Can the Arts Revive Our Cities' and the Nation's Economy?

The Arts and the City Seminar Series

Arts and the City: Can the Arts Revive our Cities’ and the Nation’s Economy?

The Penn Institute for Urban Research, along with the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and Philagrafika, held a discussion with leading experts on how the arts impact local and national economies and their potential to help rebuild them. How can policymakers, civic leaders, and other city builders assess and capitalize on the value of the arts? To what extent is public investment in arts and culture a catalyst for job creation and for-profit development? How should pubic investment be directed, in the balance of capital investment versus operating support? The session addressed the local and national policies needed to support art-based economies, the obstacles to building political support essential to public investment, and the research needed to better understand both the concrete and illusive value of the arts to urban communities and the country as a whole. Speakers included: Rocco Landesman, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts; Donald Harrison, Saxophonist, Singer, Composer; Julia Olin, Executive Director, National Council for the Traditional Arts; Greg Rowe, Director, Culture Initiatives, The Pew Charitable Trusts; Cookie Ruiz, Executive Director, Ballet Austin; Nick Spitzer, Host and Producer, American Routes, Public Radio (invited); Mark Stern, Professor of Social Welfare and History, Social Impact of the Arts Project, University of Pennsylvania; and David Thornburgh, Executive Director, Fels Institute of Government, University of Pennsylvania.

Arts and the City: Can the Arts Revive our Cities’ and the Nation’s Economy? (Part 1) 

Arts and the City: Can the Arts Revive our Cities’ and the Nation’s Economy? (Part 2) 

Arts and the City: Can the Arts Revive our Cities’ and the Nation’s Economy? (Part 3)