Resilience, locality and the cultural economy

The aim of this paper is to question the normative interpretations of resilience as they apply to the local cultural economy. The paper has three sections, the first sets out the received notion of resilience that is atomistic and closed (Mode A), and contrasts it with another version (Mode B) which is social and open. The second section reviews some of the important characteristics of the cultural economy and indicates why it is particularly sensitive to local embedding. The third section contrasts resilience informed policy frameworks of Mode A and Mode B. The paper concludes that a form of local capacity building applied to the particularities of the cultural economy, and place, offer a more productive strategy for resilience.