Publications
To be notified of events and publications:
Books
The Rape of Mesopotamia: Behind the Looting of the Iraq Museum
Entering Cultural Communities: Diversity and Change in the Nonprofit Arts
Antiquities Under Siege
Unsettling "Sensation": Arts Policy Lessons from the Brooklyn Museum of Art Controversy
Online Publications
Teaching Artists Research Project
NEA Survey of Public Participation in the Arts monographs
Demographic Transformation and the Future of Museums
Chicago Music City
Mapping Cultural Participation in Chicago
The Future of Public Television
Mapping State Cultural Policy: The State of Washington
Working Papers
Books
The Rape of Mesopotamia: Behind the Looting of the Iraq Museum
Lawrence Rothfield
University of Chicago Press, 2009
On April 10, 2003, as the world watched a statue of Saddam Hussein come crashing down in the heart of Baghdad, looters attacked the Iraq National Museum. Despite the presence of an American tank unit, the pillaging went unchecked, and more than 15,000 artifacts – some of the oldest evidence of human culture – disappeared into the shadowy worldwide market in illicit antiquities. Since then the losses of antiquities in Iraq have increased, and include half a million artifacts that had previously been unexcavated.
Buy from University of Chicago Press or Amazon
Entering Cultural Communities: Diversity and Change in the Nonprofit Arts
Diane Grams and Betty Farrell, Editors
Rutgers University Press, 2008
Long ago, arts organizations sought patrons primarily from among the rich and well educated, but for many decades they have sought to broaden their audiences. 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. This book draws on interviews that the CPC research team conducted with leaders, staff, volunteers, and audience members from 85 nonprofit cultural organizations to explore how they are trying to increase participation and the extent to which they have been successful.
Buy from Rutgers University Press or Amazon
Antiquities Under Siege
Edited by Lawrence Rothfield
AltaMira Press, 2008
This book contains the first full published account of the disasters that have befallen Iraq's cultural heritage after the removal of Saddam Hussein. It analyzes why the array of laws and international conventions, the advocacy efforts of cultural heritage organizations, and the military planning and implementation of cultural protection operations all failed, and continue to fail, to prevent massive and irreversible loss. Looking forward, the book identifies new planning procedures, policy mechanisms, and implementation strategies capable of succeeding, so the mistakes of Iraq will not be replicated in other regions in crisis whose cultural heritages are at risk.
Buy from AltaMira Press or Amazon
Unsettling "Sensation": Arts Policy Lessons from the Brooklyn Museum of Art Controversy
Edited by Lawrence Rothfield
Rutgers University Press, 2001
In September 1999, Sensation, an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, opened its doors, igniting a controversy that would rage for many months in the world's art capital. This collection of cutting-edge art from the Saatchi collection in England, and the museum's arrangements with Charles Saatchi to finance the show, so offended New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani that he attempted to shut the museum down by withholding city funds that are crucially needed by that institution. Only a legal ruling prevented him from doing so. Like the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition before it, Sensation once again raises questions about public spending for "controversial" art, but with the added dimension of religious conflict, animal rights, and charges of commercialization.
The contributors to this volume use the Sensation exhibition as a springboard to analyze larger questions such as what authority the government has to withhold public funds; how to interpret the First Amendment; how to reflect the cultural and religious values of a diverse metropolitan area; and the ethical dilemmas of the relationship between museums and dealers in art. In their articles - written expressly for this volume, and spanning the disciplines of law, cultural studies, public policy, and art - the contributors consider these issues at the center of arts policy. They propose various legal strategies, curatorial practices, and standards of doing business intended to serve the public interest in the arts.
Contributors are Carol Becker, Homi K. Bhabha, John Brewer, James Cuno, Gilbert S. Edelson, Esq., Teri J. Edelstein, Richard A. Epstein, David Halle, D. Carroll Joynes, W.J.T. Mitchell, Stephen B. Presser, Kimerly Rorschach, David A. Ross, Lawrence Rothfield, J. Mark Schuster, Geoffrey R. Stone, David A. Strauss, Cass R. Sunstein, András Szántó, Elisabeth Tiso, and Gihong Yi.
Buy from Rutgers University Press or Amazon
Online Publications
Teaching Artists Research Project
Published September 2011
There have been remarkable advances in arts education, both in and out of schools, over the last fifteen years, despite a difficult policy environment. Teaching artists, the hybrid professionals that link the arts to education and community life, are the creative resource behind much of this innovation. Their best efforts are redefining the roles the arts play in public education. Their work is central to arts organizations' strategies for civic engagement and diverse audiences. Excellent research has shown that arts education is instrumental to the social, emotional, and cognitive development of thousands of young people. But little is known about teaching artists. Led by CPC Research Affiliate Nick Rabkin, the Teaching Artists Research Project (TARP) deepens our understanding of world of teaching artists through studies in twelve communities, and it will inform policy designed to make their work sustainable, more effective, and more meaningful.
Executive Summary and Final Report (norc.org)
NEA Survey of Public Participation in the Arts monographs
Published February 2011
In June 2009, the Cultural Policy Center and NORC were awarded two of five competitive research grants from the National Endowment for the Arts to examine and interpret data from the 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts and previous SPPA surveys (1982, 1992, 2002). Nick Rabkin headed a project investigating the relationship among arts learning (both past and current), overall educational attainment, and all forms of arts participation. Vince Welch, a senior statistician at NORC, headed the project on "Race, Ethnicity, and Arts Participation." The projects resulted in monographs that speak to a broad group of scholars and cultural practitioners.
Rabkin's monograph, co-authored with E.C. Hedberg and published in February 2011, received attention in the Los Angeles Times and was cited in a report by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities titled "Reinvesting in Arts Education" (PDF).
Read Nick Rabkin's monograph: Arts Education in America: what the declines mean for arts participation (PDF)
Demographic Transformation and the Future of Museums
Published May 2010
In 2009 the Center for the Future of Museums commissioned Betty Farrell to produce a report to explore in more detail the demographic trends in American society and their implications for museums. The report identifies, synthesizes, and interprets existing research on demographics, cultural consumer attitudes, museum diversity practices, and related topics. It is meant to help the museum field explore the future of museums in a “majority minority” society. Topics of inquiry include national demographic projections for the next 25 years with a focus on the shifting racial and ethnic composition of the United States; current patterns of museum attendance (and cultural participation more generally) by race, ethnicity, cultural origin and other relevant factors; culturally/ethnically specific attitudes towards museums, including perceptual and behavioral barriers to museum attendance; ways that museums currently reach out to diverse audiences; specific models and best practices; and larger trends in societal attitudes towards racial and other classifications.
For more information, see the University news office article.
An excerpt of the report has been published in the September-October 2010 issue of Museum Magazine.
Publication (PDF)
Chicago Music City
Published August 2007
Chicago Music City compares the strength and vitality of music industries and scenes across the United States. Sociologists, urban planners, and real-estate developers point to quality of life and availability of cultural amenities as important indicators of the health and future success of urban areas. Economic impact studies show the importance of music to local economies. This publication compares Chicago’s musical strength with the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., focusing on 11 comparison cities: Chicago and its demographic peers, New York and Los Angeles, and eight other cities with strong musical reputations – Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Las Vegas, Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans and Seattle.
Executive Summary (PDF)
Publication (PDF)
Mapping Cultural Participation in Chicago
Published March 2006
Chicago's cultural institutions attract millions of visitors every year. What is the connection between the city's major cultural organizations and its diverse population? This study draws upon data – ticket purchases, subscriptions, donor lists – from over 60 organizations to examine how these transactions are linked to the economic, racial, and ethnic data from the Census to provide neighborhood-by-neighborhood maps of participation patterns. The study, funded by a grant from the Joyce Foundation, establishes a benchmark to enable organizations to assess the future effectiveness of their diversity-building efforts.
Executive Summary (PDF)
Publication (PDF)
The Future of Public Television
Published October 2005
This conference report provides analyses and perspectives from national public broadcasting and communications professionals who convened at a two-day conference hosted by the CPC.
Publication (PDF)
Mapping State Cultural Policy: The State of Washington
Published 2003
State-level funding for the arts, humanities, heritage, and allied forms of culture is an important source of financial support, dwarfing the aid provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. This investigation, underwritten by the Pew Charitable Trusts, shows that states support culture through policies and programs scattered across state government and through means that go beyond direct funding.
Publication (PDF)