In Episode 16 of A Genuine Inquiry Owen Kelly inquired into a key question that has hovered over every one of our podcasts: what might we mean when we talk about cultural democracy? Why might people need the term, and what can they do with it? He drew upon the work of Rachel Davis DuBois to suggest that cultural democracy forms one part of a triad that includes economic and political democracy
In Episode 17 he looked at how culture and community relate to each other, and what we might actually do to foster community and cultural democracy. In this episode he looks at the relationship between economics and cultural democracy. He looks at some of the inequities built into our current system: daily wages vs royalties, careers vs the gig economy, showing up vs creativity. He examines proposals such as Universal Basic Income and Universal Basic Services, and asks how they could develop once we accept that communities will need to begin to foster meaning outside of work. Can we free ourselves from the work ethic and look elsewhere for the meaning in our lives?
You will find a reading list and a set of useful links for this essay on the page for this podcast at miaaw.net.

François Matarasso wrote this essay in 2010 and revised it in 2012. Ten years later, its anticipated uncertainties have become reality, but its suggestions for better approaches to arts management have had no discernible effect.
François argues that, if the Age of Reason has begun to draw to a close, that may have less to do with debates between philosophers than changes in our understanding of science. As quantum mechanics have succeeded Newtonian physics we have begun to learn to think in terms of probabilities not certainties. We don’t find it rational any more to believe in rationalist causality, at least not in regard to anything concerning human affairs. We’ve had to recognise too many unknown unknowns.
This episode considers how the arts might respond to this sense of uncertainty that — whether we like it or not — has emerged as a defining characteristic of our time.

In January 2022 Agnieszka Pokrywka spent two weeks in the Utah desert in a simulator designed to provide an analog of a Martian settlement as part of a multi-disciplinary crew. The mission occurred under the auspices of The Mars Society and took place at the Mars Desert Research Station.
In this episode she describes the application process, her arrival in Utah, the simulation itself, the work the crew did to stay alive, a medical emergency captured by The Guardian newspaper, and what happened afterwards.
She talks about the lessons she learned, and about the ways in which the experience caused her to rethink her ideas of community and culture.

Dave Loewenstein is a muralist, printmaker and community organizer based in Lawrence, Kansas. In addition to his more than twenty public works in Kansas, examples of his dynamic and richly colored community-based murals can be found across the United States, and in Northern Ireland, South Korea and Brazil. Loewenstein’s prints, which focus on social justice issues, are exhibited internationally and are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Yale University, and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles.
Arlene Goldbard and Francois Matarasso talk with Dave Loewenstein. We talk about the strength of the US mural movement, the centrality of place, the challenge of supporting the work, the amazing story of In ‘zhúje ‘waxóbe/Sacred Red Rock Project, returning a sacred object to its rightful owners, the Kaw Nation—and much more.

In the previous episode of A Genuine Inquiry Owen Kelly inquired into a key question that has hovered over every one of our podcasts: what might we mean when we talk about cultural democracy? Why might people need the term, and what can they do with it? He drew upon the work of Rachel Davis DuBois to suggest that cultural democracy forms one part of a triad that includes economic and political democracy.
In this episode he looks at how culture and community relate to each other, and what we might actually do to foster community and cultural democracy.

In this episode Francois Matarasso reads some Old Words that he wrote a long time ago, and feels have become relevant to him and us once more. This time he gives us an extract from a book called Where We Dream: West Bromwich Opera Society and the fine art of musical theatre, published in 2012 by Multistorey.
The book begins by quoting Larry Shriner, from 2001, who wrote that “the modern system of art is not an essence or a fate but something we have made”. Francois then begins by noting that “ members of West Bromwich Operatic Society can be sensitive about being called amateurs, not because it is inaccurate, but because of the perception that amateur is a synonym for mediocre, self-regarding, even incompetent. And it is true that the word is sometimes used almost as an insult—and not least between artists themselves”.

On months that have a fifth Friday we break from our normal schedule and produce something else related in one way or another to cultural democracy. In 2022 we will delve into radio archives to bring back some historical examples of serials and comedies that let us hear unfiltered aspects of the world as it seemed to our grandparents.
In this episode we go back to Halloween night on October 31, 1938.
That night Orson Welles’ and the Mercury Theater broadcast an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds” that stands as a vivid reminder of the power of the media and of the general public’s vulnerability when it is gripped by fear. It also still stands as one of the great media hoaxes of the twentieth century.

Sophie Hope, Lizzie Lloyd and Katy Beinart recorded a live unedited conversation on 30 March 2022 at the Brighton Centre for Contemporary Arts during a public event to launch Lloyd and Beinart's new publication, Acts of Transfer.
The publication reflects Lloyd and Beinart's collaborative work revisiting past artworks that involve social engagement and/or public participation. The discussion here delves into their motives for doing this work, how they went about it and some of the issues and questions that emerged through the retracing of past projects to create new readings and interpretations.