The 2009 Americans for the Arts National Arts Policy Roundtable The Role of the Arts in Strengthening and Inspiring the 21st Century Global Community.
Americans for the Arts in partnership with the Sundance Preserve launched the first National Arts Policy Roundtable in October 2006. Each year the Roundtable brings together high level public and private sector leaders in dialogue on issues critical to advancing American culture and society. Since its founding, nearly 100 leaders have convened at Sundance to recommend the policies, practices, and research necessary to move from thought to action on such critical issues as the future of private sector funding for the arts, the role of the arts in building a creative 21st century workforce, and the arts and civic engagement.
In envisioning a greater role for the arts in cultural diplomacy and engagement, thirty six (PDF, 365KB) national and international public and private sector leaders met at the Sundance Resort and Preserve in Utah on September 24-26, 2009. There they acknowledged the multiple roles the arts can play in strengthening cultural relations globally:
Cultural interaction in its broadest sense profoundly influences—both negatively and positively—the world’s political and economic systems; the arts can be a positive force in tipping those interactions toward the positive.
The arts act as powerful catalysts for opening new dialogue, building bridges to better understanding, and providing the creative, common ground from which new ideas and relationships are sown.
Though states and corporations and individuals are often economically and politically entwined with one another, problems erupt when we are not as culturally interconnected as we need to be. The need for deepening cross cultural and transnational understandings is great.
Because of the power of the arts to transcend differences and communicate across cultures, participants agreed on the need to assert a more visible and active role for the arts in improving the relations between the United States and the world. Five areas (PDF, 353KB) emerged from the participants’ discussions which represent opportunities for improving public and private sector cooperation and action:
Leadership and Strategic Partnerships
Messaging and Casemaking
Resources
Technology
Public Policy
We are pleased to share with you the results of our efforts at the 2009 Americans for the Arts National Arts Policy Roundtable, and hope that this report serves as a launching point to a new global dialogue between the public and private sectors and within our communities on the role the arts can play in improving relations between the U.S. and the world.
Past Americans for the Arts National Arts Policy Roundtable:
2008 The Arts and Civic Engagement: Strengthening the 21st Century Community
2007 The Role of the Arts in Building the 21st Century American Workforce
2006 The Future of Private Giving to the Arts in America
For more information about the National Arts Policy Roundtalbe, contact Marete Wester at 212.223.2787, x 1105.
http://www.americansforthearts.org/information_services/research/policy_roundtable/004.asp