Government policy and definitions of art – The case of comics

Abstract

The article discusses the role of government policy in the societal process of producing definitions for ‘art’ and in becoming established as an artistic field. The discussion is based on an empirical case which demonstrates the complex role of public policy in defining a certain area as one of the arts and as eligible for government support for the arts. The analysis makes use of the concepts of artistic classification systems introduced by Paul DiMaggio and artistic fields by Pierre Bourdieu. It traces the encounters of the Finnish field of comics and government policy during a time span from the 1950s to the present day. The case of comics shows the development of one area of cultural production from a suspected criminal case to a state supported field of art, and demonstrates the various roles different areas and measures of government policy can take in the development of an emerging artistic field.

Keywords:

• cultural policy
• definitions of art
• comics
• government policy
• state support
• field of art

Notes

1. An earlier version of the article was presented as a paper to the Fourth International Conference on Cultural Policy Research in Vienna, 2006. I am very grateful to all who have commented on my work. Among others, my thanks are due to Oliver Bennet, Per Mangset, Sigrid R⊘yseng, Dag Solhjell, Michael Scott, Turo Virtanen, the anonymous referees of the International Journal of Cultural Policy and, as always, my colleagues at the Research Unit of the Arts Council of Finland. I remain, of course, solely responsible for any faults and weaknesses in the article.

2. An example of ancillary administrative classification of art is offered by the regulation of the value added tax, where government officials sometimes have to classify objects as art or non‐art in order to decide whether the object is entitled to the lower level of the value added tax assigned to objects of art in certain cases.

3. See, e.g., Ribe 1986; Sabin 1993, pp. 187–199.

4. See, e.g., Ribe 1986; Sabin 1993, pp. 157–162. Illustrative of the Code’s nature is, e.g., the third clause of the ‘General standards Part A’: ‘Policemen, judges, government officials and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority’. Part B of the general standards begins with the clause: ‘no comic magazine shall use the word horror or terror in its title’. The Code also regulated, among other things, on such matters as ‘dialogue’, ‘religion’, ‘costume’ and ‘marriage and sex’. The Comics Code is reproduced in full in, e.g., Sabin (1993, pp. 251–253).

5. See Barker 1989, p. 14.

6. See, e.g., Holz 1980, pp. 92–94, 136, 169, 226–235; Sabin 1993, p. 187.

7. All translations from Finnish documents into English are made by the author.

8. Sarjakuvatoimikunnan mietintö (report of the ad hoc committee on comics), 1962, 83, pp. 1–2.

9. See Valtion taidekomitean mietintö (report of the government’s ad hoc committee on the arts) (Kom.miet. 1965), where the principles of the new systematic policy towards promoting the arts were formulated. On the principle of excellence see DiMaggio and Useem (1978).

10. See the report of the ad hoc committee for cultural activities (Kom.miet. 1974, pp. 73–75). In the Nordic countries, the new orientation was heralded by the report of the Swedish government committee entitled Ny kulturpolitik (new cultural policy, SOU 1971, p. 66).

11. Hallituksen taidepoliittinen selonteko eduskunnalle 1978 (Government’s report to Parliament on arts policy); Valtioneuvoston kulttuuripoliittinen selonteko eduskunnalle 1982 (Government’s report to Parliament on cultural policy), Kivelä (1983).

12. The proposed tax on comics was not carried into effect.

13. Ad hoc committee on children’s culture (Kom.miet. 1979); Parliamentary ad hoc committee on youth (Kom.miet. 1980).

14. The name originated from an option in the application form for state artist grants. Applicants were asked for their field of art, and those who did not belong to any category offered in the form could tick the last option ‘other’. Most of the members of this group were professional artists with an established education in their field (mostly in visual arts), but working with new or inter‐ and multidisciplinary materials and methods.

15. The results of the research project in question were reported in Heikkinen (1991).

16. At present, this support measure has been discontinued.

17. The five million can be compared with the total amount of support received by the field of comics from cultural policy measures, which was under FIM 300,000 in the same year (Heikkinen 1991, pp. 102–111).

18. It is not self‐evident that design and architecture are included in national definitions of art. In Finland they are included and each also has a council of its own in the national system of arts councils. As applied arts, however, they both occupy a marginal position within arts policy. Comics came to be situated under the auspices of the National Council of Design because it was associated with illustration and graphic design, which were already classified in the realm of this council.

19. This type of artists’ support has been adopted in all Nordic countries, but the features mentioned are especially typical to the Finnish variation of the model (Heikkinen 2003; 2005).

20. The system of state artist grants comprises grants for artistic work granted for periods from one half to five years. Annually there are about 500 artists receiving this support.

21. The membership criteria of the professional organization of comics artists require a certain amount of published work: at least one album or an equivalent amount of comics in newspapers or magazines for artists and writers; at least two albums for translators and three for lettering artists (www.sarjakuvantekijät.fi.).

22. Another good example of this interactive process is offered by the Finnish field of photography, which institutionalized and acquired a recognized position as a form of art during the 1970s and 1980s (see Lintonen 1988; Karttunen, 1993).

23. In financial terms, the sum reserved for illustrators and comics artists is very small ([euro]50,000 in 2005) compared with PLR‐grants to writers and translators ([euro]2,573,000 in 2005) (Karhunen 2006).

24. Thus far (May 2007), the Committee has not acquired originals of comics for the collection.

25. The concept of artistic quality in this context refers, of course, to the concept applied by decision‐makers in a given time and place, not to any absolute idea of ‘good art’.