The Public Life Of The Arts In America

Despite its size, quality, and economic impact, the arts community is not articulate about how they serve public interests, and few citizens have an appreciation of the myriad of public policies that influence American arts and culture. The contributors to this volume argue that U.S. policy can--and should--support the arts and that the arts, in turn serve a broad rather than an elite public. By encouraging policy-makers to systematically start investigating the crucial role and importance of all of the arts in the United States, The Arts and Public Purpose moves the field forward with fresh ideas, new concepts, and important new data.

The arts and creative sector is one of the nation's broadest, most important, and least understood social and economic assets, encompassing both nonprofit arts and cultural organizations, for-profit creative companies, such as advertising agencies, film producers, and commercial publishers, and community-based artistic activities. The thirteen essays in this timely book demonstrate why interest in the arts and creative sector has accelerated in recent years, and the myriad ways that the arts are crucial to the social and national agenda and the critical issues and policies that relate to their practice. Leading experts in the field show, for example, how arts and cultural policies are used to enhance urban revitalization, to encourage civic engagement, to foster new forms of historic preservation, to define national identity, to advance economic development, and to regulate international trade in cultural goods and services. Illuminating key issues and reflecting the rapid growth of the field of arts and cultural policy, this book will be of interest to students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, to arts educators and management professionals, government agency and foundation officials, and researchers and academics in the cultural policy field.

“Bill Ivey has written a thoughtful and thought-provoking book on the state of the arts in America today. He tracks our loss of heritage and risk-taking and comments cogently on the past culture wars. His discussion of the corporate hijacking of intellectual property is highly articulate and should be read by everyone.”—Jane Alexander “You don't have to agree with all his conclusions to recognize that Bill Ivey's Arts, Inc. is an important book. It's a must-read for all those interested in American art and culture and the public interest in preserving access to our heritage for everyone, and as it contributes to the arts of today and tomorrow.”—Frank Hodsoll “Arts, Inc. is the first comprehensive effort to explore the role and potential of a coordinated vision for art, culture, and expression in American public life. Through strands of personal and professional memoir, policy analysis, for-profit and nonprofit industry insights, and personal conviction, Bill Ivey defines a new canvas for more productive and inclusive conversations on the expressive life of our nation and its citizens.”—Andrew Taylor, Bolz Center for Arts Administration, University of Wisconsin-Madison “Very few observers of the contemporary U.S. and global arts worlds have Bill Ivey's capacity for first-hand examples of how trade representatives, artists, music executives, corporate attorneys, elected officials, non-profit executives and many other participants influence the course of the arts, and in particular, the public's access to the arts. Arts, Inc. is an important work because it asserts, in a very thoughtful and urgent manner, that Americans have a right to a better expressive life.”—John Kreidler, retired Executive Director, Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley "At a time when international polls show doubts about America, our art and culture are a crucial resource for our soft power. Bill Ivey does a wonderful job of explaining the importance of art as a public issue. "—Joseph S. Nye, Jr., author of Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics “A profoundly important diagnosis by perhaps America's best-qualified critic of the harm to our culture caused by overregulation and inadequate support. Ivey has given us a rich and beautifully written warning about the culture we're losing, and a powerful and historically compelling image of a culture that could be.”—Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School "Walt Whitman was democracy's eloquent poet who understood that democracy is not just a form of government but a way of life rooted in culture. Bill Ivey is culture's eloquent advocate who knows that as democracy needs the arts, the arts need the advocacy of government. His manifesto Arts, Inc. is a passionate attack on the commercialization of culture and a plea for a cultural bill of rights that will restore to all Americans their right to a heritage, to creative expression and to a creative life. This is not just a vital book about the arts, but a vital book about democracy." —Benjamin R. Barber, author of Jihad vs. McWorld and Consumed.

First published in 1941, this landmark study of the arts in American life remains a classic in the field. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with leading artists and cultural figures of the day, Keppel and Duffus provide a detailed portrait of the state of the arts in America during the early 20th century. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Writers, performers, and artists have shown that the arts can have a significant positive effect on the lives of hospital patients, prisoners, the elderly, the disabled, the mentally ill, and others in institutional settings. This volume recounts the histories of 22 institutional and community arts programs across the country pioneering this emerging field. Consisting largely of first-hand accounts, the book recounts how the creative processes have been used to address and solve some of society's most pressing problems. Included are case studies, research, and descriptions of the wide variety of artistic, educational, and therapeutic approaches utilized by each of the 22 programs.

Art in the Lives of Immigrant Communities in the United States is the first book to provide a comprehensive and lively analysis of the contributions of artists from America's newest immigrant communities--Africa, the Middle East, China, India, Southeast Asia, Central America, and Mexico. Adding significantly to our understanding of both the arts and immigration, multidisciplinary scholars explore tensions that artists face in forging careers in a new world and navigating between their home communities and the larger society. They address the art forms that these modern settlers bring with them; show how poets, musicians, playwrights, and visual artists adapt traditional forms to new environments; and consider the ways in which the communities' young people integrate their own traditions and concerns into contemporary expression.

Art in the Lives of Immigrant Communities in the United States is the first book to provide a comprehensive and lively analysis of the contributions of artists from America's newest immigrant communities--Africa, the Middle East, China, India, Southeast Asia, Central America, and Mexico. Adding significantly to our understanding of both the arts and immigration, multidisciplinary scholars explore tensions that artists face in forging careers in a new world and navigating between their home communities and the larger society. They address the art forms that these modern settlers bring with them; show how poets, musicians, playwrights, and visual artists adapt traditional forms to new environments; and consider the ways in which the communities' young people integrate their own traditions and concerns into contemporary expression.

This book examines recent trends in the performing arts and discusses howthe arts are likely to evolve in the future. It is the first book to providea comprehensive overview of the performing arts, including analysis ofopera, theater, dance, and music, in both their live and recorded forms. Theauthors focus on trends affecting four aspects of the performing arts--audiences, performers, arts organizations, and financing--and offer a visionfor the future. The book discusses the implications of current and likelyfuture developments and considers public policy issues such as publicfunding for the arts.