“Build on what we have done”: The South Side Community Arts Center’s Survival Amid the Changing Landscape of Federal Funding
| Author(s) | Lacour, Sarah | |
| Date Accessioned | 2024-06-12T17:21:27Z | |
| Date Available | 2024-06-12T17:21:27Z | |
| Publication Date | 2024-05 | |
| Abstract | Two significant moments in federal arts patronage in the United States in the twentieth century, the New Deal arts programs and the National Endowment for the Arts had the potential to democratize access to the arts across the country. Community arts movements emerged in conjunction with the rise in national interest in the arts, presenting new opportunities to distribute cultural capital outside of major arts institutions, to previously underserved communities. By considering the unique case of the survival of the South Side Community Arts Center, first created under the New Deal arts programs, this thesis provides an examination of the impacts of federal arts funding at the community level and evaluating its success at revolutionizing access to the arts. This thesis presents an analysis of the impact of federal arts funding from the neighborhood level by synthesizing scholarship, Chicago’s historic newspapers, government reports, speeches, and essays from community leaders. Ultimately, this perspective indicates that although federal arts funding increased access to the arts around the country, its political and institutional limitations did not radically transform access to the arts at the local level or provide significant support for the survival of community arts centers. However, this perspective revealed the potential federal arts funding holds to democratize the arts, if properly distributed at the community level. | |
| Advisor | enter | |
| Program | enter | |
| URL | https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/34490 | |
| Language | en_US | |
| Publisher | University of Delaware | |
| Title | “Build on what we have done”: The South Side Community Arts Center’s Survival Amid the Changing Landscape of Federal Funding | |
| Type | Thesis |