Leo Kotkin had a piece in the Wall Street Journal last week on the growth of cultural facilities in the suburbs of America. Like most things cultural, the boom seems directly related to shifts in where people live — especially people with means:
Since 1960, more than 90% of all population growth in America’s metropolitan areas has taken place in suburbia. Today roughly two out of three people in large metropolitan areas live in the suburbs.
It’s a difficult trend for urban arts organizations, many of whom strive to be the public lure that draws consumers out of the suburbs and into the city. And it’s an interesting omen of the challenges to come, as more and more cultural facilities are built while many wonder if we may already have more than we can collectively support.
It’s a vexing challenge, since more opportunity, more access, and more public space for creative experience and expression seems like an absolute good. But the long-term mathematics of so much fixed capital, requiring ever-growing annual operating support, has me wondering how these communities will balance the equation over the coming decade.
