Edited by Steven J Tepper, Bill Ivey, Engaging Art explores what it means to participate in the arts in contemporary society – from museum attendance to music downloading. Drawing on the perspectives of experts from diverse fields, this volume analyzes key trends involving technology, audience demographics, religion, and the rise of ‘do-it-yourself’ participatory culture. 

Commissioned by The Wallace Foundation and independently carried out by the Curb Center at Vanderbilt University, Engaging Art offers a new framework for understanding the momentous changes impacting America’s cultural life over the past fifty years.

The volume offers suggestive glimpses into the character and consequence of a new engagement with old-fashioned participation in the arts. The authors in this volume hint at a bright future for art and citizen art making. They argue that if we center a new commitment to arts participation in everyday art making, creativity, and quality of life, we will not only restore the lifelong pleasure of homemade art, but will likely seed a new generation of enthusiasts who will support America’s signature nonprofit cultural institutions well into the future

Contents include:

Introduction: The Question of Participation Bill Ivey

Engaging Art: What Counts? Steven J. Tepper and Yang Gao 

Comparing Participation in the Arts and Culture J. Mark Schuster

Multiple Motives, Multiple Experiences: The Diversity of Cultural Participation Francie Ostrower, Ph.D.

Arts Participation as Cultural Capital in the United States, 1982—2002: Signs of decline? Paul DiMaggio and Toqir Mukhtar

Changing Arts Audiences: Capitalizing on Omnivorousness Richard A. Peterson and Gabriel Rossman

The Crisis in Culture and Inequality Bonnie H. Erickson

The Next Great Transformation: Leveraging Policy and Research to Advance Cultural Vitality Steven J. Tepper

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