Town Square:

Artists to the Rescue

Never underestimate the power of cultural projects to turn around a place.

By Jay Walljasper

A
ll too often the arts (and artists themselves) are dismissed as frivolous, irrelevant or as some kind of luxury when it comes to thorny social and political problems. Even many people who care deeply about creative expression--gallery hoppers, museum patrons and season ticket holders--discount the power of art projects when it comes to urgent issues like urban decline and the fraying of our social fabric. Fixing problems like these call for pragmatic and sensible solutions like a new shopping center or youth programs.

Thankfully Tom Borrup--longtime director of Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis who is now a consultant, teacher, and writer about community development work--buries this widely mistaken belief with an avalanche of real world evidence in The Creative Community Builder's Handbook (see excerpt this issue), written in conjunction with Partners for Livable Communities. This well-written, impeccably organized volume is the bible for everyone everywhere with a vision--modest or grand--of how cultural programs can make a difference in the place they call home.

Borrup opens with a thorough survey of leading researchers in the fields of sociology, community development and urban planning, reporting their unanimous conclusion that artists and cultural institutions play a vital role in fostering prosperity and social stability. "We believe that the arts represent perhaps the most significant underutilized forum for rebuilding community in America," writes Robert Putnam, the Harvard professor famous for the "Bowling Alone" theory of civic decline in America, and his research partner Lewis Feldstein. In their view, any effort that brings people together can be seen as social capital--a form of collective wealth that strengthens communities.

The book then lays out 10 practical social and economic aims, from revitalizing neighborhoods to diversifying the local economy and enhancing public spaces, that artists and cultural organizations can promote. Each goal is convincingly illustrated with several detailed examples from around the country.

  • The aging Ohio River town of Paducah, Kentucky, made the bold move of offering artists handsome incentives to relocate in its charming but dilapidated old downtown. Seventy artists now answered the challenge and sparked a renaissance in the area with blocks of restored buildings, new investment and a growing sense of pride for the whole city.

  • Boston's Artists for Humanity enlists scores of underprivileged kids each year to become apprentices to working artists so they can learn skills and explore their own artistic ideas. They are paid wages for their help and receive a 50 percent commission on any of their own work that sells in the organization's gallery. Follow-up studies show that youth involved with the program do better in school and hold higher aspirations for the future than their inner-city peers.

In the last half, Borrup offers an invaluable workbook packed with tips, lessons, case studies and step-by-step advice on how to initiate an arts program and help it grow in a way that delivers maximum reward to the community.

The Creative Community Builder's Handbook is more than a valuable resource; it's a heartfelt and persuasive call for us to recognize how the goals of great art and good towns or neighborhoods can cross-fertilize one another.

This review also appears in the journal Public Art Review.