Between the “Culture of Poverty” and the Cultural Revolution

Abstract

In 1967, the world-renowned African American choreographer Katherine Dunham moved to East St. Louis to open the Performing Arts Training Center (PATC), which offered free classes in dance, music, theater, and other art forms. This article examines why Dunham’s center flourished during the late 1960s and early 1970s and argues that her success lay in forging a middle path between liberal policymakers, who funded the PATC, and the city’s Black Power youth, who were her primary constituents. She understood the language of both the “culture of poverty” and the cultural revolution; she found common ground between the two by championing African diasporic performing arts education as a means of individual and community improvement. Although Dunham’s middle-ground approach had its limitations, the PATC bettered the lives of many East St. Louis residents and can serve as a model for urban arts programs today.