ABSTRACT
In the final stages of writing this book, two new publications landed in our inboxes. Both have a lot to tell us, in different ways, about the project of cultural policy as it currently stands. Both also have things to tell us about the stuff of cultural policy; indeed, they are the stuff of cultural policy – they are both members of that sometimes loose category, ‘policy documents’ – and they are equally the stuff of cultural policy research: they are underpinned by the work of researchers (some named, others anonymous), they deploy empirical research in order to build a case for culture, and they quickly become the source text for further research, critique and discussion (this chapter included). The two publications are UNESCO’s Creative Economy Report, billed as a 2013 Special Edition and subtitled Widening Local Development Pathways, and another ‘special’, this time from the European Commission: Special Eurobarometer 399, Cultural Access and Participation.
