Art Appreciation
Art and culture participation makes a difference in people’s lives on a massive scale. Our societies stand to gain from investments in the arts and arts education. Appreciating the art works made by others help us become not just happier and healthier, but also better more engaged citizens. Data from the General Social Survey linked participation as either an audience member or creator to higher levels of civic engagement. We need to continue to invest in arts and culture programs to ensure that everyone has equitable access and the opportunity to participate. It is an investment toward a brighter future for all.
Research also demonstrates that the value of art and culture extends far beyond individual engagement, providing economic benefits too. Studies have shown that cultural participation stimulates job growth, business investment, tourism, neighborhood
The correlations are quite compelling.
People who attended art shows or read poetry were more likely to volunteer in the last year. They were also more likely to have helped a stranger, donated blood, given money to a homeless person, or donated time or money to an organization. When queried about their civic participation in the last month, people who participated in arts events were also more likely to have attended a public meeting, contacted an elected official, and voted.
The difference was even more profound for those who created art themselves. People who had done creative writing or woodworking or played music at least once in the past year, were much more likely to have done each of the activities listed in the survey, including volunteering in the community.
The same study also found an increase in happiness with art appreciation and participation. The authors matched up how often people had attended art shows or read poetry with their self-reported levels of happiness. People who did either activity several times a year were happier than those who had never done it or did it less often.
Now more than ever, we need to remember the role and purpose of arts and culture in our lives; it plays a significant role in strengthening our economy, health, well-being, society, and education.
We call this “Placemaking or Urban Enchantment Engineering"” — the connection between people and places, loosely defined as a multi-faceted approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces that builds on the physical, historical and cultural assets of a community to create vibrant places that attract investment and encourage economic growth.
In this context, placemaking is based on the premise that if people are enchanted by their surroundings, they will be more likely to act in ways that benefit themselves and their communities—by spending time in public spaces. This Urban Enchantment Engineering is achieved using Arts and Culture as a tool to achieve sustainable, healthy, and humane cities.
The thinking is that placemaking starts with the creation of public art inspired by community input about what they want to see in their cityscape. This helps communities craft a vision for their neighborhood or downtown area. Public art can be a catalyst for change; it can transform perceptions of communities, attract investment, and promote economic growth. It can also enable people to express themselves in new ways, encouraging them to join in the development of their city.
Creative placemaking saw its origin in Canada and was partly inspired by the work of A Pattern Language, a book which outlines practical applications for design theories developed by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein at UC Berkeley.
What we call "Urban Enchantment Engineering" is simply based on the principals of Social Placemaking as outlined in this book.
The first social place-making project was launched by Miami Herald columnist and award-winning author Liz Balmaseda, who created an event she called “Art Attack” to bring attention to the often-overlooked Wynwood neighborhood in Miami. In collaboration with dozens of local artists, musicians, and small business owners, she brought a vibrant arts festival to one of the most blighted pockets of her city – an area well-known for its drug violence and high arrest rates. As a result, over ten thousand people came out to participate in the arts festival, and more importantly, revitalization efforts led by several local stakeholders followed.
This is no different from what had done for decades with Dumbo Arts Festival in Brooklyn. But Dumbo required the work of hundreds of talented artists, curators, and leaders of not-for-profit organizations to make it happen it uses arts and culture to influence the physical, economic, and social aspects of urban development. This type of placemaking is achieved through a multi-faceted approach to creating public spaces that builds on the physical, historical, and cultural assets of a community. This approach takes place along several fronts:
- Art and culture as the centerpiece of a local identity
- A vibrant streetscape that brings people together to socialize and interact.
- An enhanced sense of place that encourages discovery, builds community pride, improves human health, increases property values, supports small business entrepreneurship, provides jobs for artists, promotes environmental stewardship, combats crime and violence, promotes social justice, unites communities under a cohesive vision for the future.
This approach is also called "Place Marketing" by Master Planners. From an economic point of view, Place Marketing efforts are intended to attract new businesses that will in turn create jobs and bolster tax revenues - something mayors seek in every way.
Place Marketing is about making the communities where we live and work more attractive, vibrant, sustainable, and healthy by leveraging our arts and culture industries. It is time to make the invisible visible.
Urban Enchantment Engineering is a grassroots movement that brings awareness to how arts and culture can be used as a tool for urban development, by bringing together complementary uses of land through placemaking efforts. This is part of sensible Urbanism and Smart Growth. It is a community effort which generates innovative ideas to make communities more livable. It is all about taking care of the public realm, from public parks to streets and sidewalks, with an emphasis on bringing people together in shared space -- in essence, making our spaces enchanting.
What may seem like magic spells are simply superior design, applied with a little bit of panache.
The city is a living organism, just like you and me. It evolves every day. It can be painful or glorious. Just like life itself. The city is constantly changing, with some parts of it evolving faster than others. The aim of arts and culture is to help the parts that need our help the most, by using arts and culture as a tool for urban development.
It is not an easy task; it is not for the faint of heart. It takes courage and vision, with determination to see ideas transformed into reality.
We are in this together, with our differences, similarities, and common goals. We need to listen more, talk less. We need to learn from each other. We need everyone to get involved because that is how change happens.
