query: research on beauty and economy
Discussion list for COMM-ORG
colist at comm-org.wisc.edu
Fri Apr 4 09:00:44 CDT 2008
[ed: Laural responds to the responses.]
From: "Laurel Opgaard" <laurel_dti at sbcglobal.net>
Thanks to all for your responses. I have looked very closely at the
Americans for the Arts research. That deals more with how the arts & arts
organizations themselves effect the economy of the area. This information
is great and I definitely plan to use it in making my case. I was more
curious as to whether any studies have been done on whether or not a
company would choose a "pretty city" over a less "pretty city" just because
of its aesthetic value, even if there were marginally less offered as
incentives to locate there.
To me, it seems like a given that aesthetically pleasing communities =>
quality of life=> economic development => job creation. I mean nobody
wants to live somewhere unattractive, right? I just need numbers to back
me up.
Laurel Opgaard
Project Coordinator
Downtown Topeka, Inc.
515 S. Kansas, Suite A
Topeka, KS 66603
785.234.9336 voice
785.234.4448 fax
Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
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> [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:
>
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>> This is a COMM-ORG 'colist' message.
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>> [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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