# Art Worlds > *Art Worlds* is a concept by sociologist Howard Becker that describes the interconnected networks of people, resources, and conventions necessary for producing and experiencing art. It emphasizes that beyond artists, an "art world" includes technical, craft, business participants, and the social norms that shape artistic expression. SEE ALSO: [[Convention]] ==This note is just a #seedling . More is coming to grow and connect it to the rest of the Field Guide.== Sociologist Howard Becker used the phrase "Art Worlds" to describe the complex webs of people, stuff, and money that bring artistic expression and experience into the world. In *Art Worlds*, he wrote: > Art worlds consist of all the people whose activities are necessary to the production of the characteristic works which that world, and perhaps others as well, define as art. Beyond the artists, an "art world" includes all the technical, craft, and business people who play a role the full realization of an art work. It includes all the equipment or space providers, all the symbolic systems required (such as music notation), all the training and education that supports participants in the art world, all the markets or businesses or individuals who host or encourage a connection with audiences, and all the processes and practices that make that connection flourish over time. Further, Becker argues, each art world develop social rules, norms, and conventions that support its work. These norms often define what forms of expression can be included in that world, and what is not included and norms. These norms also shape and are shaped by critique and discourse. For Arts Management, the world-including lens of "art worlds" can be a productive way to interrogate and understand the many moving parts, and the whole systems, that make art in any discipline possible. --- ## Sources - Becker, Howard S. *Art Worlds*. 25th anniversary edition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. ## Tags (click to view related pages) #frameworks #seedling