cultural policies

In addition to her theoretical work, academic and researcher Eleonora Belfiore has a particular interest in socially engaged arts practice. In this sector, she plays a crucial role in highlighting the labor injustices promoted and reinforced by decades of neoliberal policies and argues for demanding an overall improvement in working conditions in a sector traditionally undervalued by funders and policymakers. Her work, mostly focusing on the UK context, often challenges the assumptions underlying cultural value —and questions the methods used to evaluate cultural impact, in an attempt to bridge the gap between cultural theory and practical policy-making. In this podcast, we talk to Eleonora Belfiore about self-exploitation, value metrics, austerity, social change, community development, feminist ethics of care and cognitive dissonance.

In this podcast, researcher, curator, and organizer Vaida Stepanovaitė guides us through some of the intricate lineages of past and present trade unions in the post-Soviet Baltic states, while also drawing inspiration from international movements such as the Art Workers’ Coalition and W.A.G.E., as well as from recent collective efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. She reflects on the devaluation of labour and people within the context of “uber-economics” or the gig economy, on the toll, precarity takes on the tired bodies of workers, and on the need for radical action to foster new forms of collectivization. The struggle against inhospitable working conditions and the gaps in the social safety net affecting art workers, serves as a starting point for devising better models for arts institutions and building new solidarities in the quest for a good life.