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Accepted Paper:
Paper short abstract:
Since the 2000s, amid expectations for regional revitalisation, arts festivals have been frequently held in local communities in Japan. This study will highlight and categorise the issues surrounding the festivals and show the artists practices that try to form a new cultural scene in local society.
Paper long abstract:
Since the 2000s, amid expectations for regional revitalisation through the use of the arts against the backdrop of Japan's social situation of a rapidly declining birthrate, ageing population and shrinking society, arts festivals (art projects) have been frequently held in various local communities in Japan. Art festivals using old houses, abandoned schools and factories in mountainous regions, islands and depopulated areas are frequently organised by local authorities and — despite being temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic —, attract hundreds of thousands to millions of tourists from Japan and abroad every year.
However, such arts festivals faced criticism in the late 2010s. The critics stated that the critical nature of the arts was being lost sight of in the national policy of regional revitalisation (e.g. Fujita et al. 2016). It has also been noted that such projects, with the goal of local revitalisation, have produced the result that artists have become "dispensable 'casual workers'" and furthermore, "local and regional cities have become subordinate to capital cities" (Sadakane 2016). In other words, art projects — and art — in local cities are reduced to objects to be 'consumed' by the 'centre'.
In this social situation surrounding art projects, which is entering a new phase after a temporary frenzy of promotion, this study aims to (i) highlight and categorise the issues surrounding art festivals in recent society through empirical research based on participant observation and interviews, and theoretical research based on the findings of sociological and cultural studies. In addition, the study focuses on (ii) the practices of artists who are not only "consumed" but also try to form a new cultural scene in the local community. Through these arguments, the aim of this research is to present a new socio-political perspective on considerations related to cultural production in Japanese local society.
Creating cultures in regional Japan: hopeful innovations for a shrinking population, and their limits
Session 1 Saturday 19 August, 2023, -