Is culture accessible?

Culture can be quite a polarising term these days. It can be loaded with expectations and assumptions, and you never know exactly what someone means when they say it. However, that doesn’t mean that it should be disregarded, but rather that we can use that to learn more about others and ourselves. I’m going to ask some harder questions today, particularly: is culture accessible? And how can we enjoy make culture enjoyable and accessible for everyone?

As I chatted about yesterday on the blog, I’m going to be including more culture posts. I will still have my regular history, style, and book posts, of course, but more culture! Culture has a few definitions, but my favourite is: “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively”. I think when people hear the world culture, they often picture classical paintings and the opera. (Maybe ballet? Hopefully ballet?) Quite frequently, it is a very stodgy and narrow idea of what culture is. Yes, these art forms do fall into the category of culture, but so does line-dancing and cooking and nursery rhymes. Ofttimes, we don’t regard our own culture as culture, because it is just our norm. 

Where Can You Find Culture? 

Culture is quite literally everywhere. You can spot it in street murals, the songs that people hum, and the way people decorate their homes. We’re all pretty lousy with culture, if I’m being honest. The next time you are out and about in your city, try and guess what a visitor would notice if they were wandering about. (Art and culture is often what we notice.) Look for local walking tours and guides; they can often be the best way to “re-learn” and rediscover your own local culture.

You can also find culture in the obvious places like galleries and museums and theatres. And although those are the traditional venues for culture, I wouldn’t discount them. Museums, theatres, and companies are doing everything that they can to make their art forms more accessible to the community, and it is certainly worth taking a look. Many theatre and dance companies offer younger patrons cheaper tickets in order to encourage them. (The Royal Winnipeg Ballet has Access Pointe, which offers $30 tickets to patrons under 34!) And many shows will often discount unsold tickets or offer promo codes in the few days before the show. I’ve noticed that more and more museums and galleries are offering free days and reduced tickets on certain days of the month.

Note: I do have to say, I am saddened to see that so many museums limit it to students. There are many people who can’t afford to visit normally who aren’t students, and it is disappointing that museums don’t seem to recognise that. I believe that if you have the funds availabel, you should pay for your ticket and/or make a donation, but not everyone can. A rant for another day, perhaps.

Why Do We Need the Arts? 

For the last I don’t know how many years, STEM has been promoted like it is going out of style. Have a child in elementary school? Get them coding as soon as they can write so they can go into a tech-related field. Trying to decide what avenues to pursue after secondary school? Science-based careers are the answer if you want a job!… Or are they? As someone who is unequivocally not made for science- or math-related subjects, it kind of sucks to hear ad-infinitum that everything you enjoy, are passionate about, and are somewhat good at is useless. Yes, I’ve learned some coding to keep this very blog running. But you will not find me building an app in my free time, because quite frankly, it is like making my brain do gymnastics.

Art and culture isn’t necessarily about the specific thing being produced. I love ballet in-and-of-itself, but it is infinitely more valuable than simply the dance itself. Ballet taught me self-discipline and time management. It allowed me to explore movement and develop bodily kinesthetic knowledge (meaning I learn through movement often, and understand what my body is physically doing). Ballet taught me about music and counting and languages and cultures. Ballet also pushed me to imagine and think beyond myself. Don’t discount the arts and culture because it doesn’t immediately have a quantifiable output. Well-rounded people make the world go, well, round.

Is culture accessible or is it elitist? 

Depending on what your definition of culture is and where you live, your answer may vary wildly. I personally believe that in most cities at least, culture is quite accessible. Of course, it can take a bit of digging to find tickets that fit your budget or places that suit your location and schedule, but it is there. If you have a narrow view of culture, and want to take the stance that you only view Italian operas performed in historic theatres that require a tiara and jewelled opera cape to attend, I could see you having a bit of a difficult go of finding culture. However, if you are willing to have new experiences, there will always be culture to enjoy. (And if you do live in the middle of nowhere, my How to Find History and Culture When You Live Remotely  post can help you discover culture no matter where you are!)

All of this is to say, with an open mind, culture is certainly accessible. And if you find that a certain type of culture isn’t overly accessible in your community, start a conversation with organisations to see what can be done. And if you work or volunteer with an organisation, you can often start that change yourself. Exposing children to all types of culture while they are young and soaking everything up teaches them that culture is meant to be explored. And offering open houses and free days can allow lesser privileged members of the community to cultural experiences that they wouldn’t normally have access to. It doesn’t need to be a huge step to make a difference!

Do you think culture is accessible? 

Cheers,
The Historian
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