Informal Arts Participation and Community Development

1. Informal Arts Participation and Community Development NNIP, Indianapolis, Indiana October, 2007 D. Garth Taylor, MCIC With special thanks to Joel Bookman, NCP Patrick Barry, NCP

2. Outline 1. Examples of Investment in Informal Arts 2. Rationale, Literature 3. Statistical Findings . . . measurement impact 4. Supportive Public Policies

3. LISC New Communities Program • Competitive Community Grants • First 4 years -- 75 grants, $755K for art programs • 25% of all grants Community murals, Multi-cultural healing garden and sculpture park Inner-City Muslin Action Network health clinic mural

4. Arts education, Artist Café, Banners, Locally-produced materials to brand local area Recording community events with spoken word and rap

5. Summer Arts Festival, Arts & Film Festival at local public library Day of the Dead festival

6. Why? 1. Arts are fun, they make a place where people want to be The performing arts enliven public spaces. (p. 151) It is interesting to watch people as they chance upon an entertainer. So often they will smile. . . People enjoy programmed entertainment too, but not he same way. It is the unexpected that seems to delight them the most. (p. 35)

7. Why? 2. Arts create shared experience Columbus Park, 1917 Places for outdoor drama were prominent in Jensen’slandscape designs, plays became an important tool for teaching people about each other and their relationship to the world around them. (p. 42) He believed, from folk schools in Denmark and Hull House in Chicago, that arts programming encouraged a sense of community. (p. 76)

8. Why? 3. Arts are intergenerational Internet coffeehouse for university students to share publications and performances with younger people

9. Continuum of Arts Participation, NCP funding INFORMAL FORMAL Amateur Mid-Range Professional Alaka Wali et al. (2002)The Informal Arts: Finding Cohesion, Capacity And Other Cultural Benefits In Unexpected Places Smaller, informal presentations are the bread and butter of community arts programming (p. 151)

10. INFORMAL FORMAL Amateur Mid-Range Professional Annual attendance > 20% of region’s population 20,730 professional artists, designers, writers, actors, choreographers, etc. in Chicago Metro Area (BLS)

11. Arts attendance, Major arts institutions

12. INFORMAL FORMAL Amateur Mid-Range Professional Smaller, informal presentations are the bread and butter of community arts programming (p. 151) Display of photography, quilts, antiques; Open microphone; Drumming circle Community play, Church choir, Public readings, Poetry club, Dance group 38% of Chicago adults undertake some form of arts creation each year (SPPA) = 825,472 people

13. 642 churches Address Open mic bars, coffeehouses No 129 CPD parks w/perf rooms Address yes, pgms FOIA 79 Public libraries, 18 w/book clubs Address yes, pgm yes 47 Cultural Centers, bookstores Address yes Art Fairs Illinois Arts Council Parades/Street Festivals Scrape City Website Local theaters Membership org Studios, Performance Spaces Scrape City Website Informal Arts Venues Data

14. Convert multiple point data to tract data Create Buffers for each type of activity Aggregate multiple buffer overlaps Compute tract-level measure of concentration of informal arts activity

15. Informal arts participation correlates with community characteristics Informal Arts Participation Neighborhood Characteristics Y = Median on neighborhood characteristics X = Tract score on informal arts participation

16. Stronger test of correlation: informal arts participation and community change Informal Arts Participation Change in Neighborhood Control for Income Level Control for Initial Outcome Measures Y = Change in medians X = Tract score on informal arts participation

17. Data: Informal arts participation correlates with community outcomes 1. Arts are fun, they make a place where people want to be

18. 2. Arts create shared experience Humboldt Park bomba class to help relieve tension among groups

19. 3. Arts are intergenerational Quad Communities radio show

20. Conclusion: Using the strong test, we find that informal arts participation correlates with some positive community outcomes + Arts make a place where people want to be Arts create shared experience Arts are intergenerational Population, Housing Units Personal, Property Crime School Test Scores

21. But there is no consistent linkage between informal arts participation and economic change measures Arts make a place where people want to be Arts create shared experience Arts are intergenerational Household Income Level Home Mortgage Loans Business Loans/Investment ?

22. Public Policy to Support Informal Arts Participation NCP Grants to organizations, programs, and facilities Garfield Park, 1907 Grant People’s Music School, Cultural centers Purchase services People’s Music School Dance Workshops Free programming Park District, Public Library Donate advertising (street signs, tours) People’s Music School * Donate land, building Old Town School, People’s Music School * Free use of space Park District, Public Library, Police Dept. * License/zoning Bar, coffeehouse, street, park, home * Tax policy Place of Worship

23. Best space for informal art is (Wali 2002) . . . Low cost (entry fee, and rent)  Low commitment (easy come and go)  Low brow (don’t ask) * Ray Oldenburg The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Hangouts, and How They Get You Through the Day Art gallery & performance space Buddy Guy’s

24. Summary 1. Investments 2. Rationale, Literature 3. Statistical Findings measurement impact 4. Public Policy Photo credits: Neil Patel, Garth Taylor, Eric Young Smith, Alex Fledderjohn, Batey Urbano youth participants, South Chicago Art Center, Juan Francisco Hernandez, Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corporation, Greater Southwest Development Corporation.

25. Further methodology: informal arts participation and community change Y = Change in medians Group years to stabilize trend: 1999-2001 vs. 2 most recent yrs 27 tracts excluded 50+ HH and 100+ pop each year X = Two years of arts data averaged Low = lowest quarter 1-2yrs High = top quarter 1-2yrs