Bill Ivey on Expressive Life and the Public Interest, Demos
Bill Ivey Demos essay, July 2009
The universally popular biblical paraphrase that ‘there is nothing
new under the sun’ accurately characterises ‘expressive life’. The
phrase does not advance anything brand new, but rather takes a
fresh bite at the anthropological definition of culture, combining
many elements in new ways; leaving others behind. I introduced
expressive life in my book, Arts, Inc. The phrase draws in part
on my training as a folklorist and the sense of community,
heritage, connectedness and history embodied in the folklorists’
sense of tradition. Thus ‘heritage’ constitutes one half of
expressive life: the part that is about belonging, continuity,
community and history; it is expressed through art and ideas
grounded in family, neighbourhood, ethnicity, nationality and
the many linkages that provide securing knowledge that we come
from a specific place and are not alone.
Read the full essay: Expressive life and the public interest
Learn more: Public Policy & Expressive Life, Publications
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