The Columbus Foundation just released the results of an extended study of the Columbus, Ohio, arts marketplace. The ”Columbus Arts Market Sustainability Analysis” (available in PDF format) seeks to measure ‘sustainability’ for the arts and culture market far beyond the fuzzy sense of the word we usually use. To do so, it compares 14 cities to Columbus with direct and secondary research on attendance and market, contributed income, human capital, assets, and product. The resulting index defined each of the arts markets in the 14 cities as ‘viable,’ ‘sustainable,’ or ‘vital’.
In the process of defining and measuring sustainability and vitality for each local arts market, the study dives right into the current debate about whether the arts infrastructure is ‘overbuilt.’ But it does so by underscoring the balance required between activities and resources in the community.
The study features a big and juicy bibliography of articles and research that alone is worth the price of admission (especially when admission is free). But it’s also an important effort to move beyond the soft and squishy talk about ‘sustainability’ toward a more intentional and evidenced-based exploration of what might come next for Columbus, and for other cities that take up the charge.
Full disclosure: I’m a frequent consulting partner with AMS Planning & Research Corp., the firm that produced this research and this report. But I didn’t work with them on this project.
