Art and Community Development: An Introduction to Art and Community Development

Arts Participation: Steps to Stronger Cultural and Community Life (Walker et. al., 2003)

four ways people participate in arts: "they attend programs and events, encourage their children to participate, make or perform art as amateurs, or support the arts through donations of time and money"
claim that the more way people participate, the more likely they are to participate in other aspects of civic life, but it's unclear if this is cause or correlation

similar response if people participate in a broad genre of arts rather than a limited one

gives benefits of different types of engagement for the arts and for community life; benefit for the arts is much more well-documented whereas benefit for community still seems more based on theory than data
in terms of whether or not people practiced art-making publicly, there was not a clear line of what differentiated the public from the private
way to increase civic participation: aim programs at those already interested in the arts to get them more heavily involved

programs for children, especially those that also engage adults, are helpful to increase interest in arts
programs in partnership with community organizations can help to expand the arts audience
"Appeals to civic-mindedness appear to be one way for arts organizations to encourage more active participation in arts and cultural programs and events." (18)
John Gardner: art and cultural institutions should take on leadership role within community for benefit of all

Cultural Development and City Neighborhoods (Rosenstein, 2009)

cultural agencies must actively incorporate communities and their needs into cultural development in order to achieve the desired effect
"Many analysts have critiqued policy developed out of Florida’s ideas as having undermined the diversity of urban populations and uses because it propels gentrification and privileges real-estate development over other kinds of economic and community development that benefit a broader urban population" (1)
City cultural policy and neighborhoods

need for cultural development in neighborhoods in addition to downtown where most of the focus has been

development for residents, not just visitors
"this contemporary focus does continue the tendency to geographically isolate and concentrate cultural resources around large arts and cultural institutions or commercial avenues" (2)
support for pre-existing neighborhood cultural assets

need to incorporate smaller neighborhood organizations into government policy on arts; a majority of arts policy is happening within the economic development departments
cultural agencies and their leaders need to involve themselves into broader policy and decision-making discussions

need for policy on cultural activity which can affect other aspects of public life, particularly coming from cultural agencies rather than police departments who have a different view on some cultural events

reminder of Lincoln Center article: "She also discussed the costs of isolating and concentrating cultural resources into the kind of 'cultural or civic centers' that were being developed in the post–World War II period, calling such projects 'tragic in their effects on their cities.'" (2)

Gifts of the Muse: Reframing the Debate About the Benefits of the Arts

"The goal of the study described here was to improve the current understanding of the arts’ full range of effects in order to inform public debate and policy." (xi)
instrumental benefits: cognitive, attitudinal/behavioral, health, social, economic
limitations of empirical research: weaknesses in empirical methods, absence of specificity, failure to consider opportunity costs

lack of specificity: how do specific genres/experiences rather than "the arts" have effects, and what are those effects?

private intrinsic benefits: captivation, pleasure
private experiences with public spillover effects: expanded capacity for empathy, cognitive growth
public intrinsic benefits: creation of social bonds, expression of communal meanings
increasing demand instead of supporting supply

"This focus requires that attention and resources be shifted away from supply of the arts and toward cultivation of demand." (xvii)
How?

"The most promising way to develop audiences for the arts is to provide well- designed programs in the nation’s schools." (73)

Catterall: benefits of exposure to the arts increase in lower socioeconomic statuses
types of arts involvement, "arts therapies"

fallacy of treatment: that all arts induce similar effects
fallacy of homogeneity: assumption that the arts have same effect on different participants and in different settings/communities
fallacy of the linearity of effects: assumption that benefits are generated in direct proportion to the level of arts participation
additional fourth problem added by reading: the failure to examine the comparative advantage of the arts over other means of achieving the same effects

Chapter 3: specific solutions to accomplish goals and outlines the effects these particular solutions will have
economic benefits are different in measurement from others because they involve not the experiences of individuals over time but the aggregate of all individual experiences (31)

communicative power of arts: way to jointly experience private emotions, form ties with others through this process
policy implication:

"The key policy implication of this analysis is that greater attention should be directed to introducing more Americans to engaging arts experiences. Such an approach would require that attention and resources be shifted away from maintaining the supply of the arts and toward cultivating demand. A demand-side approach would aim to build a market for the arts by cultivating the capacity of individuals to gain benefits from arts experiences." (71)

Questions/Comments:

Based on other writing that in order for changes in communities to occur, power must be given to the communities to create change themselves, how can we consider Gardner's view that art and cultural institutions should take a leadership role?
Is it better to be increasing participation for those already participating or to be creating more avenues for those that aren't or possibly can't? How can we accomplish both, if we can/should?
Is there documentation on data that proves this effect arts can have on communities?
What are some possible ways of organizing neighborhood groups and forming a centralized authority? Is this necessary?
What examples are there of development occurring beyond downtowns and into neighborhoods in urban settings? How successful are these measures?
How do we have cultural development without gentrification?
Are there other writers who support Gift of the Muse's assertion that the focus should be on generating demand rather than supporting the arts? Are there other examples of this type of theoretical economic argument (i.e., making arguments based on traditional economic reasoning) in the arts?
DiMaggio's crique of cultural policy is interesting to consider and does seem to hold some truth.

Art and Community Development