Week 16: Arts in the City

“In this chapter, we will explore several dimensions of the arts’ relationship to cities. We will see that it is no accident that the arts are largely an urban phenomenon and that the enshrinement of the high arts in great museums and performance spaces was a highly deliberate process on the part of civic leaders who have sought, since the nineteenth century, to provide a buffer against barbarianism and mass entertainment. Not only will we find that powerful forces in the city promote the arts for aesthetic purposes—today municipal leaders are heeding the findings of urban researchers that suggest that artistic institutions like galleries, music venues, and theaters draw tourist dollars as well as longer-term residents to cities. Today, the arts are big business.”