We must talk: audience pluralisation as a regenerative path to the management of cultural disagreement
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Informed by the decision by the Albertinum Museum in Dresden, Germany, to create public events and exhibitions responding to claims by individuals who had targeted its director as part of a far-right campaign and Nancy Fraser’s argument that public institutions are to regulate social interaction and promote parity of participation, the article proposes the concept of audience pluralisation. Considering the increasingly divided contexts in which cultural organisations operate and in particular the rise of illiberal actors, this idea highlights their potential to be facilitators of the management of cultural disagreement in plural societies by building bridges between opposing cultural claims and, thus, of not only cultural but also sociopolitical regeneration. This requires overcoming the tendency towards short-termism that characterises the relationship between cultural organisations and their audiences, and revisiting classic discussions and paradigms in cultural policy, particularly: democratisation of culture, cultural democracy, audience development and audience engagement.
Author: Mafalda Dâmaso
Institution: Erasmus University Rotterdam
Language: English
Subfield: Cultural Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4408647123