query: research on beauty and economy

Discussion list for COMM-ORG colist at comm-org.wisc.edu
Tue Apr 1 09:36:49 CDT 2008


[ed: thanks to Betty, Terri, and Ashwani for replying to Laurel's query.]

From: "Betty G. Robinson" <bgrobinson at verizon.net>

This might help:
There was a study done about 5 years ago, I think in Chicago, showing 
the connection between reduced crime and access to green/park/outdoor 
spaces. Sorry I don't have the reference.  Betty Robinson

********************

From: "Terri McNichol" <tmcnichol at renassociates.com>


Dear Laurel,
I hope I am not stating the obvious in telling you that for years 
Americans for the Arts has been sponsoring economic impact studies to 
demonstrate how the arts/culture bring $$ to communities. Also, State 
arts councils have been sponsoring cultural assessment plans for their 
constituencies. There has also been the "down" side. Some feasibility 
studies for new museum buildings overestimated visitor numbers for the 
first few years, and therefore income expectations were not met causing 
one to fold in Maryland, I believe. Many folks feel that too much focus 
on the economic impact ovelooks the qualitiative part of the arts such 
as a Rand report a few years back that advocated for keeping the focus 
on more important indicators such as enchantment, wonder, etc.
Hope this helps.
Terri McNichol
Ren Associates
707 Alexander Rd., Bldg. 2 Ste. 208
Princeton, NJ 08540
Telephone +1.609.371.5354
Fax +1-609-243-0045
Cell +1.609.638.5878
www.renassociates.com
t.mcnichol.1 at alumni.nyu.edu

Recent presentations:
"Art or Science: OD in China" at the Nineth Annual Sharing Day, May 3, 
2007, New Jersey Organizational Development (OD)Network, NJ. 
Co-presenter Wei Huang, Ph.D.

Presenter, "Inverting Western business models: why museum practices are 
key to a new management paradigm." 2nd International Committee on 
Management of International Council of Museums (International Council of 
Museums standing committee on managementINTERCOM/ICOM) Meeting 2006 "New 
Roles and Missions of Museums" Taipei, Taiwan, November 2-4, 2006.

"The Art of Leading the Museum." 4th Annual Critical Management Studies 
Conference, Cambridge, UK, July 4-6, 2005.

See my article "Creative marketing strategies in small museums: up close 
and innovative," in International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary 
Sector Marketing Volume 10 Issue 4 - November 2005 (199 - 287) Special 
Issue: Creativity and the Nonprofit Marketing Organization.

My essay on Appreciative Inquiry will be included in the Mental Models 
chapter in the forthcoming book field book on The Sustainable Enterprise 
to be published by Greenleaf Publishing, UK, and AMACOM in North America.


***********************

From: Ashwani Vasishth <vasishth at csun.edu>

Here's a bibliography I started putting together a while back, that may 
have some relevant references.

Cheers,
-
  Ashwani
     Vasishth            ashwani at csun.edu          (818) 677-6137
                    http://www.csun.edu/~vasishth/


 ---
Public Art Benefits: Working Bibliography
Ashwani Vasishth   vasishth at csun.edu   March 30, 2008

Anonymous.  1994.  "Vancouver's Downtown Improvement Creativeness 
Strikes Gold," Economic Development Review, 12(2): 90.    [The Downtown 
Vancouver Business Improvement Association (DVBIA) is one of many 
nonprofit societies in British Columbia that are comprised of property 
and business owners within a particular geographic area. BIAs have the 
mandate to enhance and maintain the area's commercial and social 
viability. All persons who own or lease Class 5 (light industry) or 
Class 6 (business) property within the designated area are eligible to 
be members of the BIA. Annual budgets are determined by the property 
owners and are funded through a special property tax on all Class 5 and 
Class 6 properties within the specified area. The DVBIA was formed in 
1990 to maintain and enhance downtown Vancouver as a place to live, 
work, shop, visit, and have fun by developing and initiating innovative 
programs and by promoting the unique assets of the area. The DVBIA has 
initiated a number of successful programs, including the publication of 
a list of free concerts and events downtown, an outdoor Christmas 
Fantasyland, public art initiatives, and the Business Community 
Fascimile Alert Computer System, which alerts businesses through 
facsimile of criminal activity in the area.]

Arthurs, Alberta & Hodsoll, Frank.  1998.  "The Importance of the Arts 
Sector: How It Relates to the Public Purpose,"  Journal of Arts 
Management, Law & Society, Summer 98, Vol. 28 Issue 2, p102(7).   [Deals 
with the importance of considering the arts as a `sector' and considers 
the relationship between that sector and public purpose. Findings of the 
ninety-second American Assembly convention in 1997 about arts; 
Definition given by the American Assembly on the public purpose of the 
arts; Main question posed at the assembly.]

Blair, John M & K David Pijawka & Frederick Steiner. (1998). "Public Art 
In Mitigation Planning: The Experience of the Squaw Peak Parkway in 
Phoenix," Journal of the American Planning Association, 64(2), 
221-234.   [Freeways often bring adverse visual and environmental 
consequences. This study reports on two surveys of residents who were 
asked for their views on using public art as a component of a freeway 
mitigation program. The results suggest that the public strongly 
supports public arts programs, but is ambivalent about their use for 
freeway mitigation. Four factors contributed to a general disapproval of 
the freeway public art program: the costs of the art, perceptions of a 
low level of public involvement in selecting the art, lack of a regional 
art theme, and inappropriate placement of the art. Although public art's 
potential to raise controversy is familiar, emphasizing its use as a 
freeway mitigation tool when other adverse freeway effects have not been 
fully addressed can make matters worse and even jeopardize the 
mitigation program as a whole. The paper considers the role of public 
art in planning and how planners may reconcile the conflicting 
objectives of the artists, the public, and local government.]

Fleming, Ronald Lee; Goldman, Melissa Tapper.  2005.  "Public Art For 
The Public," Public Interest, Spring 2005 Issue 159, p55-76.   [This 
article focuses on public art in the U.S. as of March 2005. There used 
to be two federal programs dedicated to funding public art. Now there is 
one. The key to understanding the divergence between the two programs 
lies in a concept that seems so intuitive once stated that it is almost 
surprising that it encounters so much resistance in the art world--the 
distinction between public art and gallery art. Unlike gallery art, 
public art must not be mindful merely of artistic concerns, but must 
also be attentive to the contextual aspect of its siting--it is created 
not to stand on its own, but to augment a larger public space. It is as 
much a question of public utility, associational significance, and 
expectations as it is a matter of the quality of particular pieces of 
art. The Art in Public Places Program of the U.S. National Endowment for 
the Arts collapsed because it remained stubbornly out of touch with this 
reality. The Art in Architecture Program of the U.S. General Services 
Administration, on the other hand, has thrived under a new model that 
recognizes the difference between gallery art and public art, and that 
takes account of the sensibilities of the people who will have to see 
the artwork every day.]

Gee, Constance B. 2007. "Valuing the Arts on Their Own Terms? (Ceci 
n'est pas une pipe)," Arts Education Policy Review, Jan2007, Vol. 108 
Issue 3, p3-12.   [Profound differences exist between the ways in which 
arts educators and artists personally value the arts and the rationales 
offered via arts advocacy campaigns for public arts support. The author 
argues that those discrepancies carry grave consequences for 
K-university arts education. The author describes means by which to 
better reconcile valuing the arts for their intrinsic qualities with 
intense political pressure to justify arts education in terms of its 
alleged ability to improve students' math and reading skills and to 
address concerns of social justice and economic development. This 
article was adapted from a keynote speech given by the author on 13 
October 2006 for the 62nd annual meeting of The National Association of 
Schools of Art and Design. ]

Hall, Tim & Smith, Chereen.  2004.  "Public Art in the City: Meanings, 
Values, Attitudes and Roles,"  Advances in Art, Urban Futures, 2004, 
Vol. 4, p175-180.   [Outlines the context within which a new research 
project on public art has been commissioned to make a substantive 
attempt to examine public art through its audiences. Claims made in the 
context of urban regeneration; Research questions; Social impact of the 
aesthetic improvements associated with public art projects.]

Hiller, Terry R.  (2001). "Coming Changes In Public Arts," The Futurist, 
35(6), 46-51.   [Before the end of the twenty-first century, art 
galleries and museums will transform themselves into dynamic providers 
of education and entertainment worldwide. An array of trends, led by 
technological innovation, is already reshaping how art will be 
experienced. Advancing technology will drive most of the changes in the 
public arts. The first arts institutions to benefit will be the ones 
that value creativity over systems and that can adapt new technologies 
to further their missions. They will be bold enough to take calculated 
risks, ultimately capturing public imagination and securing private funds.]

Lee, Pamela M.  1998.  "Public Art and the Spaces of Democracy,"  
Assemblage, Apr 98 Issue 35, p80(7).   [Evaluates the international art 
fairs, Documenta and Skulptur Projekte that have references to the 
debate surrounding art and the public sphere. Observations on the 
failure to differentiate current artistic practice from the earlier 
models of art; How the gentrification of New York's Union Square was 
justified; Curatorial strategies of the exhibitions.]

Meeks, Suzanne & Moore, Nancy G. & Edwards, Joseph F.  "Art, Wellness, 
and Innovation: Heads Up Kentucky! Puts Psychology's Contribution to 
Healthy Living in the Public Eye,"  Professional Psychology: Research & 
Practice, Oct2006, Vol. 37 Issue 5, p467-471.   [The Kentucky 
Psychological Association (KPA) Foundation is an organization that 2 
years ago had little name recognition in its community or the state. In 
the past year, the KPA Foundation has contributed a major public art 
project to the city in which it resides, enhanced its financial assets, 
introduced educational material on the mind-body connection to public 
forums across the community, been the subject of feature articles in 
some of the community's major publications, taken health promotion 
curriculum to public elementary schools, and achieved national 
recognition for its public education campaign. This article describes 
the successful "Heads Up Kentucky!" campaign and the mobilization of the 
membership in the state's psychological association to make the fruits 
of psychological science accessible to members of the public.]

Sharp, Joanne & Pollock, Venda & Paddison, Ronan.  2005.  "Just Art For 
A Just City: Public Art And Social Inclusion In Urban Regeneration,"  
Urban Studies, May 2005, Vol. 42 Issue 5/6, p1001-1023.   [ In this 
article, it is shown how cultural policy, and in particular public art, 
intersects with the processes of urban restructuring and how it is a 
contributor, but also antidote, to the conflict that typically surrounds 
the restructuring of urban space. The particular focus of the paper is 
on investigating how public art can be inclusionary/exclusionary as part 
of the wider project of urban regeneration. The first part of the paper 
examines examples in which public art intervention has attempted to 
generate inclusion. Subsequently, attention focuses more on examples in 
which the public art has been perceived as an aspect of cultural 
domination and has thus provoked resistance. Throughout, it is argued 
that the processes through which artworks become installed into the 
urban fabric are critical to the successful development of inclusion.]


Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
> --------
> This is a COMM-ORG 'colist' message.
> All replies to this message come to COMM-ORG only.
> --------
>  
> [ed:  please feel welcomed to copy COMM-ORG with replies to Laurel's query.]
>
> From: "Laurel Opgaard" <laurel_dti at sbcglobal.net>
>
>
>  
> Has anyone got, or ever seen a study showing the correlation between
> aesthetically pleasing communities and positive economic growth?  I am in
> the process of beginning a public art program for our downtown and need to
> find information to pass along to an 'artistically challenged' group of
> community leaders.  I think hard numbers would very likely be the most
> persuasive argument to woo them over to my way of thinking, and hopefully
> funding for my project.
>
> Laurel Opgaard
> Project Coordinator
> Downtown Topeka, Inc.
> 515 S. Kansas, Suite A
> Topeka, KS  66603
> 785.234.9336 voice
> 785.234.4448 fax
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