In the creative industries, culture gets reinterpreted as a means of economic development. Culture becomes a lifestyle, a consumer choice. Art matters not because it elevates the human experience, but because it contributes to “international competitiveness, economic modernization, urban regeneration, economic diversification, national prestige, [and] economic development” — the way theatre in New York creates jobs and gets tourists to spend money on restaurants, hotels, and cabs.
— F.S. Michaels, quoting “The Nonprofit Instrument and the Influence of the Marketplace on Policies in the Arts,” by Paul J. DiMaggio
