Aisha Pasha
Thesis Proposal
Core Question: How can the Creative Providence plan promote sustainability in the arts and within the city?
Background and Objectives: Earlier this year the City of Providence Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism along with Mayor David Cicilline launched Creative Providence: A Cultural Plan for the Creative Sector. This multiyear plan intends to further develop and capitalize on the city’s many artistic communities and creative potential. Rebranding Providence as the “Creative Capital” the plan aims to stimulate the local economy by attracting new corporations, potential residents and tourists and keeping the city’s creative young talent. However, by positioning the city as a center of innovation it seems that the campaign should also promote sustainability through the arts since being on the cutting edge of many fields now means “green” innovation through technology and design. The purpose of this research will be to examine how the arts can encourage sustainability and the potential impact of sustainability through the arts on the cultural and economic development of the city.
Significance: The significance of the research will be to look specifically at how the arts can be made more sustainable and how sustainable development through the arts can benefit the long-term cultural and economic growth of Providence. The importance of vibrant arts communities and sustainability on the cultural life and economy of cities has been studied independently, but rarely have these two areas been overlapped to consider how they can work together and reinforce one another. Other points to be considered are the value that sustainability adds to the arts, the effectiveness of using artistic forms to encourage green initiatives and what sustainability could mean for community arts projects and programs.
Outline
I. Introduction
a. Core Question: How can the Creative Providence plan promote
sustainability in the arts and within the city?
b. Outline goals and objectives
c. Significance of the research
II. Sustainable Development
a. Review how sustainability is defined by various groups including environmentalists, businesses, local governments, laypeople
b. How does sustainable development encourage economic growth in urban areas? What is the impact of “green”marketing?
c. Case Study Examples and Statistics: What has been done elsewhere and what have been the effects?
III. The Creative Economy and Greening the Arts
a. How are vibrant arts communities an economic asset to cities?
b. What would sustainable development through the arts actually mean? How can the arts be made more sustainable and what are specific examples of this?
c. How do sustainability and creative arts reinforce one another?
IV. Providence
a. Review in further detail the Creative Capital Plan and arts initiatives put forth by other arts organizations within the state i.e. Rhode Island Council for the Arts (RISCA), Rhode Island Citizens for the Public Arts
b. What is already being done within the city to promote sustainability and sustainable arts organizations, businesses and design firms?
c. How can Providence expand these initiatives to include sustainable development?
V. Conclusion and Recommendations
Sources
Organizations and Community Contacts
Providence: The Creative Capital
Managed under the City of Providence, Department of Art, Culture and Tourism
Stephanie Fortunato - Program Manager
Rhode Island Citizens for the Arts
Sustaining the Arts in RI: A Five Year Strategy
http://www.ri4arts.org/RI4arts_3_19_09_sustaining-the-arts-in-ri.pdf
Lisa Carnavale - Executive Director
Rhode Island State Council for Arts (RISCA)
“Greening the Arts”
A conference and online resource put together by the British Council and the Association of Performing Arts Presenters on the sustainable innovation in the arts
http://www.britishcouncil.org/usa-arts-greening-the-arts.htm
Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts
An LA based organization the provides a network of resources to artists to help them make their work more environmentally friendly while still maintaining artistic quality
ian@sustainablepractice.org or miranda@sustainablepractice.org
Literature
Bostwick, Elizabeth. “Going Green with Public Art Policy.” Community Arts Forum. December 2008.
Caves, Richard. Creative Industries: Contracts Between Art and Commerce. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2002.
Florida, Richard. Cities and the Creative Class. Routledge, New York: 2005.
Leaves, Francis and Mark Motte. Providence: The Renaissance City. Northeastern University Press, 2004.
McLaren, Virginia W. “Urban Sustainability Reporting.” Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol 62, Spring 1996.
Molotch, Harvey. “The City as a Growth Machine: Toward a Political Economy of Place.” American Journal of Sociology, 82, 2 (September 1976).
O’Neill, Karen M., Thomas Rudel, and Melanie Hughes McDermott. “Why the Growth Machine Goes Green in Environmentally Constrained Communities”
Shifferd, Patricia A. and Dorothy Lagerroos. “Converging Streams: The Community Arts and Sustainable Community Movements.” Community Arts Forum, November 2006
Tepper, Steven Jay. “Creative Assets and the Changing Economy.” Journal of Arts Management Law and Society. 2002
Wheeler, Stephen. “Planning Sustainable and Livable Cities.” 1998.