ABSTRACT
The implementation of New Public Management (NPM) reforms since the 1980s has led to a growing emphasis on performance measurement in cultural policy. This chapter investigates how artistic quality is defined and evaluated within a specific performance measurement system in Norway. In the chapter, it is argued that the construction of artistic quality consists both of elements that are closely related to the central ideals of NPM and of criteria that have been central to the artistic field much longer than NPM reforms and instruments have been a part of cultural policy. The managerial criteria and the idea that artistic quality and resource utilisation are two sides of the same coin can be seen as an example of how NPM not only influences but also changes the way artistic activity is understood. However, the performance measurements studied in the chapter have been less concerned with actual results than one would expect given the NPM context within which they were introduced. This calls for a more nuanced discussion on how neoliberalism and NPM affect cultural policy.
