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Introduction: A moral crisis begets aneconomic crisis?While there have been some efforts to explainIrelands2 economic crisis with reference to thedialectical tendencies of capitalism3, globalisationand neo-liberalism, mainstream media andpolitical commentary has preferred to avoidthis kind of sustained analysis. Instead, withvarying degrees of emphasis, commentators haveattributed causality to specic errors somecollective, others individual in behaviour orjudgment. They include our foolhardy relianceon the property sector, the misbehaviour andmiscalculations of rotten apples in the bankingsphere, and cronyism and ineptitude within rulingpolitical elites. In the general rush to censure,the Irish public has not escaped criticism. Theprofoundly ideological contention that weare all

somehow to blame4 is repeatedly passed off as anincontestable fact; a common sense legitimisingreductions in the minimum wage5, assaultson public sector spending and conditions, thebroadening of the tax base to include the low-paidand the avoidance of more decisive redistributionfrom the summit of the earnings hierarchy. Forexample, former Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan,ritually invoked our collective responsibility constituted by one part guilt and one partpatriotism to rationalise his governmentsdeference to global markets and the new climateof austerity6.

This Budget serves no vested interest. Rather, itprovides an opportunityfor us all to pull together and

play our partaccording to our means . (October 14th,2008)

Everybody pays and those who can pay most will pay

most. The Plan calls on us all to take more responsibilityfor ourselves. (Budget 2011 Speech, December 7th, 2010)

I accept that I have to take responsibility as a memberof the governing party during that period for whathappened, but lets be fair about it, we all partied.(Prime Time, November 24th, 2010) [My italics.]

In the mainstream media, discussions aboutthe economic crisis have displayed a comparablemoralising sensibility, with recurring referencesto how weve been let down by elites7 politicians,

state ofcials, bankers and how we as a peoplelet ourselves down. The economic crisis is thusframed as a kind of un-cool karma, drawn downby citizens relentless pursuit of hedonism duringthe period of the Celtic Tiger8. In April 2011,the Finnish Banking expert Peter Nyberg, whowas charged with reporting on the causes of thebanking crisis, nally published his analysis:

[T]he way Irish households, investors, banksand public authorities voluntarily reacted toforeign and domestic developments was probablynot very different to that in other countries nowexperiencing nancial problems. However, theextent to which large parts of Irish society werewilling to let the good times roll on until the very lastminute(a feature of the nancial mania) may havebeen exceptional.9 [My italics.]

Our obsession with the property ladder,speculative investments and conspicuousconsumption are now memorialised in the uglyreality of ghost estates, abandoned race-horsesand home repossessions. Former PresidentMary Macaleese became something of an earlytouchstone for anxieties about prosperitysimpact on our national value system. Havingwarned against the dangers of the cul de sacofcomplacent consumerism10 in November 2005, shewould later suggest that recession presented anopportunity for moral rehabilitation,

Somewhere along the line, we began to think thatwe werent happy with deferred gratication. We hadto have it now and in this moment and I think that wehave paid a very, very big price for that very radical shift.And now the balance presumably is going to swing backthe other way and it will be no harm.11

These would become the narratives ofblame: either so universalising that they fail tointerrogate issues of power, social reproduction,inequality and exclusion in the Irish context; or sonarrowly targeted on charismatic miscreants thatthey avoid analysis of the structural roots of thislatest crisis in capitalism. Demonstrating, a wilfuldenial of their own partiality they ultimatelyfall back onto that most pervasive of ideologicaldevices, the fetishisation of individual choice. Aswith doctrinaire neo-liberalism they assume thatindividual citizens be they ordinary consumers,politicians or employees of nancial institutions can be disassociated from their economicand social habitus and thus hold sovereignresponsibility for their risky choices in the marketplace. Sometimes these choices are representedas rational calculations and sometimes as morallapses, but the overall effect is similar; to gloss

over the contradictions of late capitalism as aglobal system that governs our every day practices.

A functionalised cultureThere is another problem with all this showylancing of collective guilt; it typically prefacesa more urgent kind of X Factor quest, wherethe search is on for those innovators who canlead the economic revival. It became manifestin the recurring calls for particular businessdynamos, celebrities, economists or civil societyleaders to run for elected ofce in the GeneralElection of 2011. It also became manifest invarious representations of the cultural sector, thearts and artists or as Fintan OToole describesthem Irelands greatest remaining asset12 asstorm troopers in the battle to rescue the nationsbeleaguered reputation. When the economic crisispunctured the credibility of old elites, it also

cleared a space for new icons of hope and as theNational Campaign for the Arts recognised,

There is now a broad consensus that the arts willplay a dynamic part in Irelands economic and socialrecovery. To maintain the role of the arts as a signicantdriver of employment, cultural tourism, the creativeindustries, our collective wellbeing and internationalreputation13

What manifests as a consensus, I am inclinedto describe as hegemony; the broad acceptancethat culture be functionalised in the interestsof the economy. In September 2009, the IrishDepartment of Foreign Affairs hosted theinaugural Global Irish Economic Forum, whichwas attended by members of the Government;Secretaries General of Government Departments,CEOs of State Agencies, and leading members ofthe Irish business and cultural sectors14. Amongthe principal themes under discussion were theuncertain status of Irelands reputation and theurgency of brand consolidation15. The report onthe event explained that,

[S]peakers focused on the concept of branding, notingthe strength of Brand Ireland, but that in todayshugely competitive environment, resources must betargeted and the message focussed so that Ireland,could distinguish itself on the global stage. The arts andculture had a key role to play in this process. Participantsstrongly argued that the arts are no longer a luxuryor a charity, but are a hugely important part of theeconomy.16

Its a limited and limiting appraisal of the roleof the arts charity, luxury or brand extension and it could easily be dismissed as corporatebabble, typical of an event such as this. However,the ever present threat of further cuts in publicspending has done much to focus Irelands

collective consciousness. Brand Ireland discourseshave been adopted by arts organisations that arecognisant of the rising expectation that all mustprove our commitment to the economic revival.Even before the Global Economic Forum, VisualArtists Ireland the all Ireland Development andresource body for professional visual artists17made a submission to the Innovation Task Forceon September 16th 2009, in which it positionedimproved grants and resources for artists asfurther support of the cultural identity of BrandIreland18. It is also worth noting that similartendencies were common in Japan in the wake ofits economic crash in 1991, with the J-cool Brandinvoked to counteract the countrys reputationaland image problems19. During March 2010, RTERadios agship news showMorning Irelandrana week-long discussion series centred around thesomewhat rhetorical question Can the Arts helprevive the economy?, incorporating interviewswith guests who were described by presenter ineLawlor as the great and good20 of the Irish artsworld. Signicantly the interviews were timetabledto coincide with the St Patricks holiday, thenow traditional focal point for internationalmarketing of Brand Ireland. Participants includedAbbey Theatre director Fiach Mac Conghail,musician and broadcaster Philip King, writerColm Tibn, theatre director Garry Hynes and thenewly appointed Cultural Ambassador to the US,

actor Gabriel Byrne. The interviews did not allowparticipants to reect on the social, democraticor transformative possibilities of the arts, or howand why culture might be meaningful to citizens.Instead questions were framed to elicit argumentsregarding the economic, and specically touristic,dividends that could be yielded by investment inthe cultural sphere.

In Ireland there has been a long-standingtendency for government and mainstream mediato privilege a narrow frame of economic rationalityin their evaluations of cultural, scientic, socialand political developments21. As the economiccrisis has unfolded, invocations of that rationalityhave become cruder and more frenetic. Given thatthe artistic sphere is often attributed transcendentproperties based on its ability to elevate ourminds and desires it is notable that it too shouldfall victim to that tendency. A speech by former

Taoiseach Brian Cowen, at the announcement ofIrelands next Professor of Poetry Harry Cliftoncomically illustrates the case:

Our countrys calling card1Culture as the Brand in Recessionary Ireland

Rosemary Meade

Expectations of the arts

to reboot the economyseem inconsistent with theactual earning power ofartists themselves

Despite all the moralisingabout Celtic Tigerevils ofconsumption, hegemonicdiscourses inevitablyretreat into a consumeristmodel of culture

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[T]his country is ghting its way out of a severerecession and we will come through this because ofthe quality of our people, their selfbelief and theiringenuity. The arts and our culture has a big role to playin getting Ireland back on track.I believe that being Irish holds a distinct and intrinsicvalue. Ireland is a brand. People know us. Our country,her landscape and her culture are known the world over.We must connect with that brand now and use it to giveus the competitive advantage in a globalised world thatis increasingly the same. We must ourselves portray thepositives that others see in us.22 [My italics.]

In other words: creativity must beentrepreneurial, cultural distinctiveness meansmarket advantage.

Rhetorical status Vs structurallocationAs Howard Becker observed, the arts are neverimmune from social processes and are nevermerely the products of sequestered minds orindividual imaginations. Instead they should beviewed as outcomes of collective action where[R]elations of co-operation and constraint, penetrate the entire process of artistic creationand composition23. Despite all the Brand Irelandrhetoric, issues of economic survival constitutea pressing constraint on contemporary Irish artsorganisations and individual artists. Signicantin this regard are the ndings of survey of 1,128artists that was jointly commissioned by both Arts

Councils on the island of Ireland. It suggestedthat the average income from their arts practicefor artists in the Republic of Ireland was lessthan 15,000 in 2008, with 50% of artists earning8,000 or less from their work24. Expectationsof the ability of the arts to re-boot the economyseem inconsistent with the actual earning powerof artists themselves. Furthermore, hegemonicdiscourses about culture and its role are takingshape against the backdrop of signicantcuts in revenue for the Arts Council and artsorganisations. Launching its strategic plan, inOctober 2010, the Arts Council chair Pat Moylan25noted some of the challenges it now faces:

[T]he Arts Council said it was publishing the strategicoverview in a spirit of condence, tempered by therealism required to plan and provide for the arts ata time of signicant difculty in the public nances,and stressed that the consequences of some decisions

could be far from what we would wish in idealcircumstances.

In 2009 the Special Group on Public ServiceNumbers and Expenditure Programmes, chairedby economist Colm McCarthy and establishedfor the explicit purpose of rationalising cutbacksin government spending, recommended 5.3billion in savings and staff reductions of 17,300across the public sector. It identied the artsand cultural elds as a lower priority 26 for thestate and posited that the existing governmentdepartments functions be re-allocated to otherdepartments. It also recommended a 6.1millionreduction in the Arts Council budget, alongwith the discontinuation of nancial support forCulture Ireland and the Irish Film Board. Thislower priority status was underscored by thecontroversy that surrounded the appointment ofMary Hanan as minister for Tourism, Culture

and Sport in 2010, a move that was widelyregarded as a demotion.

I did say, that whereas I would be very happy to takethe job, that it would be perceived as a demotion because, unfortunately, media over the years hasperceived arts, sports and culture to be something ofless importance than some of the other departments.And,yet when you see the importance of it to theeconomy, when you see the people who came last yearto Farmleigh27 to share their ideas on how to promoteIreland, culture and tourism was at the heart of whatpeople were suggesting.28 [My italics.]

Simultaneously championed and treated asan afterthought, the rhetorical status of arts andculture seems to be at odds with its structurallocation. This contradiction is less puzzling if weconsider the broader economic and discursivecontext, and what Hardt and Negri have described

as the hegemony of immaterial labour in thecontemporary period. By immaterial labour theymean labour that produces immaterial products,

such as knowledge, information, communication,a relationship or an emotional response29. Byhegemony they are not claiming that the majorityof workers are engaged in this kind of labour clearly they are not but that this labour has acomparatively elevated status in contemporarycapitalism, whereby it is perceived to embodyall that is most market friendly, innovative andforward-looking. Immaterial labour imposes atendency on all other forms of labour30 andsocieties, states and industries must show thatthey are willing to informationalize, becomeintelligent, become communicative, become

affective. Given that the arts and cultural spheresare already invested with these kinds of attributes,they are well placed to be activated in the interestsof economic accumulation and commodication.In Ireland the Smart Economy has become anew signier of economic progress, with the artsand cultural sectors identied as key potentialcontributors, but ones that require leveraging:[F]uture investment in this sector must be basedon world-class ambition and achievement, and itmust also be based on engaging and attractingthe business sector31. Hegemonic discourses,therefore, simultaneously seek to discipline and

enable the arts and cultural sectors. Upbeatprescriptions of their economic role and theircentrality to Brand Ireland carry a parallel albeitoften implicit threat regarding the fate of theeconomically irrelevant.

A case for resistanceGiven their sectors vulnerablities, its unsurprisingthat many and artists and arts organisationshave mobilised collectively to resist the threat ofcutbacks and to argue for continued public subsidyof the arts. For example, the National Campaignfor the Arts has combined high energy andvisually arresting forms of advocacy with repeatedassertions of the sectors economic relevance.During the 2011election, it urged supportersto deliver a unied message to canvassers andcandidates.

The arts enrich our livesThe arts enhance Irelands image and reputation on theworld stageThe arts are a stimulant of and contributor to the smarteconomyThe arts are a signicant employerThe arts drive cultural tourism32

Arguably, lobbying by artists and artsorganisations has been quite successful inobviating austeritys more draconian effects33. Inmany ways their structural position resembles

that of community organisations that are feted fortheir contribution to society, yet are ultimatelydependent on state favour for their nancialsurvival. Community organisations can ndthemselves strategically adapting to governmentpolicy in order to protect their sector and tolegitimise their particular value claims. Likewisearts organisations may draw upon hegemonicdiscourses and economic rationalities in orderto defend what are already precarious fundingstreams and support networks.

However, when resistance is framed withinthe parameters of the prevailing hegemony itultimately speaks to the short term materialinterests of (a minority within) the arts sectorand its audiences. It is worth remembering thatbeyond that sector, cultures are generated througheveryday encounters and uncelebrated formsof aesthetic practice. As Paul Willis explains,

aesthetics and Art are presented as universalsigniers of what is best and most exceptionalin cultures, but those signiers are themselves

socially constructed: their status is derived fromand sustained by social distinctions, patternsof exclusion, power inequalities and marketrelationships34. As the arts and cultural sectorsare responsibilised to fashion brand identity andattract consumers in international markets, theirresponsibilities to Irish citizens are trivialised.Alternative expectations of the sectors mightinclude: the broadening and deepening ofaudience participation; the creation of newopportunities for ordinary citizens to make anddistribute their own cultures; and a criticalinterrogation of hegemonic discourses of culture,

Irishness and our so-called Brand identity.Ultimately hegemonic discourses, such as

those embedded in the fantasy of Brand Ireland,offer an impoverished conception of culture. Thearts sector becomes a proxy for creativity in itsbroader sense. Tourism potential and marketshare become the default measures of culturaland artistic achievement. A nationalist imperativeis imposed on artists who must generate positivePR for Brand Ireland. Citizens are responsibilisedto take pride in and to cheerlead those PRachievements, like supporters of the nationalfootball team, while our own contributions tothe contestation and re-fashioning of culture areoverlooked. Despite all the empty moralising aboutthe evils of consumption in the period of the CelticTiger, hegemonic discourses inevitably retreatinto a consumerist model of culture: privilegingspectacle and things they can be bought, sold,

visited or reproduced over communication,critique and ordinary common meanings35.

Finally, it is worth emphasising that thishegemony is not absolute, that there are somevital expressions of resistant culture in Irelandtoday. In any functionalised reckoning of whatconstitutes a societys cultural wealth, it isdifcult to monetise these localised, provisionaland reactive processes: although particular,they do not seem so special; although real, theyusually lack celebrity. Nonetheless, un-brandedculture that speaks against the crude hegemonyis vibrantly present in the creative solidarity thatartists, musicians, poets, dancers professionaland otherwise give to social movements. In itsmost limited form, the cultural contribution toactivism is reduced to fundraising or PR. At itsbest, the political reclamation also coincides witha cultural reclamation and celebration, so that

culture and creativity is seen as intrinsic to socialchange, not merely as a decorative accessory.Cultural reclamation and resistance is also evidentin the emergence of independent social centres,poetry slams, lo- festivals, alternative screeningsand all those other spaces be they intellectualor physical where people get together tocommunicate and co-operate democratically. Theseefforts may well be temporary expressions of analways elusive autonomy, but even when theydisappear and reappear in other forms they add upto a cumulative culture of resistance maybe evena culture beyond the brand.

Notes

1 Comment by Taoiseach Brian Cowen made during hisspeech at the announcement of Irelands next Professorof Poetry Harry Clifton Newman House Wednesday,30th of June, 2010.

2 Here Ireland is used to refer to the Republic of Ireland

rather than the Island of Ireland.3 See Allen, K (2009)Irelands Economic Crash: A Radical

Agenda for Change. Dublin: The Liffey Press and Kirby, P(2010) The Celtic Tiger in Collapse, Hampshire: PalgraveMacmillan.

4 Following the general election of June 2011 a newcoalition government came to power in the Republic. Inadvance of its rst budget in later that year, TaoiseachEnda Kenny was moved to address the nation and toassure us that the crisis was not our fault. His analysisseems to have been revised by January 2012 when hetold the World Economic Forum at Davos that peoplewent mad borrowing. Scally, D (27/01/2012) Taoiseachblames crisis on mad borrowing and greed,IrishTimes: Accessed 19/04/2012 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0127/1224310810287.html

5 That policy decision, taken in the early aftermath ofthe Irish crisis, has since been reversed by the newgovernment.

6 Lenihan, B (14/10/2008) Financial Statement of theMinister for Finance Mr Brian Lenihan, T.D Departmentof Finance: Accessed 04/03/2011

http://www.budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2009/FinancialStatement.aspxLenihan, B (07/12/2010) Financial Statement of theMinister for Finance Mr Brian Lenihan T.D. Department

Upbeat prescriptions ofthe arts economic role and

their centrality to BrandIrelandcarry a parallelthreat regarding the fate ofthe economically irrelevant

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0127/1224310810287.htmlhttp://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0127/1224310810287.htmlhttp://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0127/1224310810287.htmlhttp://www.budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2009/FinancialStatement.aspxhttp://www.budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2009/FinancialStatement.aspxhttp://www.budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2009/FinancialStatement.aspxhttp://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0127/1224310810287.html

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of Finance: Accessed 04/03/2011http://www.budget.gov.ie/budgets/2011/FinancialStatement.aspxLenihan, B (24/11/2010) Prime Time Interview withMiriam OCallaghan,Prime Time, RT.

7 OConnor, J (18/11/2010) Irish people feel frightened,alone and unled, The Guardian. Accessed 04/03/2011http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/18/irish-people-frightened-recession-ireland?intcmp=239

8 Sunday Independent(28/11/2011) What did we do todeserve this? Irish Independent. Accessed 04/03/2011http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/what-did-we-do-to-deserve-this-2439239.html

9 Nyberg, P (2011)Misjudging Risk: Causes of the SystemicBanking Crisis Ireland, p. ii. Accessed 02/06/2011

http://www.bankinginquiry.gov.ie/Documents/Misjuding%20Risk%20-%20Causes%20of%20the%20Systemic%20Banking%20Crisis%20in%20Ireland.pdf

10 Hogan, S (09/11/2005) Tiger society scary for those leftbehind,Irish Independent. Accessed on 02/06/2011http://www.independent.ie/national-news/tiger-society-scary-for-those-left-behind-229934.html

11 Irish Times(16/12/2008) Ireland is on rebound fromconsumerism, says President,Irish Times. Accessed04/03/2011http://www.irishtimes.com/premium/loginpage

12 OTooole, F (27/03/2010) Does Mary Hanan realiseshes the minister for all weve got?,Irish Times.Accessed 04/03/2011http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0327/1224267154518.html

13 National Campaign for the Arts (No Date) About theCampaign, Accessed 04/03/2011http://www.ncfa.ie/index.php/page/about/

14 Department of Foreign Affairs (2009) Global IrishEconomic Forum 18-20 September 2009 Report. Dublin:Department of Foreign Affairs, p 4.

15 ibid, p 15.

16 ibidp 21.

17 Visual Artists Ireland (2009) Creative Ireland Submission to the Innovation Taskforce. Dublin: VisualArtists Ireland, p 3.

18 ibidp 5.

19 Allison , A (2009) The Cool Brand, Affective Activismand Japanese Youth. Theory, Culture and Society, 26 (2-3): 89-111

20 http://www.rte.ie/news/morningireland/artsandcultureindustry.html hosts Podcasts of theinterviews.

21 See OMahony, P and Schafer, MS (2005) The Book ofLife in the Press, Social Studies of Science, 35(1): pp99-130 and Meade, R. (2008) Mayday, Mayday! NewspaperFraming Anti-globalisers!,Journalism, 9(4): pp330-352.

22 Cowen, B ( 30/06/2010) Speech by the Taoiseach, Mr.Brian Cowen, T.D., at the announcement of Irelandsnext Professor of Poetry - Harry Clifton - NewmanHouse, Wednesday, 30 June, 2010 at 6.30pm Accessed on02/06/2011

http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Government_Press_Ofce/Taoiseach%27s%20Speeches%202010/Speech_by_the_Taoiseach_at_the_announcement_of_Irelands_next_Professor_of_Poetry_Harry_Clifton_Newman_House_30_June,_2010.html

23 Becker, B (1974) Art as Collective Action,AmericanSociological Review, 39(6): 767-776, p 770.

24 McAndrew, C and McKimm, C (2010) The Living andWorking Conditions of Artists of Artists in the Republic

of Ireland and Northern Ireland, The Arts Council/ArtsCouncil Northern Ireland. Accessed on 02/06/2011http://www.artscouncil.ie/Publications/LWCA%20Study%20-%20Final%202010.pdf

25 Arts Council (29/10/2010) Arts Council outlines strategicapproach for next three years, Accessed 01/06/2011http://www.artscouncil.ie/en/news/news.aspx?article=6cba59ed-ba3f-4185-8982-463a7e7a3fcb

26 McCarthy, C [chair] (2009) Report of the SpecialGroup on Public Service Numbers and ExpenditureProgrammes. Dublin: Stationery Ofce, p 33.

27 She is referring to those who attended the GlobalEconomic Forum.

28 Hanan, in Caolla, (24/03/2010) Hanan raiseddemotion perception,Irish Times, Accesssed on26/01/2011http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0324/breakingnews

29 Hardt, M and Negri, M (2005)Multitude. London:Hamish Hamilton, p 108.

30 ibidp 109.

31 Irl Gov. (2008)Building Irelands Smart Economy.Stationery Ofce; Dublin, p80.

32 National Campaign for the Arts (No Date) Election2011, Accessed 01/06/2011http://www.ncfa.ie/les/2011-messages.doc

33 Smyth, G (10/12/2010) Do arts cuts hit the right note?,Irish Times. Accessed 01/06/2011http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2010/1210/1224285184614.html

34 Willis, P (2005) Invisible Aesthetics and the Social Workof Commodity Culture, in D Inglis and J Hughson (eds.)The Sociology of Art. Basingstoke: Palgrave, p 73-74

35 Williams, R (1989)Resources of Hope, London: Verso, p 4.

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