The Urban Institute’s Arts and Culture Indicators in Communities Project created a way of describing an area’s cultural infrastructure in quantifiable terms, allowing policymakers to see the effects of artistic development on society and providing a common language for social scientists, politicians, and artists. The Cultural Vitality Indicatorsprogram emerged out of the Institute’s perception of the integral role the arts play in personal and community well being.
The project’s analysis balances financial support for the arts, the presence of commercial and public venues, and opportunities for direct participation. This model avoids the tendency to view the effects of art strictly in commercial terms–a trend that reduces art to a consumable good and neglects its place in civic discourse and its role as a bridge between personal experience and civil society. The Indicators project, in this regard, calls to mind the research of Richard Florida and the public art programs of the New Deal, which used art education and public installations to stimulate the local economy and provide a forum for exploring the nature of community. The Urban Institute’s project builds on this heritage, allowing leaders to view the relationship between art and development in concrete terms and find ways of nurturing culture that promote economic and social growth.
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. Historian Shae Davidson's research interests include public policy and the relationship between culture and civil society. His publications range from articles on industrial history to absurdist poetry.
