The Importance of Neighborhood Context in Arts-Led Development

James Murdoch,Carl Grodach,Nicole Foster

doi:10.1177/0739456x15599040

Abstract

This article contributes to the creative city–community development arts policy debate by examining the association of arts organizations to various neighborhood contexts in New York City. Results from multivariate regression analyses show that arts organizations regardless of type are positioned to serve the creative class rather than play a community development role. Notably, only a small subset of locally focused organizations and organizations with smaller expenditures locate in disadvantaged and immigrant neighborhoods where they might play a direct role in community development. Instead, most arts organizations tend to locate in the most highly urbanized, amenities-rich areas with young working singles and creative industries. These findings raise important questions for incorporating the arts into neighborhood planning efforts.

Highlights

As the arts become a common economic and community development tool for many cities, they are charged with realizing two sometimes conflicting agendas
With the rise in economic development policy that emphasizes human capital development and quality of life, cities have turned toward supporting a variety of arts activities from flagship cultural institutions to small arts organizations with the goal of revitalizing their downtowns and attracting tourists and a creative class workforce
“creative placemaking” initiatives such as the National Endowment for the Art’s (NEA) Our Town program, supports partnerships between nonprofit arts organizations, local governments, and residents to promote the arts as a means of building community identity, enhanced quality of life, and creative activity alongside economic revitalization (National Endowment for the Arts 2014)

Summary

Introduction

As the arts become a common economic and community development tool for many cities, they are charged with realizing two sometimes conflicting agendas. The majority of arts organizations, regardless of audience base and annual budget size, locate in areas that are the most highly urbanized and contain significant levels of young working singles, neighborhood amenities and creative economy industries indicative of creative class destinations. Similar to the audience base results, Model 1 indicates that arts organizations avoid disadvantaged and immigrant neighborhoods in favor of young singles and highly urbanized locations and Model 2 highlights that all organizations have positive associations with creative economy industries and neighborhood amenities. Overall the results from this analysis confirm that the organizations that locate in disadvantaged and immigrant neighborhoods more likely serve local audiences and have small annual budgets These organizations tend to be relatively young and rely on artists that are part-time volunteers rather than paid employees. Rather than generalized policy that promotes arts and culture, nuanced and context-specific policy is needed to capture the demonstrated benefits the arts have on local communities and economies

Tables and Figures

Findings

10 Years or Less