In this post: Eight common questions on culture and the arts, and eight chains of reasoning on museum fees, arts funding, globalisation and food, and local customs and tourism.
Culture and the Arts · 3 parts
- 1. Common questions and arguments (you are here)
- 2. Vocabulary and two breakdowns
- 3. Model, mistakes and practice
Culture and the arts is a topic I wrote about several times in my notes (arts funding, museums, multicultural societies, entertainers’ pay, printed books and newspapers). Looking back, I noticed that arguments on this topic turn into slogans especially easily: “art is important”, “culture should be preserved”, “multiculturalism makes society richer”. The sentences sound lovely, but an examiner reading them wants to ask: so what? Why? For whom?
This is the third Topic Guide. I organise culture and arts questions along four lines: museums and arts venues, arts funding, globalisation and cultural difference (including food), and local customs and tourism. For each line I write the arguments as Point → Explanation → Example chains, and then break down two essays I sent for marking (free museum admission, and supermarkets selling food from around the world). For a quick vocabulary reference, see the “Culture, arts and media” section of Topic Vocabulary (Part 2).
1. Common questions on this topic
| # | Question (paraphrased) | Question type | My version |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Some museums and art galleries charge for entry while others are free. Do the advantages of free admission outweigh the disadvantages? | Outweigh | Task 21 (marked overall 7) |
| 2 | In many countries, supermarkets sell food produced all over the world. Is this good or bad? | Positive / Negative | Task 39 (marked overall 7.5) |
| 3 | Should governments move arts funding to education or healthcare? | Agree / Disagree | Notebook practice (not sent for marking) |
| 4 | What are the advantages and disadvantages of a multicultural society? | Advantages / Disadvantages | Notebook practice (not sent for marking) |
| 5 | Globalisation is making cultures around the world more alike. Is this good or bad? | Positive / Negative | Not written yet; the argument bank covers it |
| 6 | Tourism helps preserve local traditions but also commercialises them. Discuss both views. | Discuss both views | Not written yet; the argument bank covers it |
| 7 | Young people are losing interest in traditional customs. What are the causes and solutions? | Two-question (causes + solutions) | Not written yet; the argument bank covers it |
| 8 | Should the main role of museums be education or entertainment? | Discuss both views | Not written yet; the argument bank covers it |
These eight questions share one core tension: the “value” of culture is hard to measure in money, yet maintaining culture costs money. Whether museums should charge and whether arts budgets should be cut are both asking “is culture worth spending money on?”; globalisation and tourism questions are asking “when the market changes a culture, is that preservation or destruction?”. Once you see this clearly, your arguments will not stop at “culture is important”.
2. Argument bank: 8 chains of reasoning
Museums and arts venues: should they charge?
For ①: Free admission brings more people into contact with art and history (my essay, Task 21)
Point: Free admission lowers the barrier to visiting and draws more people into museums.
Explanation: The ticket price is the reason many people “would like to go but decide not to”. Once entry is free, people who would never make a special trip drop in on the way past; the public comes to value art, culture and history more, and related industries can keep developing.
Example: A hypothetical case: after a gallery that used to charge becomes free, office workers nearby pop in to see one room during their lunch break, and visitors become more varied in age and background.
The main benefit of free admission is that it encourages more people to engage with art, culture and history.
For ②: Low-income families get somewhere to go (my essay, Task 21)
Point: Free museums are one of the few leisure places that financially disadvantaged families can afford.
Explanation: For families on limited incomes, even everyday living costs are a struggle, let alone paying for entertainment tickets. Free museums let them take their children to visit and learn too, narrowing the gap in access to cultural resources.
Example: The example I used in Task 21 was a national museum in Taiwan that is free to enter and has always attracted plenty of visitors.
Free museums provide low-income families with an affordable place for both leisure and learning.
Against ①: Ticket income is an important source of money for collections and running costs (my essay, Task 21)
Point: Museums are expensive to run, and free entry removes a steady source of income.
Explanation: Staff salaries, restoring exhibits, cleaning, maintenance and security all cost money. Without ticket income, a museum either depends on government subsidies or has to cut its exhibitions and the quality of its services.
Example: A hypothetical case: a small museum with no ticket income might have to cut its special exhibitions from four a year to one, or shorten its opening hours.
However, admission fees are an important source of revenue that helps museums cover staff salaries and maintenance costs.
Arts funding: cut it or not?
For ③: The arts support public mental health and many people’s jobs (ideas from my notes)
Point: The cost of cutting arts budgets is bigger than it looks.
Explanation: Concerts, exhibitions and theatre are how many people relieve stress; without them, public mental health suffers. Museums, heritage sites, arts education and the performing arts also employ a large number of people, so when the budget is cut, it is not only artists who lose their jobs.
Example: In my notes I wrote that if arts funding were cut, many people would lose a source of stress relief, which threatens mental health, and many workers also depend on art-related industries.
Cutting arts funding would not only deprive people of an important source of relaxation but also threaten the jobs of those who work in art-related industries.
Against ②: When the budget is limited, education and healthcare are more urgent (model)
Point: Government budgets are limited, so the most basic needs must come first.
Explanation: Healthcare and education directly affect people’s lives and futures. If hospitals are short of staff or schools lack equipment, the cost to society is far greater than a few fewer exhibitions. The arts can also raise money through ticket sales, corporate sponsorship and private donations.
Example: A hypothetical case: a city needs both to renovate an old primary school building and to build a new concert hall. Most parents would want their children’s classrooms made safe first.
Opponents argue that when public money is limited, essential services such as healthcare and education should take priority over the arts.
Globalisation, cultural difference and food
Against ③: Long-distance transport of imported food causes pollution (my essay, Task 39)
Point: Behind food from all over the world appearing in supermarkets lies long-distance air and sea freight.
Explanation: Transport burns large amounts of fuel and releases greenhouse gases, adding to global warming. Choosing food produced at home saves the carbon emissions of long-distance shipping.
Example: In Task 39 I wrote that when foreign food is shipped, greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere, causing environmental problems.
Imported food is environmentally unfriendly, since long-distance shipping releases large amounts of greenhouse gases.
Against ④: Cheap imported products threaten local industries (my essay, Task 39)
Point: As imported food increases, so does the competitive pressure on local farmers and food businesses.
Explanation: A country’s demand for each product is limited, so the more imports there are, the more the market for local products is carved up. If imports are cheaper because labour and raw materials cost less abroad, local producers find it very hard to compete.
Example: A hypothetical case: if large amounts of foreign rice were imported because it is cheaper to produce, and it sold well below the price of local rice, local rice farmers’ incomes could fall, and some might even give up farming.
Cheaper imported products can pose a threat to local farmers, because the domestic demand for each type of food is limited.
For ④: Contact with foreign food and culture broadens people’s horizons (ideas from my notes + model)
Point: Being able to eat food from around the world is also a way of getting to know other countries’ cultures.
Explanation: Behind every dish lie local history, climate and agriculture. Through tasting and cooking, people become curious about where these foods come from, more tolerant of other cultures and better able to understand their differences.
Example: In my notes I wrote “learning about history and agriculture by tasting dishes from different countries”. A hypothetical case: a family buys Middle Eastern spices at the supermarket, cooks along with an online video and looks up where the dish comes from, and the children learn about one more place.
Access to food from around the world allows people to learn about other cultures and become more open-minded.
Local customs and tourism (model arguments, no separate argument cards)
I have not written these two questions, but you can borrow the logic above. Tourism brings income, giving local areas a budget to preserve temple festivals, old streets and traditional crafts (similar to Against ①, “ticket income maintains culture”). But tourism can also turn traditions into performances, keeping only the parts that attract visitors and losing their original meaning. For why young people are losing interest in traditions, you can start from “pop culture brought by globalisation”; for solutions, borrow the logic of For ①: lower the barrier to taking part, for example through cultural workshops at school or free community events.
Continue reading · Part 2 of 3
IELTS Notes in English · Topic Guides (post 8 of 10)
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✦ Target Your Future
Some days you practise for hours and the score still does not move. I hope these notes remind you that the setbacks are part of the road: every recording you replayed, every essay you rewrote and every sentence you finally dared to say is progress you have already made.
I wrote this down so the next person can take fewer detours. You do not have to follow my method exactly. Find a rhythm that works for you, rest when you need to, and come back for the next small step.
I hope what you take away is more than a number on a score report: a little more confidence in yourself, and the courage to step a bit closer to the world.
— Ting
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