A new RAND study, commissioned by The Wallace Foundation, Gifts of the Muse: Reframing the Benefits of the Arts, argues that basing so much of the case for the arts on their claimed external benefits - their utility in addressing public issues and concerns - has drawn us away from the true power and potential of the arts, and weakened the long-term position of the arts in the public mind. Sponsored by the Wallace Foundation, online arts and cultural publication, ArtsJournal, engaged 11 prominent US arts figures to 'blog' from March 7-11 on the question: "Is there a better case to be made for the arts?", using the above position as a starting point. Readers were also invited to contribute to the discussion and their comments were incorporated into the weblog archive. Participants included:

Ben Cameron - Executive director of Theatre Communications Group;

Adrian Ellis - Managing consultant of AEA Consulting;

Bill Ivey - Director of the Curb Center, Former Chair, NEA;

Joli Jensen - Professor, University of Tulsa, Author: Is Art Good for Us?;

Jim Kelly - Director, 4Culture, Seattle, WA;

Phil Kennicott - Culture critic, Washington Post;

Glenn Lowry - Director, Museum of Modern Art;

Robert L. Lynch - President, Americans for the Arts;

Midori - Violinist;

Andrew Taylor - Director, Bolz Centre, University of Wisconsin;

Russell Willis Taylor - President, National Arts Strategies. The discussion was moderated by Doug McLennan, Editor of ArtsJournal.com. To access the discussion archive online, go to: www.artsjournal.com/muse

www.artsjournal.com/muse