Revised 2/12/12
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
PUBLIC POLICY AND THE ARTS
Course PADM-GP2446 Spring 2012
Wednesday 4:55-6:35 PM
Tisch Hall (Stern) LC 13
Professor Ruth Ann Stewart
ras20@nyu.edu
Anna Kichorowsky, Course Assistant
akichorowsky@nyu.edu
Course Prerequisite: Introduction to Public Policy (Wagner); Urban Development and the Arts
(Steinhardt); or comparable course/work experience. Email waiver requests with resume to instructor
prior to registering. A background in the arts is not required.
Course Objectives (4 credits): To broaden students’ understanding of public policy through the
knowledge, insight, and analytic skills gained from the study of public, private and commercial sector
concepts and issues that focus on the arts and culture.
Assignments: Class meetings include lectures, and active and informed class discussion requiring the
completion of weekly reading assignments and Blackboard postings. See Blackboard for
requirements/guidelines for written and team assignments:
1. Team Presentations (20%)
2. Feedbacks (15%)
o As designated on syllabus, students will email Course Assistant (within body of
email, not as attachment) a 200-word assessment of public policy concepts/issues
they found particularly interesting or challenging.
o Send email within 48 hours after designated class with Subject Box marked:
FEEDBACK #…/Student’s Last Name.
o Grading based on student’s ability to analyze topic selected in concise/clear language
(spelling & grammar count) and connect to session’s concept/issue.
o FEEDBACKS are not to be philosophical ruminations, advocacy statements,
summaries of lectures, or book reviews.
3. Public Policy Issue Brief (20%). Due March 21.
4. Topic proposal (5%) – student choice -- for final research paper due in advance for approval by
instructor. Narrative or outline format. Due March 30.
5. Final Research Paper (40%) Due May 9.
6. Students will prepare in advance 3 typed questions to address to team presentations and guest
speakers. Questions will be collected and noted.
Required Reading:
 Cherbo, Joni M., Ruth Ann Stewart and Margaret Jane Wyszomirski, Eds. Understanding the
Arts and Creative Sector in the United States. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ Pr, 2008.
(Available for purchase at NYU Professional Bookstore, 530 La Guardia Place)
 Relevant Blackboard items. Updated throughout semester.
 Books on reserve at Bobst Library
Students are invited to send Course Asst relevant web sites & articles to share with class and
Blackboard posting. See www.artsusa.org for up to date info on art issues and research.
PUBLIC POLICY AND THE ARTS
Course PADM-GP2446 Spring 2012
COURSE SCHEDULE
Session 1/Jan 25
Introduction to the course: what is cultural policy?
Required:
 Joni Cherbo, “Introduction” (pp.1-5) and “Toward an Arts and Creative Sector” (pp. 9-27) in
Cherbo, Stewart & Wyszomirski, eds. Understanding the Arts and Creative Sector in the United
States. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ Pr, 2008. (hereafter CSW)
 "Timeline of U.S. Federal Cultural Policy Milestones – 1787 to 2006." Compiled by Aimee R.
Fullman, Canadian Cultural Observatory. April 2007.
www.aimeefullman.com/American%20Cultural%20Policy%20Timeline.pdf
Recommended:
 Margaret Wyszomirski, “Field Building: The Road to Cultural Policy Studies in the United
States” (pp.39-57) in CSW.
Session 2/Feb 1
Cultural Policy and the Non Profit Sector
Required:
 David Throsby, “Arts Policy” (pp.58-87) in The Economics of Cultural Policy Cambridge Univ
Pr, 2010.
 Outline of the U.S. Non Profit System (Stewart).
 How the United States Funds the Arts. Wash, DC: National Endowment for the Arts, January
2007. www.arts.gov/pub/how.pdf
 AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy. Giving USA 2010 (power point).
 Blackboard articles
Recommended:
 Peter Dobkin Hall, "A Historical Overview of Philanthropy, Voluntary Associations, and
Nonprofit Organizations in the U.S., 1600-2000" (pp. 32-60) in Walter W. Powell and Richard
Steinberg, Eds. The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook. New Haven: Yale Univ Pr, 2007.
[Bobst]
Assignment: Feedback #1 (sessions 1-2) due Friday, February 3
Session 3/Feb 8
The “awkward embrace”: government in the development of the U.S. cultural sector
Required:
 Neil Harris, “Public Subsidies and American Art” (pp. 29-32) in Grantmakers in the Arts
Newsletter. Winter 1996.
 Lawrence Mankin, “Federal Arts Patronage in the New Deal” (pp.77-95) in Kevin Mulcahy &
Margaret J. Wyszomirski, Eds. America’s Commitment to Culture. Boulder, CO: Westview Pr,
1995.
 Penny Von Eschen, “Ike Gets Dizzy” (pp.1-26) in Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz
Ambassadors Play the Cold War. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ Pr, 2004.
 Louis Menand, “Unpopular Front: A Critic At Large” (pp.174-179) in The New Yorker,
10/17/05. Vol. 81:32.
Recommended:
 Frances Stonor Saunders, “Yanqui Doodles” (pp. 252-278) in The Cultural Cold War: The CIA
and the World of Arts and Letters. NY: The New Press, 1999. [Bobst]
 Mike O’Sullivan, “Remembering Dizzy Gillespie’s Jazz Diplomacy” Los Angeles: Voice of
America, 12/18/06.
 Bruce Bustard. A New Deal for the Arts. Wash, DC: National Archives, 1997. [Bobst]
 Roger Kennedy. When Art Worked: the New Deal, Art and Democracy. NY: Rizzoli, 2009.
2
PUBLIC POLICY AND THE ARTS
Course PADM-GP2446 Spring 2012
3
Highly illustrated [Bobst]
Assignment: Team I
Session 4/ Feb 15
Winds of Change: creation of a U.S. public and professional cultural support “system”
Required:
 Milton Cummings, “To Change a Nation’s Cultural Policy: The Kennedy Administration and the
Arts in the United States” (pp. 95-120) in Mulcahy & Wyszomirski, Eds.
 Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. “Notes on a National Cultural Policy” (pp. 254-261) in Politics of Hope.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962.
 “The Organization of Public Support for the Arts” (pp.121-143) in Mulcahy & Wyszomirski.
 Julia F. Lowell and Elizabeth Ondaatje, “Introduction” (pp.1-2), “At Arm’s Length” (pp.5-15),
and “Some Facts about State Arts Agencies” (pp.53-55) in The Arts and State Governments.
Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2006. www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG359
Examples of cultural agencies and service organizations:
-- Federal: National Endowment for the Arts www.arts.gov; National Endowment for the
Humanities www.humanities.gov; Institute for Museum and Library Services www.imls.gov
Corporation for Public Broadcasting www.cpb.org.
-- State: New York State Council for the Arts www.nysca.org; Ohio Arts Council
www.oac.state.oh.us; State Humanities Councils www.neh.gov/whoweare/statecouncils.html
-- Service organizations: Americans for the Arts www.artsusa.org; Assoc of Performing Arts
Presenters www.artspresenters.org; American Assoc of Museums www.aam-us.org; Opera
America www.operaamerica.org ; National Assembly of State Arts Agencies www.nasaaarts.org
 Blackboard articles
Recommended:
 “History of Public Broadcasting in the United States” (Timeline 1940s-2006)
www.current.org/history
 For fuller treatment see Steve Behrens, Ed. A History of Public Broadcasting. Wash, DC:
Current, 2000 [Bobst]
 Margaret Wyszomirski, “The Politics of Art: Nancy Hanks and the National Endowment for the
Arts” (pp. 207-245) in Jameson W. Doig and Erwin C. Hargrove, eds. Leadership and
Innovation: A Biographical Perspective on Entrepreneurs in Government. Balt: Johns Hopkins
Univ Pr, 1987. [Bobst]
Session 5/Feb 22
The Culture War: “Art and Outrage” film
Assignment: Feedback #2 (Session 3-5) due Friday, February 24
Session 6/Feb 29
“Whose culture is it anyway?”
Required:
 Joseph W. Zeigler, "The Crisis Starts" (pp.67-85) in Arts in Crisis. Chicago: a cappella books,
1994.
 Lance Izumi, “How the Political Right Views Arts Funding” (pp. 5-9, 25) in Grantmakers in the
Arts Newsletter. Vol. 9, no. 1, Spring 1996.
 Robert Brustein, “Coercive Philanthropy” (pp.218-225) in Bradford et al, Eds. The Politics of
Culture: Policy Perspectives for Individuals, Institutions, and Communities. NY: The New Press,
2000.
 Robert Mapplethorpe. The Perfect Moment. Catalogue of the exhibit that, along with Serrano,
PUBLIC POLICY AND THE ARTS
Course PADM-GP2446 Spring 2012
4
triggered the controversy. [Bobst]
Arthur Brooks, “Are Culture Wars Inevitable in the Arts,” Center for Arts and Culture, Wash,
DC. (Posted March 2005)
 The Independent Commission's Report to Congress on the National Endowment for the
Arts. Wash, DC: JAMLS, vol. 20, no.3, Fall 1990. (Convened to develop recommendations to
Congress for resolving the NEA controversy. Includes concise background and history of the
NEA, its structure, and the Commission’s findings.)
 Blackboard articles
Assignment: Team II
Assignment: 3 typed questions for team presentation

NOTE: Submit final research paper topic proposal via email (not attachment) by COB Friday, March
30. Code email Subject Box: TOPIC PROPOSAL /Student’s last name.
Session 7/Mar 7
The Art of the Deal: cultural policy meets real politick at The Brooklyn Museum
Required:
 In Lawrence Rothfield, Ed. Unsettling Sensation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ Pr, 2001:
-- Lawrence Rothfield, “Introduction: The Interests in “Sensation” (pp.1-11)
-- Carol Becker, “The Brooklyn Controversy” (pp. 15-21)
-- James Cuno, “Sensation and the Ethics of Funding Exhibitions” (pp. 162-170)
-- J. Mark Schuster, “Who Should Pay (for the Arts and Culture?) Who Should Decide? And
What Difference Should It Make?” (pp. 72-89)
 Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection. Brooklyn Museum of Art Exhibit
Catalogue. [Bobst]
 Blackboard articles including contemporary articles directly related to the case.
Assignment: Public Policy Issue Brief due March 21 class
SPRING BREAK (no class March 14)
Session 8/Mar 21
The Arts and Social Justice
Guest Speaker: Elizabeth Theobald Richards, Creative Fellow, The Opportunity Agenda; former Ford
Foundation Program Officer, Media, Arts and Culture
Required:
 Maria Rosario Jackson, “Art and Cultural Participation at the Heart of Community Life” (pp. 92104) in CSW.
 www.opportunityagenda.org
 “Can the Arts Change the World?” NY: RCLA, NYU Wagner School, 2006
 Blackboard articles
Assignment: Public Policy Issue Brief due at today’s class
Assignment: 3 questions for speaker
Session 9/Mar 28
Politics of Culture: the arts manager
Guest Speaker: Sarah Calderon, Executive Director, Casita Maria Arts and Education Center, South
Bronx, NY
Required:
 www.casita.org
 Blackboard articles
Assignment: 3 questions for speaker
PUBLIC POLICY AND THE ARTS
Course PADM-GP2446 Spring 2012
5
Assignment: Feedback #3 (sessions 6-9) due Friday March 30
NOTE: Final research paper topic proposal due via email (not attachment) by COB Friday, March 30.
Code email Subject Box: TOPIC PROPOSAL /Student’s last name.
Session 10/Apr 4
Creative Industries I: creativity and the post-industrial city
Required :
Ruth Ann Stewart, “The Arts and Artist in Urban Revitalization” (pp. 105-128) in CSW.
 Richard Florida. The Rise of the Creative Class. NY: Basic Books, 2002.
-- “Preface” and “The Transformation of Everyday Life"
(For update, see “Preface” to 2004 paperback edition)
-- For further information about Florida see http://www.creativeclass.com/richard_florida
Ann Galligan, “Evolution of Arts and Cultural Districts” (pp. 129-142) in CSW.
 Karrie Jacobs. “Why I Don’t Love Richard Florida” Metropolis Magazine (March 2005).
www.metropolismag.com/story/20050222/why-i-dont-love-richard-florida
 Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC). “Artist Space” www.lincnet.net
 Mark Yost, “If You Build It, the Jobs Won’t Come” Wall Street Journal, 7/17/08
 Blackboard articles
Assignment: Team III
Assignment: 3 typed questions for team presentation
Session 11/Apr 11
Creative Industries II: technology, creativity, and the public good in the digital age
Guest Speaker: Joseph Salvo, Executive Vice President & Global General Counsel, HiT Entertainment
Required:
 Harold Vogel, “Capital, Commerce, and the Creative Industries” (pp.143-154) in CSW.
 U.S. Copyright Timeline. www.arl.cni.org/info/frn/copy/timeline.html
 Phu Nguyen, “Internet as Medium: Art, Law, and the Digital Environment” (pp.155-170) in
CSW.
 Robert Darnton. “Google & the Future of Books” (pp. 9-11) in New York Review of Books,
2/12/09.
 Blackboard articles including re congressional legislation
 Web sites
-- Center for Democracy and Technology www.cdt.org for legal, tech, and policy issues, e.g.,
piracy, copyright, FCC rulings, Digital Copyright Millennium Act, Sonny Bono Copyright
Extension Act, that are driving the policy debate (see in particular
www.cdt.org/transition/Copyright.pdf )
-- Association of Research Libraries www.arl.org and American Library Association
www.ala.org on intellectual freedom, censorship, and privacy issues (see in particular
www.librarycopyrightalliance.org/index.htm)
-- Recording Industry Association of America www.riaa.org for industry’s views on
downloading (see For Students Doing Reports).
Recommended:
 Marjorie Heins and Tricia Beckles. Will Fair Use Survive: Free Expression in the Age of
Copyright Control? A Report from the Brennan Center for Justice, New York Univ, 2005. (pp.
8-57 – an important report, can be read selectively)
http://www.fepproject.org/policyreports/WillFairUseSurvive.pdf
Assignment: Feedback #4 (Session 10-11) due Friday, April 13
Assignment: 3 questions for speaker
PUBLIC POLICY AND THE ARTS
Course PADM-GP2446 Spring 2012
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Session 12/Apr 18
Going Global I: policy implications for the arts and artists
Required:
 J.P. Singh, “Between Cooperation and Conflict: International Trade in Culture Goods and
Services” (pp.177-196) in CSW
 John Brown. “Arts Diplomacy: the Neglected Aspect of Cultural Diplomacy” (pp. 72-90) in
William P. Kiehl, Ed. America’s Dialogue with the World. Wash, DC: Public Diplomacy
Council, 2006.
 Brademas Center for the Study of Congress. Moving Forward: A Renewed Role for American
Arts and Artists in the Global Age. A colloquium held January 26, 2009, NYU Wagner School.
See website www.nyu.edu/brademas/ArtsColloquium.html for following reports and related
publications:
-- US Regional Arts Organizations. Global Positioning Strategy for the Arts. (2008)
-- U.S. Dept of State. Advisory Commission on Cultural Diplomacy. Cultural
Diplomacy: The Linchpin of Public Diplomacy. (2005)
-- Bill Ivey. “America, Art, and the World” (pp.124-154) in Arts, Inc. Berkley, CA: Univ
of California Pr, 2008.
 Blackboard articles
Assignment: Team IV
Assignment: 3 typed questions for team presentation
Session 13/Apr 25
Going Global II: view from the Middle East
Guest Lecturer: Deena Chalabi, founding Head of Strategy, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha,
Qatar
Required:
 www.mathaf.org/qa
 Anthony Shadid "An Arab Capital Reaffirms Its Cultural Vision" NYTimes, 1/25/12.
 Blackboard articles
Assignment: 3 questions for speaker
Session 14/May 2
Cultural Policy Challenges in the 21st Century: open discussion and wrap up
 Bill Ivey. “Conclusion: Bridging the Cultural Divide” (pp. 261-296) in Arts, Inc. Berkley, CA:
Univ of California Pr, 2008. [Bobst]
 William Ferris. “Put Culture in the Cabinet” NY Times, 12/27/08.
 Alliance for the Arts. The Recession & the Arts III: The Impact of the Economic Downturn on
Nonprofit Groups in New York City. New York: June 2011.
http://www.allianceforarts.org/pdfs/Recession%26theARTSIII.pdf
 Andras Szanto. “Funding: the State of the Art” in The Art Newspaper, June 2010
 NEA Grants Program. The Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(Public Law 115-5) www.arts.gov/grants/apply/recovery/index.html
Recommended:
 Margaret Wyszomirski, “Policy Communities and Policy Influence: Securing a Government Role
in Cultural Policy for the Twenty-First Century” (pp. 94-107) in Gigi Bradford, et al, Eds. The
Politics of Culture. NY: The New Press, 2000. [Bobst]
FINAL TERM PAPER due in hard copy in instructor’s mailbox
3RD Floor Puck Bldg by COB Wednesday, May 9, 2012