Entering Cultural Communities

"A magnificent and timely account of how cultural institutions grapple with engaging their audience. Brimming with ideas and data and beautifully written, this book is perfect for students, practitioners, and researchers."-David Halle, professor of sociology, University of California, Los Angeles "D [...]
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"A magnificent and timely account of how cultural institutions grapple with engaging their audience. Brimming with ideas and data and beautifully written, this book is perfect for students, practitioners, and researchers."-David Halle, professor of sociology, University of California, Los Angeles "Diane Grams and Betty Farrell present an impressive set of essays that candidly explore the successes and pitfalls commonly experienced by nonprofit arts organizations interested in building participant diversity."-Richard A. Peterson, emeritus, professor of sociology, Vanderbilt University Arts organizations once sought patrons primarily from among the wealthy and well educated, but for many decades now they have revised their goals as they seek to broaden their audiences. Today, museums, orchestras, dance companies, theaters, and community cultural centers try to involve a variety of people in the arts. They strive to attract a more racially and ethnically diverse group of people, those from a broader range of economic backgrounds, new immigrants, families, and youth.The chapters in this book draw on interviews with leaders, staff, volunteers, and audience members from eighty-five nonprofit cultural organizations to explore how they are trying to increase participation and the extent to which they have been successful. The organizations discussed include large, medium, and small nonprofits located in urban, suburban, and rural areas-from large institutions such as the Smithsonian, the Walker Art Center, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the San Francisco Symphony to many cultural organizations that are smaller, but often known nationally for their innovative work, such as AS220, The Loft Literary Center, Armory Center for the Arts, Appalshop, the Wing Luke Asian Museum, and the Western Folklife Center. Diane Grams is an assistant professor of sociology at Tulane University in New Orleans. Betty Farrell, associate director of the M.A. Program in Social Sciences and senior lecturer at The University of Chicago, works on the sociology of culture. A volume in the Rutgers Series on the Public Life of the Arts, edited by Ruth Ann Stewart, Margaret J. Wyszomirski, and Joni M. Cherbo