Conferences & Symposia
Future of the City: The Arts Symposium — June 7, 2011
Co-hosted with the National Endowment for the Arts and the University of Chicago's Office of Civic Engagement.
The University of Chicago presents Future of the City: The Arts Symposium, a one-day gathering of leaders who are shaping the cultural landscape of Chicago and beyond.
Arts and culture are proving their power as economic and social catalysts for the creative transformation of cities. Strategic collaborations between government, businesses, foundations and academic sectors have helped to rejuvenate neighborhoods, inspire civic and community engagement, and incubate the next generation of creative entrepreneurs. We will explore these themes, related research, and public policies as they apply to Chicago and other urban centers.
David Simon and Wendell Pierce (The Wire and Treme) will hold a special lunch-time conversation during a day full of discussions between internationally recognized researchers, artists, academics, and civic leaders.
John Holden, author of Capturing Cultural Value: How Culture Has Become a Tool of Government Policy, will provide introductory remarks to expert panelists discussing how cultural policies and arts practices around the world are evolving as individuals, organizations, and cities adjust to social changes, technological advances and economic uncertainty.
Further reading and watching:
- See more information, including the schedule and list of speakers, at the Future of the City website.
- The University of Chicago news office has a write-up and videos of some of the day's sessions.
- This Chicago Tribune article summarizes some ideas from the day.
- Joan Shigekawa, NEA Senior Deputy Chairman, sends a Postcard from The Future of the City: The Arts Symposium.
- Toronto-based artist Shannon Litzenberger shares her reflections on the symposium.
Beyond the Rhetoric and Toward Real Change — November 10, 2008
Michelle T Boone, Betty Farrell, Diana Grams,
D. Carroll Joynes, Peter Marzio, Andrew Taylor,
Sarah Schultz, Carlos Tortolero, Ken Warren
The goal in this convening was to explore the numerous definitions of (and assumptions about) diversity among cultural leaders and organizations in an attempt to articulate collective goals in this area and plausible strategies for achieving them.
Protecting Cultural Heritage — February 3, 2006
Lawrence Rothfield, McGuire Gibson, Eric Posner,
Kenneth Dam, Matthew Bogdanos, Patrick Boylan,
Guido Carducci, Patty Gersteinblith, Jan Hladik
The 2003 Iraq war exposed serious shortcomings in the international legal framework built over the last century to prevent the pillaging, looting and destruction of cultural property in times of war. This conference examined international legal provisions for protecting cultural property during armed conflict and occupation, and offered suggestions on how to strengthen them.
The Future of Public Television — December 2-3, 2004
Ken Auletta, Karen J. Bond, John D. Callaway,
Kathleen Cox, Sherri Hope Culver, Lawrence Grossman,
D. Carroll Joynes,Kevin Klose, Dale Kunkel, John Lawson,
Deborah Linebarger, Torey Malatia,William J. McCarter,
Newton Minow, Pat Mitchell, James Paglisrini,
Alvin H. Perlmutter, C. Cybele Raver, Steve Robinson,
Dan Schmidt, Sandra Session-Robertson,
Jerold M. Starr, Cass Sunstein, András Szántó,
Monique Ward, Tom Weinberg
This conference provided a forum for detailed analyses and perspectives from national public broadcasting and communications professionals to examine the industry's challenges and prospective reform.
Lasting Effects: Assessing the Future of Economic Impact Analysis of the Arts — May 12-14, 2004
Robert A. Baade, David Beeman, David Brookshire,
Randy Cohen, Don Coursey, Tyler Cowen,
Charles L. Granquist, Peal Imada Iboshi,
D. Carroll Joynes, Jonathan Katz, Jim Kelly, Mary King,
Sarah Lee, Kevin McCarthy, Douglas Noonan,
Anthony Radich, Mandy Rafool, Lawrence Rothfield,
Michael Rushton, William A. Schaffer, J. Mark Schuster,
Bruce Seaman, Sara Selwood, Dick Stanley,
David Throsby, Alene Valkanas, Anita Walker, Greg Wassall
Does a state of the art theatre center add vitality to a community’s economy? Does the development of cultural amenities attract the “creative class,” or does the presence of this class spark the development of cultural amenities? If it’s true that the arts and culture have a discernable impact on economies, what is the best method for obtaining a realistic measurement of this impact? Moreover, can the importance of arts and culture be reduced to economic considerations? This conference examined benefits and pitfalls of using economic impact analysis (EIA) as a tool for arts advocacy.
Building on the Past: Landmarks Policy & Urban Development — April 19, 2003
Neil Harris, Daniel Bluestone, Ned Cramer,
Vince Michael, J. Mark Schuster, Alicica Mazur Berg,
Joan Brierton, Richard Epstein, Linda Searl,
John Brehm, David Bahlman, Douglas Garofalo,
Blair Kamin, Bradford J. White, John D. Callaway
Architects, urban planners, economists, policy analysts and activists convened to discuss questions of landmark designation and policy, using local Chicago cases including Soldier Field and South Michigan Avenue historic district as examples.
Community Development and the Arts: Building the Field — May 4, 2002
Mark Schuster, Mark Stern, Philip Nyden,
Jonathan Katz, Joan Costello, David Schein,
Maureen Coleman,Juana Guzman,
Monica Haslip, Alaka Wali
This conference gathered researchers and practitioner to discuss models, best practices, and research agendas for integrating the arts into community development.
The Contingent Valuation of Culture — February 1-2, 2002
Mark Berger, Arthur Brooks, Bill Brown,
Richard T. Carson, Don Coursey, Richard Epstein,
Michael Hutter. Michael Jennings, David J. Maddison,
Edward R. Morey, Doug Noonan, Franco Papandrea,
Patricia Quinn, Lawrence Rothfield, Michael Rushton,
Bruce Seaman, J. Mark Schuster, Joan Shigekawa,
Dick Stanley, Cass Sunstein, Paul J. Thomassin,
David Throsby, John C. Whitehead
This conference joined culture and economics researchers with policymakers and arts advocates from a range of cultural and political contexts to develop reliable and manageable instruments that build on established CVM survey methods and to develop a research agenda for CVM within the cultural realm — a set of broad agreements about which cultural goods to examine and the range of prospective applications of findings that might result.
Playing by the Rules: The Cultural Policy Challenges of Video Games — October 26-27, 2001
Craig Anderson, John Cacioppo, Sara Diamond,
Jack Doppelt, Hubert Drefus, Noah Falstein,
Jonathan Freedman, Jeanne Funk, Jeffery Goldstein,
Laura Groppe, Tom Gunning, Terry Hackett,
Marjorie Heins,J.C. Herz, Henry Jenkins, Gerard Jones,
Yasmin Kafai, Seth Killian, Marsha Kinder,
Doug Lowenstein, Howard Margolis, Gail Markels,
Joe McKay, Feng Mengbo, Stephan Meyers,
W. J. T. Mitchell, Colm O'Muircheartaigh,Celia Pearce,
Robert Pippin, Alan Pope, Marc Prensky,
Eugene Provenzo, Kim Rorschach, Andrew Rosenfield,
Lawrence Rothfield, Ellen Sandor, Geoffrey Stone,
Cass Sunstein, Yuri Tsivian, Hamza Walker,
David Walsh, Eric Zimmerman
The University of Chicago Cultural Policy Center assembled scholars of policy, education, law, and the arts along with experts from the nonprofit and corporate sectors to discuss the social impact of video games and ways of encouraging innovation and development in positive social directions.
State Arts Funding — April 20-21, 2001
Edward Arian, Susan Bonaiuto, Bill Brown,
Ed Dicky, D. Carroll Joynes, David Karraker,
Jonathan Katz, Gail Leftwich, Paul Minicucci,
Kevin Mulcahy, Anthony Radich, Lawrence Rothfield,
Michael Rushton, J. Mark Schuster, Christopher Zinn
The goal of this convening was to plan a large-scale study of state funding of the arts and humanities. No such study had been done for the past thirty years, despite state funding being the largest conduit of public funding for the arts and humanities. The study, titled Mapping State Cultural Policy: The State of Washington, was published in 2003.
Taking Funds, Giving Offense, Making Money: The Brooklyn Museum of Art Controversy and the Dilemmas of Arts Policy — February 12, 2000
D. Carroll Joynes, Lawrence Rothfield,
Richard Epstein, Geoffrey R. Stone, Cass Sunstein,
David Strauss, Stephen B. Presser,
J. Mark Schuster, Homi K. Bhabha, David A. Ross,
Teri Edelstein, W. J. T. Mitchell, David Halle,
Elisabeth Tiso, Gihong Yi, James Cuno,
Gilbert S. Edelson, András Szántó, Kimerly Rorschach
This conference took the debate surrounding former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's decision to deny city funds for a contentious art exhibit as a springboard to ponder fundamental questions of cultural policy.
Toward the Development of a National Cultural Policy Research Agenda — January 21-23, 1999
Robert Hughes, Milton Cummings, John Brewer,
James Schamus, Jed Perl, Gigi Bradford,
Glenn Wallach, Marian Godfrey, Richard Epstein,
Joel Snyder, Bill Landes,Richard Kurin, Neil Harris,
Thomas Krens, Alberta Arthurs, Catherine David
Motivated by a sense that public policy on the arts and humanities has been driven by partisan politics more than by informed understanding and research, the conference organizers sought to provide a forum where some of the complex issues central to cultural policy could be more fully and objectively explored and understood.