Grist: Locally-based arts can save our towns and cities

According to Grist, the arts are being recast as a revitalization strategy for our urban areas.

Roberta Brandes Gratz, a longtime student of cities and author of The Battle for Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, says that this is a refreshing approach. "Usually in the past, money went into creating big cultural venues -- that's not what nurtures the arts. These big venues are good for importing big productions, but for the arts to be of real economic value, it needs to be local."

In other words, if you’re thinking of building a huge symphony hall or museum, forget it. You are much better off nurturing local artists, arts councils, and smaller performance and exhibit venues. Libraries too. And don’t forget about your writers.

Read entire article at http://www.grist.org/cities/2011-11-03-can-save-the-arts-struggling-cities