Arts in the Suburbs

A New Angle: Arts Development in the Suburbs, by Carolyn Bye, examines the rise of arts activity and development in recent years in metropolitan suburbs, using Minnesota’s Twin Cities as a case study. The report, commissioned by the McKnight Foundation, in Minneapolis, challenges stereotypes about “vapidity and uniformity” in the suburbs and explores the history, status, and direction of cultural life in these neighborhoods. “Slowly and subtly, the arts have helped create a sense of place and build connections within more and more suburban communities,” the report says. It raises such issues as how such trends will affect communities and arts organizations, and whether the suburbs attract their share of arts activity and arts funding. In an essay, Neal Cuthbert, who oversees arts grant making at McKnight, says the suburbs are too often overlooked by private foundations that make arts grants. The report shows how legislative support for the arts favors core cities, which get $7.29 per capita in arts funding compared to the $0.34 that goes to the suburbs. It concludes that suburban communities are deeply committed to the arts but need visible arts leadership, and that arts institutions must look for ways to court suburban audiences.

Publisher: McKnight Foundation, 600 TCF Tower, 121 South Eighth Street, Minneapolis, Minn. 55402; (612) 333-4220, fax (612) 332-3833; thanrahan@mcknight.org; http://www.mcknight.org; 108 pages; free; also available to download on the Web site.