Cultural development meets rock and roll (or what government can learn from pop music festivals)

An interrogation of the dissonance between youth art policy and the actual forms of youth cultural production and participation is informative in relation to discussion of cultural development. These debates are characterised by discussion of the relations between culture and the construction of identity, cross-sectoral partnerships for sustainable cultural funding, and the convergence of cultural forms. Youth arts policy presents challenging opportunities to develop cultural policies which are grounded in new paradigms of support. Cultural development is being articulated as just such a new paradigm for cultural policy. This new paradigm involves the facilitation of cross-sectoral partnerships which support cultural process, practice and production and not, or at least not only, cultural things. The objective of this paradigm for cultural support is sustainable cultural development articulated around different policy objectives linked to specific local, national or global communities. Commercial music festivals are cultural programs which are unparalleled in their ability to attract the ‘youth’ cohort. Commercial music festivals present ideal opportunities for sustainable partnerships between for-profit and not-for-profit cultural organisations which facilitate the presentation of diverse cultural product. Until cultural policy comes to terms with the real diversity of cultural expression and participation it is not practicing ‘cultural development’ at all but remains primarily informed by a ‘civilising’ construction of the uses of art.