Beware of vaulting ambitions

A striking feature oft he culture sector today is the degree to which its institutional players - cultural operators, activists, advocates and organisations - readily invoke cultural expression and practice as expedients, in other words as instruments for the attainment of other ends. Does this always make sense? Recent years have seen a succession of causes external to 'culture' itself to which cultural actors have hitched their wagon, often opportunistically, sometimes idealistically, but not always with the intended effect.