Arts Research

Can you explain, in simple terms, how you or someone you know is changed by listening to music, watching a dance performance, looking at an artwork, or writing in a journal? I’d be hard pressed to manage a coherent response.

It’s not easy to talk about how art transforms or how we are different because of it. Many who work in the arts, including those of us who do so because of our belief in the transformative power of art, lack a vernacular for communicating its impacts.

Under Marian Godfrey's direction, GIA held a pre-conference immediately before its 2005 conference called "New Directions in Cultural Policy Research." As part of that meeting, four well-respected individuals were asked to assess the impact and importance of research in the arts. They were asked to specify the big ideas currently in play and to speculate about the future of those ideas. Predictably perhaps, the four argued for the importance of research to the cultural sector. More surprisingly, they agreed that the platform for cultural research needs serious re-planking.

2005, $16.95. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 212-609-5900.

As a coach and a longtime journalist, I know that the most powerful question is: "What did you learn?" You'll get an answer every time that is real, and relevant.

Civic Dialogue, Arts & Culture
Findings from Animating Democracy
Pam Korza, Barbara Schaffer Bacon, and Andrea Assaf
2005, 312 pages, $24. Americans for the Arts, Washington DC, ISBN-13: 978-1-879903-33-3 (alk. paper)
Available online from Americans for the Arts

Cultural Perspectives in Civic Dialogue
Case Studies from Animating Democracy
Pam Korza and Barbara Schaffer Bacon

2004, 18 pages. Los Angeles County Arts Commission, 500 West Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90012, 213-974-1343

Download pdf: www.lacountyarts.org/artsed/docs/artsedu_artsforall09-02.pdf

2005, 24 pages. Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley, 1153 Lincoln Avenue, Suite I, San Jose, CA, 95125-3009, www.ci-sv.org

Download PDF: www.ci-sv.org/pdf/ci_creative_index.pdf

2005, 320 pages. Theatre Communications Group, New York, NY, 10018, Theatre Communications Group

2004, 80 pages. Artrain USA Ann Arbor, MI, 48104

The essays that accompany this four-color exhibition catalog of "Native Views," an art show of contemporary works by Native American artists, explore how Native artists are influenced by popular culture. The exhibition, presented by Artrain USA, is housed in vintage rail cars and is touring the country via the nation's railways. Guest curator Joanna Osburn Bigfeather lends her perspective to the works along with the other essayists.

2005, 80 pages. Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley 1153 Lincoln Avenue, Suite I, San Jose

On March 1, 2005, the first convening to share the findings of Deep Focus: A Report on the Future of Independent Media was held in San Francisco, the geographic community studied for this project1.