Fringe to Famous: Cultural Production in Australia After the Creative Industries

Description

Fringe to Famous explores the crossover between small cultural production scenes and mainstream institutions and markets, highlighting the greater interaction between the two than is commonly acknowledged. It offers an alternative to romanticizing the fringe and anti-romantic reactions, proposing a generative hybridity between the two that can lead to new possibilities for arts and culture in the 2020s and beyond.

Format: Hardback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 22 February 2024
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Fringe to Famous delves into the intricate interplay between small cultural production scenes and mainstream institutions and markets. By utilizing Australian examples across music, streetwear, comedy, screen, and digital games, the book makes a compelling argument that there has been a significant crossover between the two realms, often overlooked in mainstream discourse. Instead of portraying fringe and mainstream as abstract opposites, the book emphasizes the concrete historical formations that have shaped them. It presents an alternative to romanticizing the fringe as a pure and untainted alternative to mainstream culture, which has been discredited by decades of critical responses to the counterculture. At the same time, it rejects the increasingly hardened anti-romantic reaction that seeks to dismiss the creative and cultural contributions of the fringe.

Drawing on extensive original interviews, Fringe to Famous provides a comprehensive overview of the transformations in Australian culture since the 1980s. The book concludes with insightful suggestions for cultural policy in the “after the creative industries” era. It proposes a concept of “generative hybridity between fringe and mainstream,” which opens up new possibilities for arts and culture in the 2020s and beyond. By embracing this hybridity, we can envision a future where the boundaries between these two realms are blurred, fostering a vibrant and diverse cultural landscape.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501334887