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Through an exploration of Swedish cultural policy, this article analyses how policy legiti-mates its support for the arts and culture, and how "participation" is made meaningful in this process, to discuss how different understandings of culture and participation relate to changing notions of democratic governance in culture. The article discusses how an overarching discourse of culture as good, and therefore an interest in and responsibility for policy, can be understood as two discourses: 1) culture is good as it enables good things and 2) culture is good as it prevents bad things. These two discourses rest on different logics and "fixate" the concept of participa-tion in different ways but are constructed as if they were compatible. The meaning of democratic governance in culture is also differently interpreted in the two discourses – as either protection of autonomy, equality in access to culture, and participation as taking part, labelled a corporatist democracy, or as guaranteeing sustainable societies at risk, and participation as an equal pos-sibility to influence, labelled populist democracy. This break in discourse is interpreted as a sign of diminishing legitimacy of a corporatist discourse of democracy where experts have had the power to decide the content of cultural policy. The article partakes in a discussion on the role of participation and democracy in cultural policy. ; Deltagardrivna processer i offentlig verksamhet, Kulturförvaltningen Göteborgs stad

The concept of cultural participation is seldom defined in policy but carries a positive connotation. The aim of this article is to understand how participation is made meaningful by policy stakeholders, exemplified by a swedish municipality, with special attention directed towards two cultural institutions working to enhance young people's participation. The analysis considered levels of interest in participation, from the policy level, managerial level and civil servant level. The analysis found the meaning of participation shifted from a focus on equal access to empowering young people as a marginalised group, mirroring theories of a shift from a cultural democratisation paradigm to a cultural democracy paradigm in cultural policy. The civil servants shared an understanding that it is possible to distribute power from adults to young people, but the overlap of the two paradigms in the goal of achieving participation resulted in tensions and paradoxes regarding the issue of negotiating power. ; Deltagardrivna processer i offentlig verksamhet, Kulturförvaltningen Göteborgs stad

This article explores the rationality of the Bookstart home-visiting programme in Gothenburg, Sweden, concerning its general ambition to provide social inclusion through mixing cultural- and welfare policy. Through the Bookstart programme, librarians visit families in their homes to inform and instruct parents about reading books for their children to enhance language learning. The areas of the city chosen for intervention were described as socially vulnerable, typically with a majority of citizens born outside Sweden. The analysis outlines the rationality and technologies formed in a philanthropist tradition, targeting the moral potential of parenting and creating the sub- jectivities of the reading parent and child. Different welfare professionals employ slightly different discourses but all base their legitimacy on the benign power of knowledge about what is best for children in the city. Through this analysis, we contribute to the knowledge of how cultural policy is integrated into social policy in the contemporary advanced liberal welfare state. ; Funding agencies: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond [RMP17-0979:1]

The role of sport and cultural practices in policy initiatives tends to be assessed in both cases in terms of their assumed social benefits. However, the areas of sport and culture are often understood separately in research. Through an analysis of interviews with key local policy- makers and civil servants in two Swedish municipalities, the aim of this article is to explore how sport and culture are formed as means to promote social policy objectives regarding young people. In addition, we reflect on the political significance of this in relation to the develop- ment of local policy. The analysis demonstrates how a discourse of urban segregation and unequal opportunities underpins actions to mobilise non-participant and at-risk youth. This is achieved by establishing cen- tres for sport and culture, and by enabling an educational approach which focuses on participation, empowerment and good citizenship. Reasons for mobilising practices involving culture and sport overlap, though each area of policy appears to be differently underpinned by discourses of enlightenment and conformity. Differences in emphasis between the discourses on sport and culture are discussed in relation to scientific discourse on the social utility of each policy area. ; Funding agencies: Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences) [RMP17-0979:1]

The role of sport and cultural practices in policy initiatives tends to be assessed in both cases in terms of their assumed social benefits. However, the areas of sport and culture are often understood separately in research. Through an analysis of interviews with key local policymakers and civil servants in two Swedish municipalities, the aim of this article is to explore how sport and culture are formed as means to promote social policy objectives regarding young people. In addition, we reflect on the political significance of this in relation to the development of local policy. The analysis demonstrates how a discourse of urban segregation and unequal opportunities underpins actions to mobilise non-participant and at-risk youth. This is achieved by establishing centres for sport and culture, and by enabling an educational approach which focuses on participation, empowerment and good citizenship. Reasons for mobilising practices involving culture and sport overlap, though each area of policy appears to be differently underpinned by discourses of enlightenment and conformity. Differences in emphasis between the discourses on sport and culture are discussed in relation to scientific discourse on the social utility of each policy area. ; Deltagardrivna processer i offentlig verksamhet, Kulturförvaltningen Göteborgs stad

Executive Summary Acting on the Margins: Arts as Social Sculpture (AMASS) is an EU Horizon 2020 research project funded under the theme of Societal Challenges and the Arts, which focuses on the cultural rights perspective of marginalisation and its effects on other forms of exclusion in Europe. Using arts-based interventions, this project aims to address marginalisation challenges through community involvement and community building. This white paper compiles the outcomes of research studies and previous arts interventions (Section One) and the European testbed of arts-based interventions (Section Two). These insights form the basis of the identified needs and corresponding recommendations, which can be read in Section Three. Below is a summary of the sections. As part of the AMASS project, qualitative and systematic literature reviews were performed to understand the current research discourse on the assessment of arts-based interventions with a social focus in Europe. According to our analysis, culture and the arts are framed as participatory, sometimes therapeutic, means of empowering individuals and communities to assert agency over their own lives, develop and express their identities and strengthen local learning and development initiatives. Our results also point to effects that can beproblematised as negative, such as the social reproduction of dominant groups' values and practices at the expense of marginalised groups. Thus, the arts are not a given good but can depend on context. Previous arts-based interventions often lacked the personnel and financial resources to continue after the end of the funding period. In many cases, the assessment of project results was anecdotal or lacking. As a result, the power of the arts for social well-being and cultural integration could not be convincingly revealed. The AMASS European testbed included 35 arts-based case studies to evaluate the impact of these approaches in addressing marginalisation. The outcomes of these testbeds were compiled around tasks designed ...