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Why culture competitions and 'artwashing' drive urban inequality

From Los Angeles to Liverpool to the new London competition, 'creative cities' policies are designed to soften gentrification's hard edges, never asking 'culture for who?'

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balfron couple.jpg
balfron couple.jpg

Image: Sascha Pohflepp/Flickr, Creative Commons.

This summer, London's mayor Sadiq Khan launched the 'London Borough of Culture Competition'. Celebrating London as the 'cultural capital of the world' the 32 boroughs in London now have the chance to compete for £1m of arts funding by showcasing their creativity, originality and character.

Last week the Guardian proclaimed that competitions like Khan’s creates “socially relevant, resilient, sustainable and equitable future-proofed culture”.