the circles of decision-makers culture is unequivocally associated with public institutions and, as emphasized by Katarzyna Plebańczyk,9 there is often a lack of knowledge of any other activity. This is not only a result of the ignorance of those in the administration. It stems, instead, from an extant, strongly rooted elitist perception of cultural institutions and the need to associate them with the activities of the authorities. The direct dependence of the organizations active in the sphere of culture on public administration is unfortunately of strictly political character. Culture is used instrumentally to promote the activity of the administration. This procedure is absolutely widespread and not even local governments which define themselves as pro-civic and progressive are devoid of such designs. Politicians need a quick and Jan Herbst, Wydatki jednostek samorządu terytorialnego na kulturę oraz na organizacje pozarządowe, in: Piotr Adamiak, Zofia Dworakowska, Jan Herbst, Jadwiga Przewłocka, Współpraca w obszarze kultury – samorządy, publiczne instytucje kultury, organizacje pozarządowe (Warsaw: Stowarzyszenie Klon/Jawor, 2013), p. 39. 8 9 Katarzyna Plebańczyk, W stronę badań nad zarządzaniem w kulturze, in: Zarządzanie w kulturze, ed. by Ewa Kocój, Emil Orzechowski, Volume 12, (Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, 2011), p. 56. 134 visible impact, therefore larger and more spectacular activities offer the hope of greater support. This, in fact, results in an outcome contrary to that intended, which may be best proven through the example of recently implemented projects which expended European funds, and often ruined the budgets of many cities for years to come. Regrettably, in the case of ‘living culture’ and its substantial contribution to socio-economic development, hardly anything is ‘spectacular’. As demonstrated by all the case studies in the ‘Culture and Development’ Programme, activities are undertaken in response to an identified need: be it personal, social, or local. Despite the unquestionable worth of these initiatives, current institutional and legal solutions do not offer any hope of winning the administration’s favour. The use of culture as an instrument through which to achieve specific, rather than communal, interests is also proven by the tendencies observed in the contests for NGOs active in culture, such as subsidizing the same projects over the years, conservatism, the rejection of innovative and genuine solutions, lobbying, the impact of informal relations, connections, political games, and a lack of standardized procedures in competition evaluations.10 A similar situation is apparent when it comes to subsidizing cultural institutions which annually apply for funding, while the decision of whether or not to allocate resources to a project depends on unclear and incomprehensible factors. This situation arises, to a great extent, from the lack of a sensible verification of the activities undertaken both within cultural policy, and within cultural institutions themselves. Currently, the operating mode of public cultural institutions depends almost entirely on directors who are not accountable for the factual aspects of their operations, bearing responsibility only for the legal, political, and financial aspects. Nor does the administration seem to reflect on the values which are promoted by entities acting in the cultural sphere and which of them might require particular 10 Piotr Adamiak, Zofia Dworakowska, Jan Herbst, Jadwiga Przewłocka, Współpraca w obszarze kultury – samorządy, publiczne instytucje kultury, organizacje pozarządowe (Warsaw: Stowarzyszenie Klon/Jawor, 2013). 135 attention, care, and support. As a matter of fact, everything revolves around the subsidies and their settlement. A similar attitude is evident with respect to NGOs and certain informal initiatives. In effect, the allocation of subsidies exclusively reflects discretionary criteria, and occasionally social or political connections. On several occasions, in the course of research, administration representatives have declared that they do not recognize any difference between a specific activity conducted by the organization concerned and other entities active in this environment, though the latter may have been active on a smaller scale. This is the situation which cultural initiatives seeking funding encounter today. There are no set goals, no formulation of the criteria for evaluating quality, there is a lack of credible evaluation conducted through dialogue with different groups of potential stakeholders; hence there is no means of objective verification. Such a situation means that entities focused on activity and not on lobbying are doomed to lose. Making the Creation of an Environment Conducive to the Development of the Archipelago of ‘Living Culture’ a Goal of Public Policy 1. Change in the perception of culture vs. development relations The most basic and the toughest challenge is a shift in attitudes to culture towards an appreciation of grassroots initiatives thus far regarded as amateur and unprofessional, with no significant impact on culture and development. It is of key importance for individuals working for institutions and organizations dealing with cultural activity to be aware that they are the exclusive consumers of public money, that their activity has a much broader impact than merely taking care of culture. This implies a certain responsibility, not only for the public funds with which they have been entrusted, but also for community development. 136 2. Testing the new criteria in the selection of entities eligible for public funding It is of crucial importance to change the approach of those individuals who make decisions in the sphere of cultural policy. Regrettably, in the light of the current legal regulations, any training of officials or decision-makers on the importance of grassroots initiatives for development may not yield the expected results. In the case of financial problems, ubiquitous today, subsidies for public cultural institutions will remain a priority at the expense of grants to other organizations. The obstacle to wider recognition of the value of informal cultural initiatives is to be found in the provisions of the Act on Organizing and Conducting Cultural Activity. This act states that cultural activity is organized by local government bodies through the establishment of local cultural institutions. However, it is worth considering the implementation of small-scale tests of a solution in which subsidies are not granted to organizations solely on the basis of their legal status. This is a solution which has been applied throughout Europe, consisting of the provision of funding to given cultural entities in light of their accomplishments, mode of operation, and significance to the community, rather than their legal form. Apart from achieving more effective activity, this would allow for the promotion of hybrid solutions combining activities undertaken across different sectors, and encouraging an exchange of knowledge and resources. 3. Testing of new co-governance means The influence of new modes of co-governance which exist in the archipelago of ‘living culture’ could effect a gradual change in the ways in which public cultural institutions are run. Public cultural institutions are currently hierarchical, resembling public administration bodies rather than sites to foster creativity. Cultural institutions’ directors often complain that their employees show no commitment and proactivity. Meanwhile, grassroots initiatives, established in response to the need to satisfy individuals’ requirements usually display a flat struc- 137 ture which provides an excellent field for creativity, responsibility, and commitment, and also satisfies the needs of individuals. The absence of formalized procedures does not negative impact upon their effectiveness, and may, in fact, have the opposite effect. Grassroots initiatives are much better at adjusting to their environment, more efficient in using resources, and provide a wider field for creativity. Taking a closer look at such organizations could offer valuable knowledge to people in charge of public cultural institutions. 4. Competition criteria for the directorship of a public institution In the competition to appoint directors to public cultural institutions a frequent stipulation is that only individuals with experience in running a public cultural institution may apply. This leads to the reproduction of established approaches, while also limiting the resource flow. One solution to this static structure would be to promote individuals to these positions who have acquired some experience working for third-sector organizations or grassroots initiatives. Mutual inspiration, and the exchange of resources and experience, should be the goal of all the culture sector organizations. Thanks to such cooperation among different organizations, networks of good practice could be established: places allowing for the exchange of knowledge, resources, ideas, and concepts, which could significantly benefit the whole culture sector. 5. Differentiated systems of support for artists The next challenge is to improve the circumstances of artists, whose status in Poland differs substantially from European norms. Artists are, for the most part, catalysts for creative initiatives. However, in Poland, the profession of ‘artist’ is not perceived as ‘concrete’, and able to provide a stable income,1 this perception results, in turn, in little interest in creative activity. This conclusion has been confirmed in the National 1 Strategia Rozwoju Kapitału Społecznego, 2013, p. 23. 138 Remuneration Survey.2 Therefore, there is a need to support artists and to enable them to function independently through an extensive grant scheme and a social security system which would allow artists and innovators to work outside the framework of cultural institutions. 6. The promotion of participative methods, civic dialogue, and shared decision-making in the sphere of culture The process of the decentralization and transfer of competences to the lower ranks of public authority were originally intended, to bring together those who make decisions in the sphere of public policy and those for whom such decisions are made. The shortening of this distance between policy-makers and consumers also allows for greater citizens participation. Greater engagement with consumers is essential not only for the effective implementation of these policies, but also for the sustainable development of society. In order to make full use of this potential, greater independence for local governments and their capacity to make autonomous decisions are essential, not only as far as the distribution of resources is concerned, but also with regard to the capacity of available resources to organize the sector’s activity. A major obstacle to the development of culture is to be found in its direct and exclusive dependence on the decisions of politicians. It is worth noting that the volume of funding allocated to culture is influenced only by the formal qualifications of the political elites, namely their education, while the impact of other factors, such as social problems, the unemployment rate, or commune agrarization, is not taken into account.3 It is, therefore, essential to separate these decisions from direct political influence. One solution to this problem may be found in establishing local Culture Councils, not merely as advisoNational Remuneration Survey: http://www.wynagrodzenia.pl/artykul.php/typ.1/ kategoria_glowna.503/wpis.2828 2 Jan Herbst, Wydatki jednostek samorządu terytorialnego na kulturę oraz na organizacje pozarządowe, in: Piotr Adamiak, Zofia Dworakowska, Jan Herbst, Jadwiga Przewłocka, Współpraca w obszarze kultury – samorządy, publiczne instytucje kultury, organizacje pozarządowe (Warsaw: Stowarzyszenie Klon/Jawor, 2013), p. 35. 3 139 ry bodies, but as decision-making bodies. Such councils would bring together representatives of the local cultural environment, experts, and individuals who are intensely and actively related to the local community, including representatives of the local administration and political elites, however the vote of each member would have equal weight. Following a wide social consultation, such councils would set some of the goals of the given local policy, decide on the distribution of resources, and undertake direct operational activities. As a result of such a solution, cultural policy would be more likely to be based on actual resources and needs, and, importantly, this solution would curb the impact of political designs to use the activity of the cultural sector to benefit the authorities. 7. Public-non-governmental partnership and task assignment One of the instruments through which cultural policy may be implemented is the establishment of organizations kept at ‘arm’s length’. The principle of such an operation is that the public administration is not directly involved in fulfilling a task; rather, it assigns this responsibility to purposefully established specialized organizations. The concept boils down to the assumption that these entities remain independent and enjoy the status of so-called QUANGOs (Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation). This is an extremely popular solution for the implementation of cultural policy in many European countries. 8. Institutional self-reflection, evaluation, and impact assessment The last and possibly the greatest challenge is the introduction of diligent evaluations of the activities undertaken by organizations and institutions active in the cultural sector. This is important due to both the development of these organizations themselves and the appropriate management of public resources. On the other hand, the current institutional and legal system does not offer the possibility of long-term approaches to culture. This is one of the most urgent challenges to the operation of institutions and organizations in the cultural sector. Unless a concerted effort is 140 made to evaluate the activities of these organizations, using not only quantifiable, financial criteria, but also assessing the extent to which they satisfy the needs of the various actors involved in cultural policy (artists, recipients, residents, experts, and finally the decision-makers themselves), it will not be possible to effectively undertake activities within cultural policy which favour the development of both society and culture. The evaluation of cultural policy is particularly complex for several reasons.4 It is affected by numerous external factors which are difficult to separate and, in addition, it engages different actors, both formally and informally, who have influence over the goals of cultural policy and on the policy’s effects. The basic challenge is to formulate adequate and credible indexes that could assess added value.5 This applies to entities active in the cultural sector too. However, the challenge of evaluating the outcomes of cultural initiatives should not deter such activities. The important thing to bear in mind is that an evaluation should not be limited to an appraisal of quantity, but should represent an evaluation of quality too, taking into account the different perspectives of stakeholders. General access to various online tools facilitates the organization’s communication with its environment. Well-managed organizations active in the cultural sector worldwide communicate with their public, even by means of such primitive tools as surveys at the end of an event or museum visit, alongside regular focus groups, societies of supporters, and so forth. Regrettably, this form of evaluation is not frequently used in Poland. On the one hand, it is obviously the fault of event organizers, but, on the other, as participants, we are not used to having either the opportunity or the impulse to share our opinion and suggestions for improvement. Organizations active in the cultural sector should dedicate attention to self-reflection and a constant evaluation of the reception of their activities, as well as devoting time to researching and reporting upon their impact, on the environment, self-development, and the impleLuis Basterrechea, Michel Bassand, Analysis and Evaluation of Cultural Policies in Switzerland. Four medium-sized towns in the canton of Vaud, (UNESCO, 1988), p. 83. 4 5 IXIA Public Art Think-Tank, Public Art: A Guide to Evaluation (IXIA PA, 2009). 141 mentation of the intended goals. Such diligent evaluation should not be merely a formal operation, but should constitute the foundation of an organization’s application for public funding. Conclusion The majority of problems with achieving the stated public policy goals in contemporary cities and many local communities result from the increasing complexity of the challenges they face. Governing the sphere of cultural activity is faced with an increasingly complex arena which requires skills other than simply thinking in terms of goals and rationality, linearity, index quantification and so forth. It requires skills and approaches characteristic of the brain’s right hemisphere, namely the capacity to synthesize, and to perceive hidden connections and feedback, and the offer a prompt explanation of many different codes. These are the kind of skills that people engaged with culture demonstrate and, therefore, they should, increasingly, become the co-authors of locally created goals and development strategies. Diversity nourishes the richness of culture. However, it is productive to think about culture as a peculiar ecosystem which becomes stronger, as a result of its variety.6 This is an ecosystem in which every form of activity is precious and excluding or eliminating any part of it would have a negative impact on the whole. The favour shown to particular forms of cultural activity in Poland thus far, visible in the activity of public cultural institutions, unequivocally disturbs this ecosystem. If we were to continue in this way, it would have a destructive impact on both social development, and culture itself. Public policies should not limit cultural activity through a factual interference in its content and form. The higher goal should be to cherish culture through the creation of the optimum conditions for the development of various forms of operation and collaboration, as well as opening it up to the suggestions of creators, artists and innovators as experts in managing such complexity. 6 John Holden, The Ecology of Culture (Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2015). mikołaj lewicki Between Cultural Hierarchies and the ‘Living Culture’: Can Cultural Participation Offer Solutions to Inequality? Representatives from three social classes, in explaining how they spend their time after work, refer to the activities available in their city, Olsztyn (formerly Olstein), in north-western Poland, notorious for the many lakes in and around the city: ‘We have been [to the lake shore] often this year, as they built these public beaches at two of the lakes that are central and nearby. We used to go there before but it was hard as we had to sit in among thick bushes’, says a 40 year-old old driver. ‘The lakes? In the city? Rather not… I used to try to go there but there is nothing there… No decent cafes, no facilities to swim safely or to have some kind of water-sport, no white sand, etc… 143 So we don’t go there…’ says a banking official living in a trendy district of the city. ‘Well, the lakes and nature are our most precious treasures. When I go out in the morning, there is this beautiful mist over the river that runs through our village, the same river which meanders through Olsztyn, and I realize I am living in a very special place… Though I wouldn’t go to the lakes in the city, I can just as easily reach one of the pristine lakes just a few kilometres away from our place, I still think that the lakes are what make Olsztyn special’, declares an artist, a successful painter living in the suburban village of the city, former seat of the PGR (Polish equivalent of the Kolkhoz), slowly gentrified by wealthy ‘city-escapees’. The same place, the same feature and three radically different descriptions demonstrate the cognitive and behavioural distinctions that are decisive in determining the ways in which Poles spend their time after work. ‘Time after work’ has been the slogan and provocative catchphrase for collecting opinions and impressions, selected by the researchers observing the cultural practices of inhabitants of the Warmia and Mazury Regions7. Another study, to which I refer, was aimed at analysing differences in the ways in which Poles participate in cultural activities8. Whereas for the outsiders, such as tourists, the region is recognized as the most attractive in Poland, in particular with regard to its value as a tourist destination, it does not have much to offer to locals. As one of the most impoverished parts of the country, with high unemployment, it has been the target of the greatest EU funding in Poland. 7 This text is based on research conducted in 2014-2015, entitled ‘Culture and Development’ under the auspices of the Institute of Advanced Study in Warsaw, and co-financed by the National Centre for Culture. It is also based on the author’s own research, financed by National Centre for Science; Grant No. UMO-2012/05/D/ HS6/02760. Maciej Gdula, Mikołaj Lewicki, Przemysław Sadura, Praktyki kulturowe klasy ludowej (Warsaw: Instytut Studiów Zaawansowanych, 2014) [accessed: 6 November 2015]. 8 144 I would like to focus on two aspects of the relations between cultural participation and inequalities in Poland. The first aspect concerns distinctions in cognitive and behavioural processes that determine the forms of participation and what I propose to call ‘non-participation’. The second refers to the uneven distribution of cultural resources, services and skills among Poles that, as a result of the growth of the capitalist economy in Poland, in fact reproduces and deepens social inequalities rather than reducing them and compensating for economic and social inequality. I will argue that only through a broader understanding of cultural participation can we reverse the trend from increasing to reducing social inequalities in Poland, and also on the level of the European policies through cultural participation and cultural institutions. Visible and invisible cultural participation The history of modernization in Poland after the fall of Communism can undoubtedly be related in superlatives. Across the board, the statistical criteria that are usually taken as indications of quality of life have been substantially improved. Quality of life and basic services, such as roads, city centres, basic infrastructure and the modernization of industry, have been accomplished on both local and national levels. This would not have been possible without grants from EU structural funds. However more sophisticated development, such as the establishment or modernization of cultural institutions, starting with national museums and opera houses and ending with local entertainment such as stadiums and music halls, has been undertaken, almost exclusively, either in the capital or in regional capitals. Inadvertently, the division between the centre and the periphery has been reproduced. Throughout Poland you can take both high-speed trains and highways, as in Germany, Austria or Spain, when you travel between metropolitan centres. However, it is more difficult to reach destinations beyond these centres. Thus, the impact of modernization has been uneven. It has deepened the division between strong centres and their peripheries. The disparity in infrastructural development 145 between regions, cities, villages and small towns has become more visible. This disparity is also reflected in differences in the economic capital of the inhabitants of these areas. The distinctions between the three perspectives briefly illustrated above have, in fact, a considerable impact on the ways in which cultural institutions function in their communities and on the cultural activities which take place in the public sphere.9 While the middle class, in areas such as Olsztyn, complains about parochialism and a lack of services, in fact both public and private organizations offer cultural activities and events which are aimed, almost exclusively, at the middle class. As usual, all over Poland the enjoyment of cultural services is associated with access (‘costs of entry’) and the uneven distribution of resources in society. Local and international concerts, both outdoors and in the brand new concert halls, theatre and, finally, sport and cultural services directed at children, youth and families, are developing and more or less reflect the expectations of the middle class. Meanwhile the upper class, having both greater economic and cultural capital, can join the events on offer locally as well as participating in the high-brow culture of the metropolis. In this study, respondents revealed that it was not uncommon to visit the theatre or opera in Warsaw, either over the weekend or during a business trip. The middle and upper classes seem to be culturally omnivorous, especially when located on the outskirts of metropolises such as Warsaw, Gdańsk, Cracow, Wrocław or Poznań. Attendance at local variety shows, folk music events and at opera or theatre spectacles does not distinguish the two different groups, the elites and the middle class. As the local and more nationally oriented institutions gain the patronage of the middle and upper classes, the lower classes are not taken into account. No wonder, as there are no counter-voices and counter-proposals, challenging the established order. Only when This analysis refers to the notion of classes formulated by Pierre Bourdieu and reinterpreted by Michèle Lamont. Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, trans. by Richard Nice (London and New York: Routledge, 1984); Michèle Lamont, How Professors Think: Inside the Curious World of Academic Judgment (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009). 9 146 asked about the ‘frequency’ of participation, do representatives of local and national institutions in the cultural sector or managers of the private events such as music festivals complain about the passive and disinterested part of the society, sticking to soap-operas and beer fests. Where are these ‘non-participants’? Are they really stuck at home, like couch-potatoes? These statements refer to observations made by researchers of cultural participation over the last five years. The first comment is associated with the perspective of the driver mentioned above; the second with a more widespread perception, which is still, however, associated with hegemonic notions of culture, cultural participation and activity, prevalent in public discourse and practices. However, the question of cultural participation cannot be reduced to class divisions, exclusively; it resonates in discussions on non-participation, the relative lack of interest of a considerable section of Polish society in what has usually been understood as cultural participation. The quotations cited above demonstrate how people with different cognitive and behavioural repertoires express their attitude towards the public sphere. These different perspectives are equally legitimate if we refer to the idea of public institutions. However, only the middle and upper classes are free to choose between the entertainment on offer from public and private institutions, between highbrow and lowbrow activities. Among these two groups, however, there are those who would rather search for alternatives that take place not in the centre but on the margins of the cultural and social life. Researchers have begun to pay more attention to such cultural activity on the margins, particularly when it became clear that those activities and initiatives which are labelled ‘marginal’ in fact encompass a vibrant and dynamic set of practices, circulating among members of local communities, in both large cities and provincial towns, and includes the majority of these populations. The public space of Olsztyn’s lakes, in particular, but also parks, public benches, sometimes street corners or local shops, these spaces are, in fact, arenas of activities that are out of sight to formal and civic institutions, defined through their ‘cultural mission and program’. 147 Young inhabitants of the post-worker’s district in Olsztyn, constructing a fitness club in the basement out of scrap; the establishment of a complex motocross lane in the outskirts of the small town by local fans; the construction of bikes, tractors and various devices which is quite a common hobby among farmers; the assemblage of wooden furniture, and its exhibition for fellow enthusiasts, neighbours or relatives; the foundation of a private regional museum out of the gifts and collections of the locals; the organization of a huge theatre show in the former train station involving professional artists and amateurs; or the establishment of an independent cultural centre in a building to be renovated by the local developer – these are activities that do not fall under the present definitions of cultural activities, propagated by formal, public and even private cultural institutions. Whether sports, artisanal, or simply, leisure activities, they are off the radar, not only of institutions but also of records accounting for citizens’ (cultural and social) activities. Some of them definitely occupy a personal and intimate space among hobbies and interests and involve dozens of people. Consistent with the official lack of recognition of such initiatives, surveys ask about going to museums, to the opera, or to the movies but rarely about hobbies and activities that combine creative work with socializing or non-approved forms of being together, making-together or simply expressing yourself in informal spaces and through special interest group activities. If we roughly define culture as the construction of meanings and communal associations, for the purpose of this analysis, researchers in Poland have called those grassroots, non- or semi- legitimized practices that involve creativity, group effort, heterogeneous codes of values and styles as ‘living culture’.10 ‘Living culture’ however did not emerge out of the blue. It is, rather, the evolution of the point of view of people who used to cleave to ready-made 10 The term ‘practice’ refers to the perspective proposed in: The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory, ed. by Theodore R. Schatzki, Karin Knorr Cetina, Eike von Savigny (London and New York: Routledge, 2001) and in: Robert N. Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, Steven M. Tipton, Individualism and Commitment in American Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985). 148 cultural formulas (such as mass vs. alternative, highbrow vs lowbrow, canon vs. avant-garde) which is crucial. Such informal initiatives have been present for a long time but have not been recognized as cultural activities. With the rise of interest in popular culture and with research into fandom, subcultures and informality, on the one side, and networks and digital technologies on the other, outdated categories needed to be redefined as they do not reflect the processes that create new cultural phenomena today. Only now, with the networking of local, heterogenic and vernacular codes of conduct and practices, has the total scale and impact of dispersed initiatives, movements and activities become more visible. Sharing culture, and so-called ‘free culture’, draw attention to the connections between cultural institutions and practices as we know them (such as museums, movies, literature), and what we would like to call cultural practices, when faced with the vast multiplicity of meanings and relations, created through modern communication technologies. Whereas, today, museums and movie-makers endeavour to ‘go digital’, entering into new networks of meanings, fans of ‘oldies’ already collected artefacts from various epochs, discuss unnoticed facts and fictions connected through blogs, fandoms and various virtual platforms. The same plethora of practices awaits ‘discovery’ not in ‘virtual’ reality, but rather, around the corner. Therefore one may legitimately speak of ‘the anthropological turn’ in research on culture (a broader field than that of cultural studies) in Poland. It assumes that the researcher should consider his own categories, such as ‘cultural participation’ as secondary, and, instead, focus on the practices of constructing meaning and forms of collaboration and integration that usually alter local relations and available repertoires of ‘staying together’, creating or communicating in various milieus. To illustrate the dilemmas and challenges researchers face when asking the simplest questions, it is better to ask about ‘time after work’ than to refer to the category of ‘free time’, as working time and free time have blurred boundaries and designates. This turn emphasizes the inadequacy of categories, metrics and classifications, used 149 generally, and not only in Poland, to describe and account for culture (and cultural activities). Only in the light of such problematization can the discussion on cultural participation go beyond complaints of general disinterest in ‘formal’ and ‘legitimized’ cultural activities. In Poland, questions on the nature of cultural initiatives have become more common as many cities invest considerable resources to build or modernize public facilities such as theatres, music halls, cultural centres or libraries. Although very modern and, quite often, even more technologically developed than their counterparts in Western Europe, public and private spaces remain only partially used and frequented. Grievances over ‘non-participation’, especially associated with the activities most legitimized and valorised, such as reading or theatres-going, seem to be, at the same time, descriptions and evaluations of people’s lack of interest and motivations for more elevated, more cherished forms of cultural activities. The anthropological turn in research enables us to see the problem of ‘non-participation’ as much as a cognitive issue as an ideological one. It locates the problem not in the motivations and competencies of non-participants, but rather in the way in which cultural activities are described and sanctioned as, for example, valuable and legitimate projects for public finance. A broader definition of cultural activities may well result in the democratization of cultural practices, or, at least, in the tolerance of their different forms, and, eventually, cultural inclusiveness may open up opportunities for broader social inclusion. Does the concept of ‘living culture’ make class and other social divisions less significant? Can an acknowledgement of the significance of ‘living culture’ offer solutions to the problem of inequality? Recent research has revealed that ‘living culture’, by definition and by virtue of its roots as a grassroots phenomenon, consists of heterogenic values and symbols. Whether it is the remaking of a product, cultural artefact, TV series or a game, participants and ‘makers’ bring their own meanings to a field that used to have clear connotations. They often present themselves in different roles and contexts other than 150 those to which they have traditionally been ascribed and in which they usually participate. Thus, whereas class and social differences remain, the diverse backgrounds and interests of participants and the interactions between offer the possibility of a wide range of intersection and a mixing of those categories that tend to be associated with distinction and hierarchy. Thus we could say that the cultural practices comprising ‘living culture’ enable researchers to explore different strategies and behaviours, not otherwise available or simply inappropriate for certain members of various classes and social milieus. This is one of the dimensions of ‘living culture’ which demonstrates its transformative values. However, this does not mean we should idealize ‘living culture’. Several problems have been identified in research on ‘living culture’. The first recalls a well-known problem of cultural hierarchies. Whereas ‘living culture’s’ sources of energy and creativity are derived from participation, spontaneity and anti-hierarchical interaction, once already established, they need some kind of institutionalization, the establishment of rules and embedded relations that would allow it to endure. This, however, poses a problem; as long as the activities which make up ‘living culture’ are based on the energy, enthusiasm and engagement of its participants, the high expectations and stakes for those who want to join or remain will not be met by a formalization of activities. This means that ‘living culture’ is unstable and local, rather than large-scale and sustainable. In fact, it has high expectations of potential participants, as most of us are used to ‘going’ and ‘seeing’ rather than ‘doing’, ‘making’, participating. Recent attempts to apply the energy and ambitions of ‘living culture’ to the sphere of modern art have been difficult (for further details and examples see the discussions on the 7th Berlin Art Biennale). The second problem, closely associated with the first, concerns the unstable resources of ‘living culture’. Usually consisting of the creativity and engagement of participants, ‘living culture’ is fed by individual resources, usually ad hoc and often based on informal sources such as recycling, the commons, gift circulation, free licensing, sharing, and so forth. 151 The third problem also originates in the first. ‘Living culture’ keeps its distance from, if it is not openly hostile towards, formal institutions and very often towards the state and local administration too. Perceiving the latter as inefficient, hierarchical and authoritarian and, most importantly, as unable to understand and appreciate its values, ‘living culture’ is unable to reach a greater scale of activity and influence without the public sector. It’s resources are unstable and its outreach is limited, even with the help of digital resources. Therefore, one of the challenges associated with harnessing the potential of ‘living culture’ is to combine its inherent features with seemingly contradictory principles associated with public institutions that require quantified data formal rules, accountability, and so forth. Although often acclaimed as having its foundation in cooperation and mutual respect, ‘living culture’ very often, like subcultures, emerges on the margins and in opposition to the mainstream. In spite of the assertions of participants to the contrary, such initiatives are often formed as a result of conflict or protest rather than cooperation. This is the case of a local initiative in one of the Warsaw’s districts where the inhabitants protested against the takeover of the former local kindergarten, sold to the developer by the municipality. The protests, which resulted in the occupation of the kindergarten’s building and park, included many spontaneous activities that evolved around the hobbies and interests of the locals, for the locals. Identifying their opponents as the developer and a lack of transparency in municipal procedures, local inhabitants created their own communication platform, collected resources and came up with alternatives for the arrangement of the local space. Their agency and this sense of belonging to a community would not have emerged, as they had claimed, without the threat of intervention into this communal space. In many other cases observed in the course of research, such initiatives were formed in defiance of local authorities or formal institutions. On the one hand, this defiance is the source of their autonomy, however, on the other, it has limited their access to various kinds of resources beyond financial support. Therefore, 152 one of the main questions concerning ‘living culture’, and more generally, cultural participation, is, what kind of inclusionary mechanisms should be taken into account? The uneven distribution of culture and cultural resources As Olsztyn’s application for EU structural funds was successful, the city not only has brand new streets and facilities, a renovated old city and a beautifully positioned university, but also a brand new Opera house, modernized music halls and theatres, and a cultural centre. It also has at least three new shopping malls, of which at least one will likely go bankrupt due to the size of the city; its surrounding population and its predicted economic development will not sustain such substantive growth in consumption. In terms of material infrastructure, the standards of living and leisure time have improved considerably. We could certainly argue that access to these institutions of the Warmia and Mazury Region, of which Olsztyn is the capital, is uneven. Not everyone can afford to travel to Olsztyn for a day or overnight and, in terms of class distinctions, as our research reveals, for many, the opera, theatre, and even movie centres remain only a childhood memory of school trips. However, this is not a new and decisive trend; the reproduction of class divisions is more universal than any cultural change. This approach only offers us the opportunity to observe and criticize such inequality with very little hope that it may be redressed. What might we make, then, of the material and technological, consumer-driven modernization which is so visible in Poland? If almost all spheres of social activity are experiencing a levelling of social inequalities, why should culture not only remain divided, but in fact, actually become a source of further inequality, as the drive of the middle and upper class to greater consumption and more expensive life-styles will be ever more disadvantageous for the lower class? Such dominant life-styles develop, very often with the help of public funding, while access to these life-styles is increasingly limited financially. Since this process of modernization is fuelled by EU funding and by aspirations towards (Western)European 153 standards of living and life-styles, how can the European context be utilized in order to reduce inequalities? This question definitely needs more substantial research and discussion. The perspective explored in this text assumes that there are new and/or discoverable phenomena that should be taken into account. These phenomena, collectively known as ‘living culture’, form part of culture, if we assume that culture is comprised of meaning-making, and identifying and integrating appropriate mechanisms of social coordination based on commonly shared values or symbols. This culture does not cooperate with the formal, cultural institutions. On the contrary, its ‘natural’ state is relative autonomy and non-conformity. This understanding of ‘living culture’ brings it closer to the field of art. The question of autonomy in terms of acting, creating, and performing, as much as in ‘living culture’ make participants keen to experience a sense of exclusivity and autonomy. But in this way, the social and cultural impact of such initiatives is limited to participants and their close milieu. ‘Living culture’, by its nature, combines different spheres of activity and, very often, includes participants who are usually distanced from officially sanctioned culture. This is a paradox: on the one hand, it is participatory and open, on the other, distanced from the official and legitimate. Therefore one of the biggest challenges for both sides, formal institutions whose mission is to propagate and include, and initiatives that might be considered as a part of this ‘living culture’, is to find a platform or mechanism, for transmission. On the one hand, ‘living culture’, when proclaiming its influence beyond the cultural field, as it is defined, needs to be open to other ways of evaluation and accountability. Thus, if for example, an initiative is aimed at increasing social inclusion, it can, at the same time, be compared to the initiatives that are classified as social policy today. On the other hand, this means that there are no strict divisions of responsibility and fields of competence between various, formal organizations and their functional divisions, such as in the case of local administration. Therefore, a broader understanding of culture is not only a threat to formal institutions. It 154 also means that cultural initiatives should be ready to be held accountable for more than artistic or cultural activity as we used to define them. This means, however, that cultural institutions and their leaders are invited to reconsider their power and fields of competence. Therefore, one of the challenges, taken by some organizations in Poland is to implement real participatory mechanisms, not in terms of events and projects already in the making, but on the level of planning and defining goals, and so forth, with regard to the distinctions and challenges, described in the first part of this text. Research and observation suggest that we face two parallel and distinct systems of cultural practices that do not naturally cleave to one another; ‘living culture’ and culture based on institutions and clearly defined fields of influence and symbols of legitimacy. These two systems should not, perhaps, be forcibly integrated into one, universal system of culture. Instead, we should think of the mediators and mechanisms that would enable us to sustain both systems, in terms of public financing and cultural policy. Naturally, the transformative potential of ‘living culture’ should be used but initiatives of ‘living culture’ are not easily integrated into and accounted for in the process of institutionalization. However, there is one area in which both systems of culture find common ground, that is, in the (political) will to extend the definition of cultural practices. European cultural policies can associate the distribution of resources with broadening the definition of cultural activities, or, at least, propose to reflect on them, locally. Next, it can encourage the development of participatory mechanisms that would actually define the borders, goals and accountability of cultural initiatives or even institutions, within the public sector. In this way, it would invite consideration of the relationship between the two cultural models outlined above. If the decision to implement such policies is made on the level of local communities, as this research in Poland suggests, the impact of such participatory mechanisms would not be illusory. 155 Conclusion This text set out to address two issues. The first concerned the social and cultural distinctions that hinder, or rather, allow selective access to, cultural activities available to participants, in terms of institutions and actors that define a current cultural field. As I have suggested in my analysis, without challenging the structure of cultural reproduction, cultural activities may deepen social inequalities rather than reducing them. However, if we broaden our understanding of cultural activities, then it is possible to see that there is quite a considerable field of ‘non-participants’ who are, in fact, active beyond the radar of established cultural institutions, as they are currently defined. In spite of the substantial modernization of infrastructure in Poland, including that of cultural institutions, Poland may be considered an example the way in which cultural distinctions are not responsive to ‘trickle-down’ effects. An increase in economic resources or standards of living does not necessarily imply the growth of cultural participation or a substantial transformation of cultural practices towards more cooperation and active participation. This analysis suggests that, only by working on connections between formal, legitimized institutions and the initiatives comprising the sphere of ‘living culture’, can culture encourage practices that would reduce social and cultural inequality in Poland. Though ‘living culture’ cannot solve the problem of socio-cultural inequality, it can be enhanced and recognized as a complementary system of cultural practices with transformative potential. At the same time it challenges the complacency of official, legitimized practices and the institutions which organize them. Current research and discussions in Poland, among cultural activists focus on the meaning and function of this extended definition of culture and the practices which, in this analysis, have been termed ‘living culture’. APPENDIX anna świętochowska The De-Novo Association: The Summer Theatre Action Research context This article is a case study – part of a larger project developed under the auspices of the Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw, within ‘Culture and Development’ programme. The goal of the project has been on investing in, understanding and analysing how informal grassroots cultural activities may influence economic and social development. The data was analysed in five categories: subjectivity (and expressions of subjectivity: individual creativity, individual resources, private property); communality (interaction, communication, collaboration, confidence, mutual practice, exchange, respect for individuality, focus on diversity, shared resources, common ownership); participation (mechanisms of participation, real influence on decisions, co-management, inclusiveness, accessibility, openness, responsibility towards stakeholders 158 and respect for their positions); sustainability (sources and mechanisms of financing, institutionalization, social and ecological responsibility) and self-reflexivity. Next came considerations of their significance for development understood as change in five basic areas: resource allocation, redistribution, inclusion, innovation and cooperation and decision-making. The final aim of the project is a set of recommendations for decision- and policy-makers in area of cultural policy. This case study comprised observations and participant-observations in July 2014, including interviews with leaders and participants of the summer action in Dynów. A Coincidence An unusual artistic action consisting in organising multi-participant outdoor performances in Dynów, in the Subcarpathian region of southeast Poland, began in 2003, when a group of artists initially known as the Informal De-Novo Group decided to invite residents to a common theatre performance. The spiritus movens of the entire action included: Magdalena Miklasz (actress and director with familial ties to Dynów) and Ewa Woźniak (stage and costume designer). The driving force for actions of both these women and of supporting artists was the need to do something for the local community: arousing creativity of its residents and providing them with opportunity to experience art. The idée fixe of the action’s originators was the idea that it had to be founded on cooperation between many people. Therefore, their preparations engaged Dynów residents, local businessmen, families with children, secondary school and university students, professional and amateur actors, musicians, visual artists, specialists in choreography, light, multimedia and theatre production, as well as an array of people sometimes not professionally associated with culture. The success of this initiative and the level of local engagement resulted in continuation of the project. In 2007, these actions were partly institutionalised in the form of establishing the De-Novo Association for more funding opportunities. This was irrelevant, however, to the sense of 159 relative stability or security. The main guarantee for continuation of the action, as indicated by its members, was the good will of its participants and their sense of responsibility for achieving common goals. The performances in Dynów are created in a space not designed for such purposes, at the station of a narrow-gauge railway. In principle, each year there is a one-time mass mobilisation and each year everything is created from the beginning. Everyone works for their proverbial board and keep. Because of scarce funds and insufficient accommodation facilities, visiting participants live mainly in school buildings, willingly renouncing comforts and privacy. The Association has no budget – this is by and large a non-profit action. The necessary funding required for realisation of the project amounts to around 20,000 złoty (around 4,600 euro). It is difficult to estimate the precise sum, since most activities are based on non-financial support. Financial costs related to organisation of these events, such as hiring a professional firm to operate sound and light during performances, buying some set elements and food (only ingredients, since participants cook for themselves). The main source of funding comes from grant programmes of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, support from local businesses and the community (financial, but first and foremost extra-financial) and crowdfunding actions. The production is developed over one month (July) and ends with three performances open to the public. During the whole action, other events are organised such as concerts, theatre soirées and dance parties with guest performances by artists not directly involved in creating the production. The lack of funding, infrastructure, technical and organisational support contrasts sharply with the commitment of participants and, most of all, with the highly professional level of activity. The results are impressive: thousands of viewers, great reviews, a brand embedded in the consciousness of theatre circles. The performances are the quantifiable objective of these activities. A much more important yet non-quantifiable objective is to contribute 160 to personal development among people engaged in the project, and of the local community. It is difficult to precisely estimate the number of people engaged in preparing performances (probably about 80), as there is no definite structure or even framework. The team is composed of leaders, numerous groups of artists and a group of residents at various engagement levels. The action is grassroots and the reluctance on the parts of organisers and participants towards formalization of any of its aspects is quite clear. Certain relationships are established and tasks formally assigned to particular persons only when absolutely necessary – for example, in the case of grant-proposal requirements. The Association in its organised form has a board, but it seems that neither participants the board members regard it as important. The rejection of hierarchization of relationships results in a situation in which the decisive elements of leadership are respect and trust. The same relates to particular tasks. No one signs contracts or declarations. The foundation of organisation does not lie in formal regulations, but rather in shared responsibility and the sense of contributing to a common goal. The result of these efforts has been amazing. Each year, this group of people creates an extraordinary, large-scale, outdoor performance, which enthuses both audiences and critics. In spite of semi-professional character of the project, Dynów is acknowledged to be one of the significant events on Poland’s culture map. To date, the action has staged classical works, including Fiddler on the Roof, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Book of Paradise and Alice in Wonderland, as well as original productions typically rooted in the specific aspects of the local community. These latter include Łestern, a performance with its action set in a small town – like Dynów – that refers to the lives and concerns of its inhabitants. Context, Relations and Restrictions, Influence The absence of formalised structure and the wide variety of people engaged in this initiative result in a situation in which attempts to classify the stakeholders of the organisation may result in oversimpli- 161 fication. Bearing this in mind, four principal groups closely related to developing the productions may be distinguished. The first group includes participants directly involved in preparing the performances: artists, local residents, supporters, guests from outside of Dynów. Most regard participation in this project an excellent form of actively spending their free time. However, many participants also find other deeper meanings in these activities. Magda Miklasz, the initiator and leader of the action, builds a certain artistic identity on it, distinguishing her from other directors. Artists and creators, and those aspiring to these roles, regard their involvement in the productions as an important source of new experience, developing their skills and practice. Many participants are also motivated by the prestige of participating in a high-profile artistic project. Almost unlimited openness to creativity, tolerance and large margins of error, and an attractive if specifically quasi-theatrical space create excellent opportunities for artistic experiment. Annual meetings in Dynów are primarily a very natural, unforced yet intense form of activities in the sphere of personal development. Meetings, conversations and resulting inspirations, and most importantly the energy flowing from common activities are most frequently indicated in interviews with participants as the reason for participation. Coming to Dynów is often regarded by respondents as the turning point in their lives. Some declared that, thanks to this action, they had more life opportunities, wider horizons, different views of reality. Some also declared that participation in this initiative determined their choice of path in life, helped in overcoming personal problems, influenced their interests. For many participants, it was also an important moment in their professional lives – it determined their choices of career or enabled contacts to be established that influenced career development. Another group of stakeholders includes members of the local community not directly involved with artistic activities but supporting the action financially, non-financially, mentally, and in other ways. Research conducted within the framework of this case study was strictly qualita- 162 tive, so it would be difficult to determine the percentage of residents supporting, rejecting or ignoring this initiative. Observations and conducted interviews have not revealed any negative attitudes towards the action. This results from several factors. First, the activities of the Association influence the town’s attractiveness and offer an excellent form of entertainment. Residents can participate in performance preparations, and develop existing interests or only admire the results. Each action is accompanied by many other events: concerts, performances, theatre soirées and dances, film screenings free of charge. Artists and artistic groups offering guest performances as accompanying events usually perform for free or for reimbursement of travel costs. The majority come to Dynów motivated by friendships and social life, but still treat it as a form of promoting their art. The particular circumstances and a characteristic audience composed mainly of people who do not usually attend cultural events create opportunities to test oneself, verify artistic ideas and create a sincere, authentic dialogue with the audience. Many accompanying events have a very high level of artistic quality. If not for the Dynów Association, this kind of entertainment would be unavailable to most residents. The action is also a source of measurable material benefits, stimulating the growth of sales in local shops, hotels, bars, etc. Invitation for participation in the project is open to everyone, and to residents from so-called marginalised groups, especially senior citizens and the unemployed. They are not, however, approached in any particular way, but rather treated as any other resident. According to Magda Miklasz, this enables stigmatisation typical of programmes aimed directly at certain groups to be avoided. A very important element in relations between the Association and its environment, but also the most problematic, is cooperation with local authorities. The cooperation takes place at several levels. The interests of stakeholders represented by local and state authorities are mostly formal; these are recognized and must be respected. In order to apply for funding from public grants, the Association needs to fit into the grant-programme frameworks, which is not always consis- 163 tent with the essence of the action and, therefore, sometimes impedes the regular implementation of its objectives. In participant opinions, financing action from projects forces artificial formalisation and stifles spontaneity. Moreover, rigid conditions of receiving grants results in a situation in which the De-Novo Association has to undertake activities only partly consistent with its objectives. In consequence, its regular course of developing the production is disturbed and, according to action participants, their time is wasted. The excessive bureaucracy related to applying for grants and processing them, requiring time and competencies not always possessed by people involved in the project, is also a problem. Finding someone willing to go through this process can prove very difficult. The first partner representing the authorities is the Miejski Ośrodek Kultury [MOK, Municipal Cultural Centre], and this partnership has been managed by Aneta Pepaś, the action coordinator for the Association since 2007. Pepaś applied for this position out of the need to secure the relationship between the Association and the local administration. Moreover, because she took this position, the initiative can count on considerable support, for example in terms of barter exchange. MOK as institution has certain resources and can make these available throughout the year in exchange for helping in production preparations. The De-Novo Association, as a non-governmental organisation, has no fixed assets and without the assistance of MOK would have limited possibilities. Another key partner is the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, but the ministry does not support activities of the De-Novo Association in the form in which they are conducted, only subsidising activities such as summer education of children and youth. This requires organising additional theatre workshops for the youngest action participants. The closest and most complex relationship exists between the Association and the local authorities. Municipal authorities support the De-Novo Association project with a small grant (in 2015, it was 164 a 4,000 zloty, around 900 euro, the highest sum awarded to the Association by the local authorities) and allows it to use school facilities for accommodation of participants. The Starostwo Powiatowe [District Authority Office] provides the venue at the narrow-gauge railway station (in close cooperation with the local authorities) for rehearsals and performances. Based on observation and conducted interviews, however, it must be stated that the attitude of local authorities towards the initiative is yet another example of bureaucratic administration which has little in common with either management of the public sphere and (even less) with developing local cultural policies. The mayor appreciates the activities at the station, because he regards them as an attraction for residents and an element of promoting the town. He does not see or understand either the exceptional nature of this project or its potential. In his opinion from an interview with this author, the Association’s activities hold as much importance for the city as any other non-governmental organisation. It should be noted that the official Dynów website mentions among its attractions cultural activities of residents: the mixed choir, wind ensemble, cabaret, the Dynowianie folk band, an amateur theatre company, various artistic groups in primary and secondary schools. Important cultural events mentioned on the town website include the Pogórze Dynowskie Days and the Regional Competitions of Christmas Carols and Pastorals and of Patriotic Poetry. There is nothing about actions organised by the De-Novo Association or artists engaged in its activities. The town allows the use of school facilities for accommodations. Each year, this requires a new application, and until the last moment there is no guarantee that the Association will be able to accommodate participants there – which poses a major logistical problem in the views of a large number of participants. The District Authority Office provides the narrow-gauge railway station as a venue, but sanitary conditions are deplorable. There is only one toilet – too readily described as a ‘hole in the ground’ – with water from hoses if it is demanded, and constant 165 problems with trash collection. Moreover, plans for modernization of the narrow-gauge railway are being developed. Some consultations are conducted, but the District Authority Office has not declared its preferences for the character of this space after renovation and its future remains unannounced. It should come as no surprise that after over a decade of conducting this action, the attitude of local authorities is regarded by participants as disrespectful. The specific attitude of the District Authority Office seems to pose the greatest risk for the stability and development of the Association’s project. It deprives the artists of energy – instead of focusing on the essence of their activities, they have to deal with onerous organisational issues, which should be the responsibilities of the local authorities. In the view of Association co-founder Ewa Woźniak: I am tired with these organisational issues and the fact that there is no toilet, there is no water, and every time we have to fight for it [...]. There are some things that, when they are hard, they teach you something. But the hardships here already taught me enough, I don’t need it to teach me something any longer, it only burdens me. This [resolving these issues] would raise the quality of our work, because these issues are so irritating now. Magda Miklasz specifies the benefit to the Association ‘if I felt that this town wants this. If they would call and ask: Magda, when are you going to begin the project [this year], we want to organise your accommodations. This would be amazing’. The attitude of local authorities and the single-year span of financial aid determined by the public-grant programme impose the restrictive conditions of regarding the Association’s action as a project while only planning for it in the short-term context, which carries certain risks. First, despite the long history of its activities, in terms of an independent artistic and social undertaking, these circumstances do not encourage the organisers to think strategically or with long-term 166 perspectives instead, they have to struggle for each production. Second, such conditions inflict negative influence on motivation of the leaders, who when faced with ongoing lack of security openly talk about resigning from the action. Third, they are fundamentally inconsistent with values towards which the action is oriented, which are shaped on the long-term basis. I have in mind in this regard creativity, trust, accruing social capital, innovativeness and personal development. The final group of stakeholders – to some extent identical with that comprising Dynów residents – are the audience for the outdoor performances. Interestingly, the interviewed participants never mentioned the performance audiences as the receivers of the action. Perhaps this results from the great interest in the performances, which would suggest that there is no need for promotional activities when there are so many other tasks. Moreover, more interest would generate serious logistical problems. It seems, however, that this proves that performance as such is not the main objective of the action. For all people involved in this project, the most important things happen during preparations: the creative process, building a community, personal development, common action and rest. The presentation is treated only as a culmination of the work. The main way of communication with residents who are not personally involved in preparing the performance is active direct contact, which requires personal engagement, time, activity, conversations and often an individual approach. It is not just a way of communication, but most of all a method of establishing relationships, activation and overcoming passivity. According to the organisers, promoting the event outside Dynów is much simpler. People attending from outside of Dynów are usually interested in theatre and look for all relevant information themselves. It is enough to publish information about the action on the relevant theatre portals and it will reach certain audiences. The organisers also try to ensure the presence of theatre critics during performances, motivated by continuing concern with maintaining the professional character of the project. 167 Observation of these actions creates the sense that they work by way of gravity, which force is focused by such values as friendship, openness, tolerance, creativity, the sense of community, activity, creation and joy. Innovative Actions The Association’s initiative is distinguished most importantly by the boundless creative potential stimulated by its leaders, the director Miklasz and the set designer Woźniak. Participants performing in the production – professionals and amateurs alike – create characters they then play, taking active and creative part in preparing the set and costumes. They are not left alone, however, but work under the attentive supervision of professionals. They can rely on natural and unforced professional assistance – for example, no one instructed participants how costumes they were preparing should look, but in the room in which these costumes were being made, an entire wall covered with picture could inspire their own ensembles. The people directly involved in preparing the production constitute a specific community, internally diversified in all respects. Along with creating natural conditions for intergenerational integration, this diversification is one of the significant advantages of the action, especially in terms of its artistic potential. Various competencies impose a particular mode of cooperation and require much creativity. In a professional theatre, the director’s vision shapes a framework and links various activities into a logical entirety. Here, much more important to the Association’s approach is using natural predispositions, skills and creativity of each individual performing in the production. ‘It is about getting it out, not about being perfect,’ Miklasz says. ‘The whole idea is to use something, which is not perfect. The potential these people have…to squeeze it out of them.’ Participants not only have the right to propose their own solutions, they are openly encouraged to do so. Such an attitude results in blurring the difference between creator and performer, and all participants feel 168 to a certain extent co-authors of this undertaking. This, in turn, has direct impact on their sense of responsibility for tasks they were given and co-responsibility for the entire process. This approach plays a significant role in the development of social capital, which had been indicated by the Council of Ministers in 2012 as one of the main areas of meeting objectives of medium- and longterm national development strategies. The main condition for creating the production is cooperation of many people. This initiative is open to everyone willing to participate. This imposes the acceptance of rules of tolerance and mutual respect as boundary conditions for the success of the endeavour. Otherwise, conflicts could arise and effective work on the production could become impeded. Because of the common goal – preparing the production – the responsibility for achieving it is shared among all engaged individuals, regardless of age, experience or social position. Each participant entrusted with any kind of task, from the simplest ones such as showing up at the rehearsal on time to complex ones such as preparing dinner for a large group or settling a public grant, is granted confidence from the start. To a large extent this results from necessity because, first, there are no formal contracts so honesty and belief in it are the only guarantees for fulfilling the task, and second, the scope of the action is so wide that the responsibility has to be shared among individuals – no one would be able to control it entirely alone. During the preparations of the production everything is based on cooperation and mutual assistance. One could get the impression that participant engagement is not only a foundation for success but a general, if unspoken, objective of the entire action. Generating a production does not have to require the effort of so many people. With modest financial investment, some tasks could performed by external companies, which would probably fulfil them much faster and more efficiently. However, the crucial point of this initiative is not its effectiveness, understood in economic terms, but rather in terms of a community. Outsourcing would automatically deprive participants in the action the 169 opportunity to fulfil their duties. Aneta Pepaś says ‘This works because many people help us. We always consider [that if] the possibility that an outside company would be hired to do anything, these fifteen people coming here and willing to do it for free would not come.’ There is a certain conflict between social capital and capital understood in economic terms and social capital. The former has been a priority for participants in the action. This initiative is non-profit and its success largely depends on it. This attitude is not antagonistic towards market mechanisms but they are firmly and intentionally depreciated, nevertheless. If the necessity would arise to raise funds through selling products or services, such activities could be undertaken, but this seems highly unlikely. Anyone can participate in the production and anyone has the freedom of expression in their most comfortable dimension. Professional actors have a wide array of means and abilities, but working with amateurs has certain limitations – sometimes major ones. The confrontation between professionals and amateurs results in developing many artistically interesting ideas, because no one fully grasps the rules and abilities of their partners on stage. It also encourages a constant exchange of thoughts and experiences; it creates a space for dialogue and mutual inspirations. The atmosphere prevailing during the action has a significant role in creating openness to innovate ideas. All people participating in preparations are volunteers: they participate because they want to. They are not forced to be creative and innovative if they don’t feel like it or – as is often the case – they might lack the courage. They can just be there, observe and grow at their own pace. The prevailing atmosphere of openness, acceptance and great kindness, however, establishes very fertile ground for creativity by minimizing all pressures resulting from risks related to it. A large margin of freedom and acceptance for error fosters a space free of fear to undertake innovative and sometimes even risky activities. It functions as a self-propelling machine: someone creates, others observe, join or start creating by 170 themselves, drawing on the experiences of others and allowing them to draw on theirs in return. The search for innovative solutions is also fostered by a space totally unfitted for such actions, and the lack of funding. Everything has had to be built and invented from the start. On one hand, it is quite a logistical challenge, but on the other, this difficult and in some way unobvious space has a major influence on imagination, inducing a search for innovative solutions. Creating everything ‘from scratch’ stimulates not only creativity in the artistic sense but also creativity as understood in terms of entrepreneurship: an ability to face challenges and solve problems encountered in the process. Insufficient funds and shared responsibility for implementation of this undertaking impose on participants the necessity to performs tasks which they had never previously experienced, and consequently encourage them to take risks and develop new skills. It inspires the feeling of self-efficacy, uniqueness and self-confidence. Everyone has a deep awareness of the fact that if they want to achieve something, they can only do it if they work together in a group, in cooperation based on trust, openness and tolerance. It has been emphasised often that all these qualities influence everyday life significantly, and the activities of participants beyond the action. A certain informal community has formed around this project. Some engage regularly, others only incidentally. There is a certain rotation, but nevertheless the grassroots, communal character of this undertaking secures the functioning of the entire project. The action always functions as an open community. Participants are not selected in relation to tasks that need to be fulfilled, but create a diverse community. This approach has resulted in creating a system responsive to changes in its environment and adjusting to them, a system which values these changes instead of treating them as risks. Thereby, the De-Novo Association meets substantive conditions for regarding it as the learning organisation, capable of self-knowledge, development and introducing changes based on experience. This organisation compre- 171 hensively implements the five disciplines indicated by Peter Senge as indispensable for development and success in liquid modernity: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. personal mastery (continually clarifying and deepening the vision of each participant and focusing on their energies and ideas) mental models (the capacity to change or even reject a course of action in favour of the common good and the final effect) building shared vision team learning (through ongoing dialogue and common decisions) and systems thinking1 (as the capacity to perceive an organization as a complete system, by the leaders and by participants as well). Recommendations Development can be defined by introducing changes to five basic mechanisms or social processes: resource allocation, redistribution, inclusion, innovation and cooperation and decision-making. In the case of De-Novo Association, it would seem that the most characteristic and distinct change was noticeable in the area of innovation, in the form of activities changing the current ways of satisfying needs at the level of individuals and relationships between them. However, there is also a discernible impact on other areas, especially resource allocation and redistribution, based largely on creativity and non-financial mechanisms. The most important pro-development resources generated during the De-Novo Association’s action include fulfilling individual needs – that is, gaining new experiences and skills, establishing professional and personal contacts, opportunity to experiment and create, searching for inspirations, solving personal problems, widening the scope of interests – cooperative contribution to community and shaping social 1 Peter M. Senge, The Fifth Discipline (New York: Doubleday/Currency, 1990). 172 capital, promoting such attitudes as activeness, creativity and entrepreneurship, as well as influence on the quality of urban space and participatory model of management. Performances prepared during the action also have a high artistic quality, which makes this undertaking worth the name of an exceptional theatrical event. Organisation of such multi-participant, open-air production in Dynów is clearly an original initiative. Everything depends on people who participate in it – on their talents, creativity, personalities, personal contacts and relationships. Therefore, it would be impossible to standardize these activities or their exact replication. However, the general rules of cooperation related to artistic and organisational issues or values holding together activities can become an excellent source of inspiration. The uniqueness of this undertaking does not preclude its significance interpreted from the point of view of searching for organisational solutions important for widely understood culture, as well as social and economic development. All values created during the action result from activity of the artists and their need for relations with local community. At the same time, thanks to the conscious attitude of its initiators, this project remains outside any formalised structure, despite its decade-long history. One fundamental conclusion comes to mind in relation to these remarks: activities of local authorities in the area if shaping and implementing cultural policies should be directed towards stimulating artistic creativity through direct support of artists and their actions in the local community. This entails going beyond institutional framework, recognising and defining the needs and designing formulas guaranteeing optimal conditions for creativity, cooperation, dialogue, interactions between artists and viewers, residents and public space. It seems that currently this support could be implemented in two ways: First, through supporting artists: 173 a. in the form of an expanded scholarship system, which would make obtaining funds easier, without the complicated competition procedure. Artistic creativity would be less constrained by bureaucracy b. in the form of developing mechanisms in the social-security system which would allow artists and creations to function outside cultural institutions. Such solutions have been implemented in other EU countries, and the lack of a defined status for artists in Poland seems to be a gross negligence. The second area of activities should be supporting non-governmental organisations by promoting long-term projects or to secure an own contribution instead of the current policy favouring short-term and immediate solutions. In the case of the Association in Dynów the guarantee of financial stability, even at a very modest level, in the longterm perspective could change the organisers’ way of thinking about their undertaking and make its production much easier. It would probably also contribute to the innovative character of the project. The last and, indeed, the key recommendation would be to change the attitude of public administration, which should appreciate such initiatives. Local authorities should be made aware of the value of activities conducted at the micro-level, at the expense of lowering the predominance of spectacular events and bloated institutions. It is worth noting that these current tendencies have brought about many negative consequences. Instead of promoting culture and development, investments supported by external funding including that of the EU has become a threat. Their maintenance consumes most of the budget, therefore limiting support for other citizen, cultural and social activities. The proposed recommendations surely do not exhaust to list of ways by which pro-development cultural activities could be supported, and even in the current institutional and legal system, many other relevant solutions certainly could be found. Most importantly, they have 174 to be grounded in the idea that culture is first and foremost created by people, and public policies should not consist of defining objectives but rather of contributing to optimal conditions for creation, dialogue and cooperation. łukasz maźnica, marek oramus, jan strycharz, barbara worek Łaźnia Nowa Theatre: Social Change ‘in the Making’ The following analysis is a report on a study of selected activities of Łaźnia Nowa Theatre in Kraków from the perspective of that institution’s potential for generating social change and indirectly contributing to shaping socio-economic development. This study was conducted between March and September 2014 by a team consisting of Krzysztof Malczyk, Łukasz Maźnica, Marek Oramus, Jan Strycharz (all of the Cracow University of Economics) and Dr Barbara Worek (Jagiellonian University). From Łaźnia to Łaźnia Nowa Łaźnia Nowa Theatre is an example of the impact stemming from convergence of chance, openness to experimentation, readiness for change and real engagement on the development of a grassroots institution of social change – change taking place using the vehicle of theatre 176 work as a tool for opening people up and activating them. The story of how this venture has developed is an excellent illustration of how cultural activities can kick-start hidden development capital by discerning and understanding it and by systematically breaking down barriers. The history of Łaźnia began in the mid-1990s in Kraków’s Kazimierz district. Importantly, the journey did not begin with the strategic vision of creating an institution of social change. In its initial form, Łaźnia (which was an informal, grassroots movement) was meant to encourage development of alternative approaches to theatre – as a counterproposal to the institutional theatres that were embedded in the fabric of the city (the Stary and Słowacki Theatres, well known throughout Poland). According to Bartosz Szydłowski, who dreamt up the project and remains its leader to this day, it sprang from a spontaneous and chance idea: It started in the second year of my directorial studies, when quite by chance I went down to check the connection of the sewage pipes in the studio we’d received from the city. At first I think it was a square 240 square metre hole with no light, only candlelight, but suddenly I hit upon the idea of opening a place there as an alternative to what was being made in Kraków at the time. Yet the idea of an established theatre changing the social fabric would only be hatched after several years of experiment. In a certain sense this was thanks to a coincidence of the changing circumstances of the theatre’s operation, reinforced by the principle of openness that was an important feature of Łaźnia’s mental foundation. We should add that this openness came with the ambition to create a place that, by participation in its activities, strengthened something that one might without hesitation call important development capital – sensitivity to the surrounding reality and the ability to analyse it in depth. Szydłowski, who now directs Łaźnia Nowa Theatre, says ‘Łaźnia was and still is today a field of constant experimentation, where fundamental questions can be asked and reacted to with some kind of vigilance, the ambition to analyse and observe’. 177 Initially, Łaźnia Nowa was not a public place – it operated in a closed circulation of friends and acquaintances, who gave it the energy needed to develop and demarcated the sense of its existence. A certain impulse for opening up to the wider public came with outside investment. The company was seeking an opportunity by opening a bar with a group of enthusiastic young artists. An agreement was reached between the two parties, resulting in the ‘hole with no light’ being renovated and prepared for staging performances A further impulse for the development of the initiative was the nature of its location – in the early 1990s, the Kazimierz district was an empty, unattractive and dangerous part of the city (associated with lower social classes consumed by problems of alcoholism and recidivism). Szydłowski recalls that his ambitions encountered far-ranging scepticism, as outside observers deemed his vision unrealistic. Yet the history of the development of the place in its early period shows that the idea for Łaźnia was a good fit for the gap of the previously unfulfilled needs of some social groups in Kraków. It also shows an economic watchfulness that we might call the ability to find a balance between cultural activities and obtaining stable sources of funding. In Szydłowski’s view: It is important not only to have a vision of an artistic place, but also to know how to keep it going. What to do to have prospects of development. It was in Łaźnia that the first ‘cultural clubbing’ took place – there were popular events called ‘Uncontrolled Artistic Meetings’ where great authorities gave lectures while the beer flowed. They sang Gregorian chants with vodka, [director Krystian] Lupa was there, and various professors, there was a constant debate about lofty matters going on, but in a fairly popular atmosphere. After several years of operation in Kazimierz, however, Łaźnia’s existence was threatened – though it was not a lack of success that 178 was to blame. The district had started to become more attractive for investors, and the cost of renting the premises was to inflate to an extent that rendered it impossible for Łaźnia’s funding model to bear the strain. By this time, though, Łaźnia had a number of friends who helped with finding a solution. The most concrete proposal of support came from the artistic communities of the Nowa Huta district, where the socio-economic transformation of the 1990s did not represent the driving force that it did in Kazimierz, but was rather a cause of spiralling problems. Szydłowski recalls: First I received a signal from the activist communities [operating] here [in Nowa Huta] that if we were to lose the association and the chance of being in Kazimierz, if we wanted to carry on our work in Nowa Huta, I would get some kind of space. This was a very hard decision, because moving the centre of social life to Nowa Huta meant raising the bar much higher. It was very hard, lots of people didn’t cope. On the other hand, not taking on this challenge would have meant the end of Bartosz Szydłowski and, if you like, his artistic path, his creation of places. Despite the trying circumstances, Szydłowski decided to carry on: First it was the voices of sceptics that pushed me. Instantly that ignited in me a desire to show that it was possible. Secondly, finding a space in which my wife could immediately see a theatre. That was the first surprise, that it was realistic. That it was possible to get those 400 square metres. And indeed it was a decent, solid place. And the third thing, a very personal one, was that I grew up in Nowa Huta. I think that was an important moment when I, knowing Nowa Huta and aware that the people here are more ‘subdued’, put off 179 by the excess of external oppressive narratives that say who they are, what they should do etc., both in the 1950s and 1960s and in the Solidarity era – people are unable to find a place for themselves there, and most of them distance themselves from it. The first thing I wanted to do was to create a place that wouldn’t be like some spaceship that lands with a recipe for how to make everyone happy. I preferred to listen intently to this reality, to give a signal that it was something more important for me than me with my own vision. So that people would believe in the good intentions of creating this place that was created for them, believe that the reality that we function in is better than the one described in the media. From the outset we wanted it to be created by people identifying that this was their place […], not somewhere for special occasions, but an everyday, accessible place. The initiative had travelled a path from an informal activity to the city cultural institution that it is today (subsidised from the municipal budget in 2014 to the tune of over 4.2 million PLN – almost a million euro – for its regular activities and for staging the annual Divine Comedy International Theatre Festival). Although Łaźnia Nowa tapped the resources of its predecessor’s output and experiences, it had a somewhat altered mission, adapted to the new social circumstances. Importantly, the board tried to distance itself from these principles or stereotypes, seeking to comprehend its new surroundings and use this to understand its tasks. In this sense Łaźnia Nowa as a cultural institution takes its place in a specific movement building social change from more of a grassroots, bottom-up approach. At the same time, though, it is becoming an interesting case for analysing the impact that cultural activities can have on socio-economic development. 180 ‘Participations’ and ‘University of Looking’ A detailed analysis of Łaźnia Nowa as a cultural actor of social change can be made based on concrete actions. We therefore propose examining two of the theatre’s projects, conceived as projects of intervention not in response to strictly cultural needs, but to analysis of the socio-economic community. Confining the analysis to two projects will on one hand provide a more focused perspective of Łaźnia Nowa Theatre, which handles at least several dozen activities of various types annually. On the other hand, this is the only possible research path that can paint a close-up and detailed picture of the nature of Łaźnia’s projects. The first enterprise, ‘Partycypacje’ [‘Participations’], is a set of activities involving creation of artistic events with the active participation of amateurs. The starting themes, according to the ideas of the project founders, were dictated by current issues associated with the social problems of Nowa Huta and its residents. The project was divided into three stages, whose content demonstrates an innovative approach to organisation of activities using cultural tools. table 1. stages of the ‘participations’ project Name of stage Description of stage recognition This is a unique form of encounters in the theatre, invoking the tradition of the civic forum and the theatre of Augusto Boal. During every ‘Gathering’, current problems from the lives of residents of Nowa Huta and Babice Commune were tackled. This canvas was the basis for extended discussions featuring authorities in a given field (lawyers, artists, politicians). emanation Two plays were produced – Mission and Lipowiec Castle – using modern, interactive technologies and by the audiences themselves, the community from the project’s natural environment. ‘Non-actors’ were invited to take part in a series of workshops and rehearsals, with their ideas being developed by professional artists. reflection This stage involved creating solely for the needs of the project a social networking site discussing matters of the project activities and Nowa Huta and Babice Commune life, as well as the organisation of the workshops and work on producing the Lodołamacz. Partycypacje [Icebreaker. Participations] magazine. Source: own elaboration based on project proposal submitted to the Marshal Office of the Małopolska Region. 181 The project received funding from the Małopolska Regional Operational Programme for 2007–2013, and was realised between March 2012 and December 2013, at a total cost of almost 1 million PLN (almost a quarter of a million euro). The second venture we analysed, the ‘Uniwersytet Patrzenia’ [‘University of Looking’] project, also began with a diagnosis of the socio-economic situation, with its objectives connected to triggering the development potential of young people from disadvantaged families from Nowa Huta. As the project documentation states, a strong impulse for this project was provided by ‘the fact of low self-esteem, inability to find oneself among others, lack of opportunity to fulfil one’s own needs and objectives, and the conviction that culture and art are out of reach’. In this project, Łaźnia Nowa was aiming at psychological and civic activation of young people endangered by exclusion by creating an untypical cultural education programme engaging professional actors and directors. During the work the young participants were also supposed to prepare a statement on themselves and their surroundings and present it to a wider audience. The project was funded by the Orange Foundation. Łaźnia Nowa Theatre implemented it in partnership with the Kraków Save the Chance Association. Activities took place between January and May 2011, with the project costing around 50,000 PLN (around 11,500 euro). The choice of these two projects for the analysis was also dictated by the desire to take a closer look at the effects of the specific way of working adopted in these ventures. Both ‘Participations’ and ‘University of Looking’ were founded on the fundamental premise of joint work and interaction of amateurs and professional artists. This type of approach to cultural education and civic activities should be regarded as innovative in the context of the application of a very broad scale of cooperation (creating joint ventures which are then partially utilised for commercial purposes). This makes both the results of the cooperation and the mechanics conceived within it interesting. 182 These projects, we might note, are a good match to the topography of challenges facing the district of Nowa Huta, where the theatre is located. This area, home to approximately 7 per cent of Kraków’s population, is affected by the problem of an ageing local population that characterises many Polish housing-block estates. The percentage of people of post-working age here is around 7 percentage points higher than the city average. The phenomenon of social exclusion is also relatively more discernible (than the Kraków average).2 At the same time, Łaźnia Nowa’s activities are part of a wider context of ventures targeted at older people (like ‘Participations’) or disadvantage youth (like ‘University of Looking’). This is the kind of project that public institutions (Nowa Huta Cultural Centre, Nowa Huta Public Library – mostly with campaigns aimed at senior citizens) and NGOs (for example, the Kraków-based Siemacha Association, the Hidden Wings Foundation, working solely in Nowa Huta and targeting its own culture-based re-socialisation activities at young people, or the aforementioned Save the Chance Association, the theatre’s partner in realisation of ‘University of Looking’) are seeking to undertake. What makes the Łaźnia Nowa projects different, however, is that they bring together in one time and place outstanding and recognisable artists (who collaborate with the theatre on a permanent basis on other ventures) and amateurs. The specific details of this joint work and the benefits that it brings are outlined below. Research Methodology Outline of the ‘Participations’ and ‘University of Looking’ projects in terms of key categories of development Magdalena Dej, Andrzej Zborowski, Ocena stopnia zaawansowania zjawisk degradacji społecznej (patologie społeczne, wykluczenie społeczne i ubóstwo), procesy polaryzacji i segregacji, segmentacja rynku pracy w miastach Polski, in: Andrzej Zborowski (ed.), Demograficzne i społeczne uwarunkowania rewitalizacji miast w Polsce (Kraków: Instytut Rozwoju Miast, 2009), p. 120; Katarzyna Gorczyca, Wielkie osiedla mieszkaniowe – diagnoza stanu obecnego, działania rewitalizacyjne, in: Wojciech Jarczewski (ed.) Przestrzenne aspekty rewitalizacji – śródmieścia, blokowiska, tereny poprzemysłowe, pokolejowe i powojskowe (Kraków: Instytut Rozwoju Miast, 2009), p. 95. 2 183 I. Empowerment The amateur actors3 who took part in the ‘Participations’ project had a great deal of space for individual expression and creativity. Their preparations for the performance included improvisation workshops at which they honed their skills under an expert eye. The project participants’ reactions to these meetings were very positive. The tasks they were given included mimicking animals as well as lying on mattresses with closed eyes, listening intently to the sounds of drums in order to stimulate the imagination before sharing their thoughts with the others. One woman participating in the project recalls: I came to the workshop and made a complete fool out of myself. I played a pig. When you had to play a cat, I was a cat. Everything just seemed to open up, all the flaps. The workshop before Mission for me was great fun, such an amazing experience that I have goose bumps now when I’m talking about it. Szydłowski says that ‘What we want is for the people taking part in the work to be open to creativity. That might mean minor creativity, but it’s important for it to be their own’. The participants’ experiences then translated into the rehearsals before the performances, which meant that they needed great improvisation skills. In the words of a professional actor participating in the project, ‘The effects of the professional-amateur encounter were most beautiful in the rehearsals when there was no pressure to prepare a show and no audience’. The initial assumption with the production Misja [Mission]4 was 3 The amateurs involved in the project were mostly aged 50 and above. They were recruited through casting sessions held for each production. The group (of amateurs) for the ‘Participations’ project was very diverse, encompassing those who were still working (e.g. one gas worker) as well as retired people. It is impossible to create a uniform, homogeneous template here. For some participants this was the latest in a series of activities, while for others it was a break from everyday life and routine and an opportunity to be open to the world and other people. The play Mission (also known as Mission Film Lovers’ Club [Klub Miłośników Filmu Misja]) was the largest component of the ‘Participations’ project. After the premiere, 4 184 that the amateurs would mostly improvise. Following several rehearsals, however, it was realised that the intended effect was not always being achieved. As a result, Szydłowski, the creator of the play, was forced to provide a clearer outline for it and to add directed scenes. On the other hand, Maria Spiss, the director in charge of Miłość 60+ [Love 60+],5 was very happy with the degree to which the amateurs coped with acting out the scenes suggested by the audience. This was an especially significant achievement if we take into account the concerns caused by older amateurs having to present scenes with an intimate, erotic subject matter (for example, an ‘orgy out of town’). According to Spiss, they gained much pleasure from playing these roles, partly as a result of the audience’s engagement. The amateurs also had the opportunity to make their own suggestions for changes to the script, which were taken into account in some cases following consultation with the director. From talking to project participants, we learned that they found this influence on the ultimate form of the play very important, and were very emotional in their reactions to criticism of their ideas. A male participant said, ‘That’s also really great, because we don’t feel like people who are rejected and have little value. We’re listened to’. Two comments by Szydłowski are pertinent in this regard: There are discussions, ideas are listened to – even if they are not then used, they are what bring the belief that this is a space of mutual inspirations and listening to one another. For those people I think it was important that they are treated the same as the professional actors. the production was staged on numerous occasions at Łaźnia Nowa and in revues and festivals in Poland and abroad. The performers in the play were amateur participants in the ‘Participations’ project and professional actors including Jan Peszek, Radosław Krzyżowski, and Krzysztof Zarzecki. Love 60+ was produced in the spirit of Augusto Boal’s Forum Theatre – made by amateurs under the care of a professional directing/production crew. The play told of sexuality after the age of 60, and was to a large extent based on improvisation combined with audience interaction. 5 185 The amateurs wrote their own monologues, some of which then went into the play. With more experience they begin to comment on other things, but here it’s more about them opening up, you have to be careful for them not to enter a certain zone of professionalism – they need to be authentic, otherwise it goes the wrong way. We can conclude by stating that the organisers of the ‘Participations’ project tried to get as much as possible out of the amateurs’ inner potential by developing their skills in improvisation and teamwork. The focus study we conducted indicates that the activities had a positive impact on the lives of the participants (amateur actors). They declared that the influence of their participation in the project had increased their self-confidence in life situations, allowed them to discover (or often rediscover) a sense of agency in their lives (someone counted on their opinion), and offered them a method of self-fulfilment. The project also demonstrated that it was significantly more effective to gradually hand the initiative to the amateurs. Initially they had problems with externalising their own experiences and playing roles, but gradually, as they gained new skills in working with the professionals, they found it increasingly easier to participate in the preparations for the production as full-fledged subjects with an influence on its final form. The focus interview showed that this change also spread to those around the participants – their friends also began to come to the theatre, supporting the amateur actors and sharing in their pleasure at successful plays. *** The overriding objective of the activities within the ‘University of Looking’ project, which took place in 2011, was to strengthen the individual 186 self-esteem and inspire the creativity of disadvantaged young people6 who participated in the project. In one project organiser’s words, ‘We were keen to find a format that within educational activities would be a very artistic format open to various kinds of creativeness’. To do this, the organisers held a series of diverse artistic and sociotherapeutic workshops. These allowed the young people to gain knowledge and basic skills in creative expression and to use acting techniques in their daily lives. The project participants were positive in their reactions to these activities. The leader of the young project participants said: That project often comes up in our conversations when we meet. They like to talk about it. Recently one of the girls who took part put a film she made during the workshops on Facebook. Łaźnia also made sure that they each received a CD with materials on it. According to participants’ accounts, initially they were very passive in these activities, as they felt inhibited internally and concerned about ridicule from their peers. Yet this situation changed as the project progressed. The participants – or, more precisely, some of them – began to be actively involved in the workshop tasks. The participants’ leader added: Some of the people were fascinated by various artistic things. They really opened up. They saw that an artist is a normal person, that they too could aspire to that and also do something, create things together. These words are also confirmed by the 25-minute play Irkucka historia [Irkutsk Story] that developed from the project, and was directed by Marta Waldera (one of the artists leading the workshops). This activity, The young people who took part in the project activities belonged to the sociotherapy community centre managed by the Save the Chance Association, and had had problems with the law. Most had been sent to the centre by the courts, and the project was part of their resocialisation. 6 187 though not planned in the project application, featured the participation of four of the ‘University of Looking’ participants.7 The young people’s activity also took a form that the organisers had not foreseen. The workshops resulted in conflict situations when the young participants refused to conform with some of the artistic tasks imposed by the leaders. One project organiser recalled: There was a certain point when they were supposed to put cocoons on, which not everyone liked […] I expected right away that it might be boycotted, because that’s their way of thinking, that nobody can impose anything on them, because it doesn’t interest them then. The high level of non-conformism and rebellion among the participants, and what some respondents described as a failure to understand their perspective on the part of the organisers, forced the latter to increase the participatory aspect in their leading of the workshops. ‘To a large extent we gave them a free hand to create this space,’ a project organiser said. The project participants also recall that from a certain point they began to say outright what didn’t suit them in the project, and the theatre staff took note of these comments. II. Creating a community A very important aspect of the ‘Participations’ project was building bonds between the amateurs and the other people involved in making this venture happen (professional actors, directors, etc.), as well as the audience. The participants’ comments suggest that to a great extent taking part in the workshops, joint rehearsals and productions had produced the intended results. A female participant in the ‘Participations’ project said: ‘For me, when I arrived in the new environment, I had lots of The play was performed once, following completion of the ‘University of Looking’ project activities. 7 188 acquaintances and friends. There’s a whole group of people that I met. Overall for me it’s about enjoying life’. Szydłowski said: The wardrobe lady split the dressing rooms into professional actors and amateur actors – automatically, without anyone noticing – and before the performance [renowned professional actor] Jan Peszek came to me and said, ‘It’s impossible, we’re together the whole time, they can’t be in another room’. I think that was an important gesture, and it was important that it came from Peszek. The director Spiss added: A few people who came into our group said that they’d really like to be here, because they were alone at home. These were people who’ve been through various things, often quite dramatic, in their lives. It was clear how pleased they were. And Szydłowski said: In the work with the amateurs, apart from the artistic effect, there’s also a therapeutic one. Relationships are built with people, and that’s an important objective. In Mission that came out at every step – wardrobe, rehearsals, discussions. Joining the ‘Participations’ project meant that senior citizens could meet new people and start to help to form a new community. They gradually spent more and more time with each other and shared their life experiences. One male participant said: I worked until I was 70, and then stopped. I came to the theatre here sometimes because I started to like it. Without the theatre things are kind of boring. It just stimulates me to do things. Sit- 189 ting at home at my age… well, supposedly you can sit like that in old age, but I prefer to be doing something. According to Spiss, the director of Love 60+, one of the elements that might have contributed to strengthening relations between participants was an exercise in the rehearsals before Love 60+ in which they had to prepare texts about love, which they later shared among themselves. ‘That also built up the community’, Spiss said, ‘talking about that kind of life topic helped to unite the group emotionally’. This shows the importance within the cooperation of trust between the amateurs and the director and professional actors. Without this it would not have been possible to forge such strong, intimate bonds. It proved possible to maintain some of these relations after the project came to a close. Participants say they are still be in touch with one another: they are getting involved in further projects together, attending plays, and sometimes visiting Łaźnia with the sole intention of visiting theatre staff, etc. Spiss cites a good example of the power of the bonds that were formed: one of the amateurs was diagnosed with cancer during the project. Throughout his last months (he died in 2014), when he could no longer get out of bed, the other project participants visited him regularly. The situation of maintaining relations with the professional actors looked somewhat different. A participating professional actor said: ‘Our meetings are incidental. It’s not as if friendships have grown out of it. I think that in our private lives there’s a lot that divides us.’ Szydłowski adds: For the professional actors, the whole time this is work. You have to remember that these are artistic projects, very much social ventures, with a large risk of failure, and that’s a risk for these people. It might turn out that there’ll be a few shows and a complete flop. For us it’s a certain philosophy of action, but for them the risk is great. 190 Yet the amateurs’ comments show that they were hugely excited about every encounter with professional actors. One female participant said: I look and I see: Radek Krzyżowski. So I was happy – not artificially, but I jumped on him, hugged him, because we did Oedipus I with Radek Krzyżowski, then there was Oedipus II, then later there was a break and my husband and I acted in other plays, but not with Radek. The group character of the collaboration meant that there were also occasional conflicts. These usually resulted from the amateurs’ fears concerning the theatre management’s reaction to the work, as, unlike professional actors, they took all criticism extremely personally. In such situations the director had to demonstrate skills in reconciling all parties, and suggesting a compromise, for example in terms of the amount of involvement of individuals in the play. The director Spiss said: I came to them [after the reception of the play] and they were all upset, thinking that no one liked it, and the next day when we met again, the emotions come out, there were tears. I had to act, and not like with professional actors. You have to motivate them, tell them they’re the best etc. […] A director’s work is hugely psychological – you need the ability to get through to everyone, not to create divisions. To a great extent, the exchange between the project participants (amateurs) and the actors and directors was limited to swapping experiences and skills. For the professionals, the benefits mostly came from being open to collaboration with amateurs and the need to adapt to their capabilities. A participating actor said: I felt naked next to them. It was much harder for me to improvise with them than with another actor. At first I was shy about improvising with them, until I saw that it was a different improvisation. 191 [Theatre and film director Andrei] Tarkovsky said that an actor has two duties: to be honest and communicative. Training these two skills during the meetings with the actors from Nowa Huta was very intensive, so that was certainly something I got out of it. Honesty, because they demanded honesty on the stage. To be communicative at the same time you had to keep it in check, be with them and take care of them. And Szydłowski added the observations that: Amateurs and professionals – being present together on stage – I think that they fuel each other, that there’s a kind of reflexive connection. Actors know that a play has a certain risk potential (speaking about amateurs’ mistakes) and accept it, reckon with it. Sometimes amateurs’ mistakes help, giving the impulse for a change in the dynamic of the play’s tension, various interesting, new things. In summary, forming bonds between the project participants was one of the most significant factors in deciding on the effects of the enterprise as a whole. The organisers therefore sought to build deeper relations between them and to avoid situations of conflict, which could easily have dashed the attempts to create a tight-knit group. It appears that the attempts to build these links were largely successful. It certainly would have been impossible to achieve positive results from the preparations for the play without strong emotional engagement from the participants. Although conflict situations were not always avoided, the director’s intervention and activation of the whole group were enough to keep them in check and generate an extra dose of positive energy. Spending several hours at rehearsals and the need to rely on others (one actor’s weak performance might lead to the whole play being poorly received) imposed de facto mutual trust and made cooperation easier. 192 *** An indirect consequence of the ‘University of Looking’ project discerned by all respondents was strengthened relations within the group of its young participants. They reported that, though they had known each other previously from meeting together in the sociotherapy community centre, they did not know much about each other. Only working with the theatre and facing the need to be open had strengthened and deepened their relations, as they jointly learned about each other’s strong and weak points. The mutual bonds are today very varied, with some of the people remaining in touch. In the view of one project organiser: Usually nobody thinks about their needs. The very fact of going up and asking about their needs is distinctive […] It became clear how they are treated at home, how they treat each other, what the relations are like between them… By talking about things they had a fantastic journey, learned a lot about themselves, and were able to say what their needs are now. Małgorzata Szydłowska, vice director of Łaźnia Nowa, one of the project organisers and Bartosz Szydłowski’s wife, remembers the collaboration with young people in ‘University of Looking’ as being demanding. For many of the workshop leaders, working with this type of group was a new experience. It demanded that they reformulate their standard approach and adapt to a new situation, that is, for differences in their work. Szydłowska cites one situation that she remembers from the project: Our meetings during the workshops looked like this: this boy came who had problems with accepting the fact that he was adopted […] and he would come with this large knife, he wouldn’t part with the knife, there was no discussion on it… He had cuts all over his head, it was hard to accept it, but at some point in the 193 process it turned out that he was an excellent actor […] It seemed that he was a suppressed person full of aggression, everything pointed to that, the way he behaved, spoke, and yet with the greatest sensitivity he acted a scene of declaring love. The participants were positive in their description of working with the theatre staff. Despite the tensions that surfaced at the start of the project, they managed to develop a relationship based on partnership. This led to the staging of Irkutsk Story, and in addition, some participants took part in the theatre’s next venture, the production, Nie śpimy, lecimy [We Don’t Sleep, We Fly], which entailed among other things a trip to Crete. Two participants also played extras in the production Antyzwiastowanie [Anti-annunciation], and one worked in the theatre for a short period. ‘University of Looking’ was supposed to give its participants – young people with a tough past and problems – the opportunity to find a place in a new community, and to acquire soft ‘life’ skills, to put it in colloquial terms. The project was enshrined in the broader philosophy of the actions of the sociotherapy community centre, of which the young participants were members. The leader of the young project participants said ‘We wanted to bring those young people out of the ghetto, from their closed circle of thinking about the world’. The research material gives no unequivocal answer to whether this aim was fulfilled. Based on the discussions we carried out, we can say that for some participants it was an important, developing life experience. However, currently they are not in touch with the theatre. Such contacts within the group itself tend to be sporadic and incidental. III. Participants’ involvement in the joint productions To a certain extent, the participants in the ‘Participations’ project played the role of co-creators of the productions, influencing their final form. During the rehearsals and preparations for the premiere, the creators of the plays were open to the amateurs’ ideas, and where pos- 194 sible tried to take them into account. The director participating in the project recalled that ‘[artist] Oskar Hamerski and I set the structure of the play, and the actors had a very large influence on the sequences improvised with participation of the audience’. A female participant said: At our amateur level, if we get a role, we’re well aware that the first time you simply read what the director wrote. Later on though, if the first, second, third production happens, it’s more flexible and you can draw the audience into your actions and pull them towards you. Some of the plays staged within ‘Participations’ were open in nature, assuming the active participation of the audience. Including the audience took place both by blurring the divide between actors and spectators and by allowing audiences to have a real impact on the course of the play. An example of the delivery of these premises came in Love 60+, in which the stage was placed in the middle of the auditorium with the audience on both sides, able to give the amateurs specific scenes to act out during the course of the show. Maria Spiss recalled: In the June heat there were 250 people in the audience. Everyone was hot and sweaty, but super-happy. I had the sense that my actors were floating in the air. The audience entered the interaction really nicely. They had a vote – they were able to decide on certain matters. The main way in which the amateurs found out about the project was through casting announcements published in local media. Some heard from actors’ agencies (prior to joining the project, several of the amateurs had taken part in episodes of a quasi-documentary series filmed in Kraków using amateurs, W11 – Wydział Śledczy [Investigation Department] and Detektywi [Detectives]). ‘It varies’, Szydłowski said of the castings: 195 Casting sessions are held, sometimes someone will themselves apply through word of mouth, often the same people come back, sometimes the author will have his own group – for example [director] Michał Borczuch went into the community of the centre for autistic people and chose a certain group of people for himself. It’s more about searching for a certain energy and turning away people with the wrong expectations. Often the people who come want to be stars, they come to the casting sessions as if for Poland’s Got Talent, and that’s not what it’s about at all. The people we’re looking for might be those who’ve lost something at a certain age and now they’re looking for a new space for themselves. The intention of the project founders was for participation in the workshops and plays to constitute the beginning of wider engagement of various types of social activities for the participants. To date, this has proven possible only to a limited extent. Individual ideas for initiatives have appeared, but none of them has so far come to fruition. However, the theatre is open to supporting amateurs’ ideas. In Szydłowski’s view: The encounter is supposed to give them a kind of impetus to take life in their own hands. I would expect them to take the impetus from us, a certain change in their own approach, and to share that further. My impression is that this is what happens. The interviews conducted with the participants in the project do not indicate unequivocally that its participatory nature leads to the emergence of new local structures, initiatives or sustainability of the venture (the participants putting on their own plays in local community or cultural centres, for example). Where we did observe a continuation of the activities, it was more likely to involve passively attending plays as well as swapping impressions with acquaintances after seeing them. It 196 was only possible to involve some of the project beneficiaries in work on further theatre productions. It is important to note, however, that our direct discussions with the project participants revealed that as a result of the project they were keener to be involved in culture, as well as encouraging their friends to spend their free time in this way. They had had the opportunity to discern entirely new possibilities of personal activity and to uncover their own previously hidden talents. This was a huge benefit of the work of the project. *** The ‘University of Looking’ project did not envisage an open recruitment component. The participants in its activities were young people who were members of the sociotherapy community centre run by the Kraków project partner Save the Chance Association. The participatory nature of the project was largely developed over its course. With the accumulation of specific experiences and growth in levels of trust, the partly authoritarian working model (with certain solutions imposed) in the first stage of the project transformed into a model based on strictly trilateral cooperation of the various parties (participants, theatre – workshop leaders, youth leaders) involved in ‘University of Looking’. As one project organiser recalled: We wanted to reverse the roles; the project was supposed to remove the artists from the position of presence in the project, meaning preventing them from marking their physical presence, or interfering, presenting, that is rather creating an environment in which something could happen […] They felt good in this space, they felt like masters of this situation. Finally, most of the elements of the project were carried out in close cooperation and on the basis of joint management. The sugges- 197 tions that came from the young people were respected and put into place. ‘University of Looking’ was a one-off project, which was not continued in subsequent years. One might therefore have reservations over whether optimum benefit was reaped from the element of trust developed during the project. The main reason for this lack of continuity was the logic of the project. The organisers managed to gain one-off funding, and this was the chief determinant of the way it was carried out. At present, the young people who participated in the project are not involved in working with the theatre in any form. Conclusion The projects presented in this article deserve a positive evaluation in terms of their general pro-development impact. The research material we gathered demonstrated that engaging amateurs in theatrical activities and putting them side-by-side to interact with professionals is characterised by the potential to build both a sense of empowerment and community and participation of the people taking part in the activities. This empowerment entails providing participants with the space to present, and frequently also to discover, hidden aspects of their personalities. Taking on new roles that are in general different from those they play in their daily lives creatively expands participants’ field of perception of the surrounding reality. By engaging specific groups within society in the projects – disadvantaged young people and senior citizens – the organisers not only constructed potential for forming a sense of community, but also increased the chances of (re-)including participants in an active social life. During the study we observed a strong connection between the participants of the ‘Participations’ project and its organiser, Łaźnia Nowa Theatre, illustrating the positive atmosphere engendered by this place and the high social capital it boasts. We should also note a lack of this kind of relationship between the theatre and the participants of the ‘University of Looking’ project, reasons for which might be the brief du- 198 ration and one-off nature of the activities. Particularly the latter, which limits the long-term effects of the enterprise, would seem to be a negative aspect of it. For many of the young participants, the project was just one occurrence of many provided by the sociotherapy community centre run by the Kraków Save the Chance Association. Describing the two projects in a wider context, we should point out that in the case of Łaźnia Nowa Theatre and these particularly enterprises we can only speak of development – of a socio-economic nature – on a microscale, at individual level. It is social, material and spiritual elements that interlock and strengthen each other here – solely rather intangible soft capital. However, modern views on economics suggest that it is not the dynamic of GDP created, or its total value, that are decisive in the assessment of the level of prosperity, but rather quality of life. Projects like ‘Participations’ and ‘University of Looking’ appear to fit into this context. Such projects assure a sense of belonging going beyond the natural spheres of work and family. They therefore also activate a different context and a different and new point of view. As such, these ventures can contribute to building a sense of meaning to life and perceiving opportunities to change one’s life that were hitherto invisible. This seems particularly important in the case of places such as Kraków’s Nowa Huta district, which retains a stigma despite outward changes, and where identity is based on the experiences of the previous era. A further factor of change behind both of the described projects is placing the participants of the activities (senior citizens, disadvantaged youth) in the role of founders/donors – the beneficiaries create something for the community, thus finding themselves in roles to which they are not accustomed. By deviating from the traditional recipient position in favour of a more proactive one, the participants are able to discern possibilities – capital – which they generally do not use, and which can at the same time provide them with the basis for creating values – that is, something from which others (or they themselves) can gain benefit or satisfaction. 199 To sum up the above observations, the projects carried out by Łaźnia Nowa Theatre provide the possibility for generating change by giving participants a sense of their own agency. This is done by creating the conditions for them to create freely, to propose and build something themselves. These projects are innovative insofar as they construct something new on the foundations of joining the intersecting fields of stage creativity and daily life. According to the participants, the project activities allowed them to ‘become more open’. A challenge for the future that we can observe is transforming this temporary sense into a permanent position. It remains an open question how far the characteristics created in theatre laboratory conditions will translate into participants’ daily lives. Łaźnia Nowa Theatre’s activities mark a definite addition to what the Nowa Huta district as well as Kraków as a whole previously offered in socio-cultural terms. To the best of our knowledge, no enterprises of this kind are offered by other institutions in the city. At the same time, we should bear in mind that these projects are just a narrow slice of the theatre institution’s wide range of activity (and also just part of the array of social and civic actions in which it is engaged). Every year, the theatre has a grant of over 4 million PLN (2014 data) to spend, is visited by a total audience of over 30,000 people and organises one of the country’s largest and top-rated theatre festivals, the Divine Comedy International Theatre Festival. The format of the work described in these examples is an interesting one that might be replicated in other institutions with funds available for incubation of this kind of strictly social enterprise. Our analysis of these projects with reference to the field of culture leads to the conclusion that ventures like ‘University of Looking’ and ‘Participations’ should be of interest to theatres (as well as other forms of institutions or NGOs) whose missions include not only artistic and entertainment objectives, but also social ones (founded on positivistic work). BIBLIOGRAPHY Bibliography in English Beckett, Charles, Lore Gablier, Vivian Paulissen, Igor Stokfiszewski, Joanna Tokarz-Haertig (eds.), Build the City: Perspectives on Commons and Culture (Warsaw-Amsterdam: Krytyka Polityczna, European Cultural Foundation, 2015). Bellah, Robert N., Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, Steven M. Tipton, Individualism and Commitment in American Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985). Bourdieu, Pierre, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, trans. by Richard Nice (London and New York: Routledge, 1984). 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Tatarkiewicz, Władysław, Parerga (Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1978). Wilk, Teresa, Rewitalizacja społeczna poprzez współczesną sztukę teatralną w ocenie reprezentantów (twórców i odbiorców) sztuki dramatycznej Legnicy, Nowej Huty i Wałbrzycha (Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 2010). Zborowski, Andrzej (ed.), Demograficzne i społeczne uwarunkowania rewitalizacji miast w Polsce (Kraków: Instytut Rozwoju Miast, 2009). Zybała, Andrzej, Polityki publiczne (Warsaw: Krajowa Szkoła Administracji Publicznej, 2012). Żwirblis, Krzysztof, Muzeum Społeczne / Social Museum (Zielona Góra: BWA Zielona Góra, Galeria Arsenał Białystok, 2014). AU T H OR S jerzy hausner – professor of Economics. Graduated from Higher School of Economics in Cracow (at present Cracow University of Economics), where he later became a scientific researcher. In 1980, he received his Ph.D., and in 1988 – his postdoctoral degree. In 1994, he was awarded the academic title of professor of economics. From the mid-1990s he held many important positions in the state and government administration. He was the chief of advisors to Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister, Grzegorz Kołodko (1994-1996). At the government of Mr Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (1997), he was the government’s plenipotentiary for the reform of social security system and Under-Secretary at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland. As a member of a team of economic advisors appointed in 1996, he served as a public advisor to Mr. Aleksander Kwaśniewski, the President of Poland. In 2001–2005 Member of Parliament in the Polish Sejm of the fourth term. Deputy Prime Minister and minister at the governments of Leszek Miller (2001-2004) and Marek Belka (2004-2005). In 2001-2003, he was Minister of Labour and Social Policy. Following the changes in the structure of government administration in January 2003, he became Minister of the Economy, Labour and Social Policy, and from June 2003 – also Deputy Prime Minister. From May 2004, Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of the Economy and Labour. At the same time, for a short period he served also as Minister of Health and Minister of the Treasury. He is the author of the plan of public finance rationalization, the so-called Hausner’s plan. From January 2010 member of the Monetary Policy Council. From 2014 involved in the proceedings of Bruegel, Brussels European and Global Economic Laboratory. Author of about 340 publications on political economy and public management. He has been honoured with the Order of Polonia Restituta Knight’s Cross. Winner of the Kisiel’s Award (2004). 206 mikołaj lewicki – graduate of American Studies Centre, University of Warsaw, received his PhD degree from the Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology at the University of Warsaw; the topic of his dissertation was transformation processes from the point of view of the theory of social time; his research interests include studying cultural practices, cultural institutions and relations between social development and culture. For two years he has been involved in the research and seminar programme titled ‘Culture and Development’ in the Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw. łuk asz maźnica – economist, student of the doctoral programme at the Faculty of Economics and International Relations of the Cracow University of Economics, where he develops his research interests related to cultural economics and public management in the field of culture. He is also a board member of the Social Innovations Workshop Foundation, in which he is responsible for developing the portal ekultura.org, a medium promoting knowledge about the digitalisation of cultural heritage. As a researcher and expert, he cooperates with the Malopolska Institute of Culture, the Cracow Technology Park and the Center for Evaluation and Analysis of Public Policies of the Jagiellonian University. marek or amus – graduate of the Economics and Public Administration programme at the Cracow University of Economics. Since his graduation, he has been affiliated with the Małopolska School of Public Administration of the Cracow University of Economics, where he participates in preparation and development of research and implementation projects related to the issues of public management, situation of Polish companies and cooperation between local administration and NGOs. He is currently working on a doctoral thesis on the use of analysing big data in the decision-making processes in Polish cities. maria rogaczewsk a – sociologist. She studied at Uppsala University and graduated from University of Warsaw where she holds a position of the head of the Social Challenges Unit. She’s research assistant at the In- 207 stitute for Social Sciences. She’s a social researcher and innovator focused on the engagement of Academia in social change. During her career, she co-created many innovative projects (Civic Congress in Poland, Social Action 2012, eCo-Solving). Most of them aimed at establishing networks between Academia, business, public authorities and civil society to deal jointly with such big challenges as ‘skills gap’ (graduates of Academia not prepared for labour market) and ‘health gap’ (underestimation of sport and public health as vehicles of improving quality of life and social bonds). Her scientific interests focus mainly on social innovation, but also sociology of religion, and the role of religion within civil society. igor stokfiszewski – researcher, activist, journalist and artist. He was a participant and initiator of social theatre, community theatre and politically engaged art activities. He cooperated, among others, with the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards (Pontedera, Italy), the German Rimini Protokoll collective, and with the artists: Artur Żmijewski, Paweł Althamer and Jaśmina Wójcik. Co-curator of artistic and social activities in post-industrial spaces: Zakłady. Ursus 2014 [Factory. Ursus 2014] and Ursus – spacer w czasie [Ursus – a Stroll in Time] (2015). He was one of the team members at the 7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art (2012). Author of the book Zwrot polityczny [Political Turn] (2009) and co-editor of, among others, the volumes: Built the City. Perspectives on Commons and Culture (2015) and Jerzy Grotowski – Teksty zebrane [Jerzy Grotowski: Collected Texts] (2012). Member of the Krytyka Polityczna [Political Critique] team and of the Inicjatywa Pracownicza [‘Workers’ Initiative’] trade union. He’s active in the board of trustees of European Alternatives organisation and a coordinating collective of DiEM25 social movement launched by Yanis Varoufakis. He’s a lecturer at the Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw. jan strycharz – economist, graduate of the Cracow University of Economics and the Master of Public Policy programme of Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. For three years, he has been running the Social Innovations Workshop Foundation, an NGO which supports the development 208 of creative, intellectual and social capital in Poland. He organises training programmes, workshops and conferences related to the issues of innovation and social innovation. He is also a researcher and analyst of public policies, focusing on cultural and educational polices, as well as policies promoting entrepreneurship, innovations and innovativeness. anna świętochowsk a – PhD in liberal arts and sciences in the field of management studies. She wrote her PhD dissertation Polityka kulturalna w środowiskach miejskich – maksymalizacja wartości i poszukiwanie konsensusu [‘Cultural Policy in Urban Environments: Maximising Value and Search for Consensus’] at the Faculty of Management and Social Communication of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Managing editor of the quarterly journal Kultura i Rozwój and a member of a research team of the project ‘Culture and Development’ conducted in the Institute for Advanced Studies under the supervision of Prof. Jerzy Hausner. Along with her research activities, she has considerable artistic achievements: she has composed music for more than twenty performances, with prizes awarded at Polish and international festivals. In 2007, she received an individual prize from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for the music to Balanders. Her research interests include the relationship between culture and development, theory of organization, especially participatory management models, and issues of the values of culture from the point of view of cultural policies. barbar a worek – assistant professor in the Department of Sociology of Economy, Education, and Social Research Methods at the Institute of Sociology of the Jagiellonian University. She has developed her research experience through participation in Polish and international research projects related to social exclusion, labour market and lifelong learning. She authored and co-authored publications concerning labour market and many research reports. Her research interests focus on issues related to human capital and lifelong learning, analysis of public policies and methodology of qualitative research. 209 agnieszk a ziętek – lecturer at the Maria Curie Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland. Her doctoral dissertation was entitled Jean Baudrillard’s vision of contemporary world: politics, media and society. The main research interest is social research methodology, cultural studies, sociology of politics, social communication and gender studies. She is a member of the Polish Cultural Studies Association and the Polish Association of Social Communication. She is the author the first book in Polish about Baudrillard’s philosophy as well as many articles about Baudrillard’s thought and issues from the field of political philosophy, cultural studies and feminism. S O U RC E S Igor Stokfiszewski, Introduction Text is an extended version of: Jerzy Hausner, Izabela Jasińska, Mikołaj Lewicki, Igor Stokfiszewski, Wprowadzenie, in: Kultura i rozwój. Analizy, rekomendacje, studia przypadków, ed. by Jerzy Hausner, Izabela Jasińska, Mikołaj Lewicki, Igor Stokfiszewski (Warsaw-Kraków: Instytut Studiów Zaawansowanych, Fundacja Gospodarki i Administracji Publicznej, 2016). Translated from Polish by Magdalena Iwińska. Jerzy Hausner, Culture as a Way Out of Crisis Originally published in Polish as: Jerzy Hausner, Kultura jako ścieżka wyjścia z kryzysu, in: Socjologia uspołecznienia, ed. by Mikołaj Lewicki, Sławomir Mandes, Anna Przybylska, Małgorzata Sikorska, Cezary Trutkowski (Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar, 2015). English translation originally published in: Another Europe — 15 Years of Capacity Building with Cultural Initiatives in the EU Neighbourhood, ed. by Philipp Dietachmair, Milica Ilić (Amsterdam: European Cultural Foundation, 2015). Translated from Polish by Anna Zaranko. Mikołaj Lewicki, Maria Rogaczewska, Agnieszka Ziętek, Stimulating Social and Economic Development through Culture: An Analysis of Twelve Cultural Initiatives Oriented Towards Transforming Their Local Environment Originally published in Polish as: Mikołaj Lewicki, Maria Rogaczewska, Agnieszka Ziętek, Kultura i rozwój – podsumowanie projektu badawczego, in: Kultura i rozwój. Analizy, rekomendacje, studia przypadków, ed. by Jerzy Hausner, Izabela Jasińska, Mikołaj Lewicki, Igor Stokfiszewski (Warsaw-Kraków: Instytut Studiów Zaawansowanych, Fundacja Gospodarki i Administracji Publicznej, 2016). Translated from Polish by Magdalena Iwińska. 211 Igor Stokfiszewski, On Social Culture: Manufacturing Commonality Beyond Cultural Institutions and Independent Artistic Scenes Originally published in Polish as: Igor Stokfiszewski, Wokół kultury społecznej, in: Kultura i rozwój. Analizy, rekomendacje, studia przypadków, ed. by Jerzy Hausner, Izabela Jasińska, Mikołaj Lewicki, Igor Stokfiszewski (Warsaw-Kraków: Instytut Studiów Zaawansowanych, Fundacja Gospodarki i Administracji Publicznej, 2016). English translation originally published as: Igor Stokfiszewski, ‘On Social Culture’, Polish Theatre Journal 2016, no 2, www.polishtheatrejournal.com. Translated from Polish by Monika Bokiniec. Anna Świętochowska, Maria Rogaczewska, ‘Living Culture’ in Public Policy: Problems, Challenges and Recommendations Originally published in Polish as: Maria Rogaczewska, Anna Świętochowska, „Żywa kultura” w polityce publicznej – problemy, wyzwania i rekomendacje, in: Kultura i rozwój. Analizy, rekomendacje, studia przypadków, ed. by Jerzy Hausner, Izabela Jasińska, Mikołaj Lewicki, Igor Stokfiszewski (Warsaw-Kraków: Instytut Studiów Zaawansowanych, Fundacja Gospodarki i Administracji Publicznej, 2016). Translated from Polish by Magdalena Iwińska. Mikołaj Lewicki, Between Cultural Hierarchies and the ‘Living Culture’: Can Cultural Participation Offer Solutions to Inequality? This text was presented on 22 April 2016 at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna in the framework of ‘Social Inequality and Cultural Policy’ conference. It is based on the ‘Culture and Development’ Research and on author’s own research, financed by National Centre for Science; Grant No. UMO-2012/05/D/HS6/02760. Unpublished. Anna Świętochowska, The De-Novo Association: The Summer Theatre Action Originally published in Polish as: Anna Świętochowska, Stowarzyszenie De-Novo – letnia akcja teatralna, in: Kultura i rozwój. Analizy, rekomendacje, studia przypadków, ed. by Jerzy Hausner, Izabela Jasińska, Mikołaj Lewicki, 212 Igor Stokfiszewski (Warsaw-Kraków: Instytut Studiów Zaawansowanych, Fundacja Gospodarki i Administracji Publicznej, 2016). English translation originally published in: Polish Theatre Journal 2016, no 2, www.polishtheatrejournal.com. Translated from Polish by Monika Bokiniec. Łukasz Maźnica, Marek Oramus, Jan Strycharz, Barbara Worek, Łaźnia Nowa Theatre: Social Change ‘in the Making’ Originally published in Polish as: Łukasz Maźnica, Marek Oramus, Jan Strycharz, Barbara Worek, Teatr Łaźnia Nowa – zmiana społeczna in the making, in: Kultura i rozwój. Analizy, rekomendacje, studia przypadków, ed. by Jerzy Hausner, Izabela Jasińska, Mikołaj Lewicki, Igor Stokfiszewski (Warsaw-Kraków: Instytut Studiów Zaawansowanych, Fundacja Gospodarki i Administracji Publicznej, 2016). English translation originally published in: Polish Theatre Journal 2016, no 2, www.polishtheatrejournal.com. Translated from Polish by Ben Koschalka. Culture and Development: Beyond Neoliberal Reason Edited by Igor Stokfiszewski Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw Warsaw 2017 Copyright © 2017 By Krytyka Polityczna, European Cultural Foundation, the Editor, the Authors and Translators Jerzy Hausner, Culture as a Way Out of Crisis © 2015 European Cultural Foundation Igor Stokfiszewski, On Social Culture: Manufacturing Commonality Beyond Cultural Institutions and Independent Artistic Scenes © 2016 Instytut Teatralny im. Zbigniewa Raszewskiego Anna Świętochowska, The De-Novo Association: The Summer Theatre Action © 2016 Instytut Teatralny im. Zbigniewa Raszewskiego Łukasz Maźnica, Marek Oramus, Jan Strycharz, Barbara Worek, Łaźnia Nowa Theatre: Social Change ‘in the Making’ © 2016 Instytut Teatralny im. Zbigniewa Raszewskiego ISBN 978-83-65369-89-5 Language Editing: Hannah Connell, Vicky Anning and Esther Banev-Hookway, Instytut Teatralny im. Zbigniewa Raszewskiego, Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw Design: Katarzyna Błahuta Edited by Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw, Warsaw 2017 This is a free publication released in the framework of Connected Action for the Commons network of European Cultural Foundation Funded by European Cultural Foundation