Arts and Community Development

The following essay was jointly commissioned by Grantmakers in the Arts for its 2002 annual conference and by the Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities as one in its series of Translation Papers.

Introduction

Background

2002, 376 pages, free. New York: The Rockefeller Foundation Creativity & Culture Division.

Recently, several studies of arts funding have been conducted in specific cities and regions. We report on a few of these here. In the winter 2002 issue of the GIA Reader Vol. 13, No. 1, Lisa Cremin and Kathie de Nobriga reported on a comparative study of arts funding in Atlanta and nineteen other cities. The report was both an inspiring and a cautionary tale for Ann McQueen and others in Boston as they planned the study that Cindy Gehrig reviews below.

America's Performing Art
A Study of Choruses, Choral Singers, and Their Impact
Chorus America
2003. Funded by the James Irvine Foundation, the Kiplinger Foundation, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, and the Helen F. Whitaker Fund

Reggae to Rachmaninoff
How and Why People Participate in Arts and Culture
Chris Walker and Stephanie Scott-Melnyk, with Kay Sherwood. 2003. The Urban Institute (Washington, D.C.), Funded by the Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds

2002, first presented in November 2001, 19 pages. Number 12 in the Paper Series on the Arts, Culture and Society. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, 65 Bleecker Street, 7th floor, New York, NY 10012, 212-387-7555

2002, 108 pages. The McKnight Foundation, 600 TCF Tower, 121 South Eighth Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402, 612-333-4220.

True or false?
• The suburbs have never been as homogenized as their reputation suggested
• Stereotypes about vapidity and uniformity in suburban communities have been left unchallenged
• Suburban arts resources need to expand to meet the needs of growing communities
• The need to enhance the livability of suburban communities hasn't been acknowledged as openly as it deserves

On May 15 and 16, 2002, more than 100 funders, artists, academicians, arts administrators, and community arts practitioners gathered in New Haven, Connecticut. We were there to participate in a convening organized by New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) entitled, "RE/New England: Investigating Community Building through Culture." The Open Society Institute and the Pitney Bowes Foundation provided funding for the conference. Participants came from thirteen states and the District of Columbia.

Bush says U.S. will rejoin UNESCO

In a speech September 12 to the United Nations General Assembly urging action on Iraq, President Bush announced that the United States would return to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In making the announcement the President said, "This organization has been reformed, and America will participate fully in its mission to advance human rights, tolerance and learning."