The value of art is a central dimension in the arts system and in the debate on the legitimacy of cultural policies. The literature states that the value generated by public funding to the arts can be divided in three types - intrinsic, instrumental and institutional - created and consumed equally in a triangular relationship corresponding to different social agents: intrinsic  professionals, instrumental the politicians and institutional the population, the audiences. In this paper we discuss these three value of art types from the perspective of artistic entities in Portugal. These findings are part of a research project lead by the initiative of The General Directorate of Arts (DGArtes) and the Ministry of Culture. The empirical basis is an extensive open question online survey responded by 522 collective and individual artistic entities from the third sector. This survey was carried out in 2017 as part of the revision of the public funding model in Portugal and was the main basis for the new model implemented by the Portuguese government in 2018. Although it is confirmed that Portuguese arts professionals give more importance to the intrinsic value, we also conclude that different concerns co-exist, some of which are closer to the defense of the instrumental or even the institutional value of art.

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art value,artistic third sector,public funding to the arts,Portugal,cultural policies

This publication is an output of the following project(s):

• Survey on the artistic entities about the public funding model in Portugal