In many ways, the art world is more inclusive than ever, with artists and audiences of different backgrounds given more access and opportunity to engage. Yet its exclusive private members’ clubs, funded and frequented by elites, show no signs of slowing down—and with countries facing crippling cuts to public arts funding, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Here, London-based critic and curator Rianna Jade Parker reflects on her own first-hand experience of the clubs in the UK, and muses on the value of these kinds of rarefied spaces in general.

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Today, the argument is not simply whether the arts are virtuous and intrinsically valuable to individuals, communities and society as a whole, but whether it is still too virtuous for everyday people. We now confidently assume the right to be in contemporary art spaces, public and commercial, and to enjoy meaningful art experiences and peer-to-peer expressions of thoughts and feelings. Any barriers of access faced by the working class are largely practical, not perceptual. 

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But exclusivity has always fueled this industry, in part justifying the loose regulation of the art market and the promotion of lavish, Instagram-ready social lives; and most participants and audiences, younger and older, aren’t explicitly concerned with art’s monetary worth. Instead, its significance is measured through its social currency, timeliness, and relatability. The high esteem and cultural value associated with belonging to this conglomerate widely understood as the art world is measurable and desirable, and so the stakes are high.