"The arts should not be about economic development fundamentally," Mayor Dave Cieslewicz told 300 activists today at a one-day "Artgrowth Summit" at Monona Terrace....

Cieslewicz allowed that attracting educated, creative people to a city is good policy. But he disparaged the "class" concept as condescending, saying it seems to "relegate the street people with purple hair to bit players in a play performed by the creative class.' "

Art is about three things, said Cieslewicz: creativity, honesty and taking risks, he said.

A fundamental role of the arts is to "shape our ideas of who we are and to help us govern ourselves," he said. "Politics without art is dull and uninformed. Arts without politics is without a point."