Arts-based education between inclusion and liberalization: a comparative overview of Europe

In recent years, there has been a weakening of the role played by public institutions in the development of educational and cultural policies aimed at addressing social inclusion (Dubet 2002; Sennet 1999; Touraine 2010). Their emancipatory potential has increasingly given way to neoliberal logics of merit, competition, and quantification (Sandel, 2020; Grimaldi et al., 2016). On the one side, governance has shifted from centralized state models to decentralized networks involving civil society, private actors, and public-private partnerships (Mulcahy, 2006; Bonet & Négrier, 2018; Belfiore, 2022). While this diversification has fostered innovation and plurality, it often risks reinforcing inequalities and weakening coherent strategies (O’Brien, 2014). On the other side, at the European level, education and culture have been increasingly framed as means for economic development and innovation, strongly shaped by neoliberal paradigms that emphasize competitiveness and labor market adaptability (O’Connor, 2024). Strategic frameworks such as the New European Agenda for Culture (European Commission, 2018) and the Council Conclusions on the Work Plan for Culture 2023–2026 have stressed the development of soft skills through arts-based education (ABE), cultural participation, and non-formal learning. This paper critically examines national and EU cultural and educational programs, focusing on a and the tension between inclusion and liberalization. Drawing on comparative research from the Cultural Literacies’ Value in Europe (CLiViE) project aimed at analyzing arts-based education policies and programs across various European countries, we highlight the contrasts between countries with strong traditions of public cultural welfare and others, such as Italy (Bodo & Bodo 2019), where fragmented policies and a reliance on the third sector have limited the role of arts- based education in fostering social inclusion.