The arts have always engaged with politics. Yet something decisive has changed in recent years in the relationship between the two. Today the arts are routinely displayed, performed and interpreted through the lens of ideological agendas and charged with solving social challenges. The arts can certainly do good, but in making them all about activism, are we losing sight of the art itself?

Underfunded and undervalued, the arts are in crisis in contemporary Western society. Is over-politicising and over-bureaucratising them the answer? In a wide-ranging discussion of museums and galleries, period dramas, the musical and theatrical canon, and debates about access and arts education, Alexandra Wilson argues that advocating for the arts for all becomes harder when they are labelled as elitist, accused of historic wrongs, or reduced to utilitarian purposes.

Understanding the arts in their historical and political contexts is vital. But today's arts world often anachronistically thrusts the politics of today onto art from the past. Wilson argues that it is time for some fresh thinking. She presents an optimistic vision for rediscovering the enjoyment, meaning and sense of community that can be derived from the arts, when approached on their own terms.

Professor Alexandra Wilson is a prize-winning, internationally respected musicologist, cultural historian, author and arts commentator.