Strategies of cultural inclusion : an investigation of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the "Art of Australia 1788-1941" exhibition

The presentation is based on an historical investigation exploring the impact of the Carnegie Corporation's philanthropic cultural and educational activities in North America and Australia during the 1940s. The Carnegie Corporation's role in forming public values and perceptions using cultural and aesthetic material in order to transmit American ideological ideals with the goal of influencing Australian, Canadian and USA cultural norms is explored. The paper examines the "Art of Australia 1788-1941" exhibition, which toured the USA and Canada during 1941-42. Scrutiny of the exhibition uncovers the role it played in alliance building and the promotion of a range of cultural and political agendas revealing a paradigmatic case of the instrumental, cultural application of exhibitions in the interest of both public and private organizations. The analysis discloses the existence of diverse agendas and power/knowledge relationships between governments, corporations and the exhibition. This account highlights the museum as a significant arena for establishing and legitimating social norms and practices whilst steering cultural values. Such actions sponsored by government and entrepreneurial philanthropy build civic values and promote the public belief in shared national identity.