{"id":4678,"date":"2016-05-12T05:02:26","date_gmt":"2016-05-12T05:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=4678"},"modified":"2016-05-16T05:10:07","modified_gmt":"2016-05-16T05:10:07","slug":"why-cities-should-stop-building-museums-and-focus-on-festivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/why-cities-should-stop-building-museums-and-focus-on-festivals\/","title":{"rendered":"Why cities should stop building museums and focus on festivals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Wynn<\/a>, University of Massachusetts Amherst<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Last year the Institute of Museum and Library Services offered a catchy statistic: the United States has more museums than all the Starbucks and McDonald\u2019s combined<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to understand why cities will leap at the opportunity to invest in new structures: \u201cStarchitect\u201d-designed buildings, from the Santiago Calatrava-designed Milwaukee Art Museum to Brooklyn\u2019s undulating Barclays Center, could add an iconic image to the cityscape and garner positive media buzz.<\/p>\n

However, such massive public investments in permanent structures (what I\u2019ve dubbed \u201cconcrete culture\u201d) are bad deals and bad policy for urban economic development. Once the hoopla fades, cities can be saddled with millions in debt and mixed results. Take, for example, Charlotte\u2019s NASCAR museum. Built in 2010 at a cost of US$160 million, the facility has not met attendance projections and, according to the Charlotte Observer<\/a>, is losing $1 million a year.<\/p>\n

Given the economic costs and risks, why do museums, stadiums and other \u201cconcrete culture\u201d receive such a privileged place in urban development? After spending the past 10 years conducting research on the topic<\/a>, I\u2019ve found that this privilege should end; as an alternative, cities should champion music festivals as a cheaper, adaptable way to bolster urban communities.<\/p>\n

The cracks of concrete culture<\/h2>\n

America \u2013 as Pacific Standard<\/a> says \u2013 \u201chas a stadium problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

From 1990 to 2010, over 100 sports stadiums opened across the country. Economists have long argued that these are dreadful public investments<\/a> for myriad reasons: they\u2019ve been shown to stall economic growth, become underused eyesores and fleece local taxpayers. Billionaire sports team owners profit immensely from sports stadiums and \u2013 in many cases \u2013 don\u2019t spend a dime on their construction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n Washington, D.C.\u2019s Nationals Park, funded by taxpayers, has done little to revitalize the surrounding area.<\/span>
\n Rudi Riet\/flickr<\/a>, CC BY-SA<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While museums and performing arts centers are often nonprofits, they require cobbled-together funding<\/a> from a variety of sources, ranging from corporate philanthropy to federal, state and local governments. These, too, have come at a cost. The University of Chicago\u2019s Cultural Policy Center<\/a> found that a whopping 725 arts and cultural facilities were built in the U.S. from 1994 to 2008. Construction didn\u2019t just greatly outpace demand; it also overextended public resources. Though they cost over $15.5 billion to build, only 12 percent of the cultural institutions that were surveyed for the report saw increases in attendance.<\/p>\n

Museums, stadiums and other permanent structures purport to revive deteriorating parts of the city. In some cases they do. In other cases, rosy expectations aren\u2019t met. Museums struggle in recessions<\/a>, while stadiums like Washington, D.C.\u2019s Washington Coliseum and Houston\u2019s Astrodome are left derelict. The New York Times<\/a> notes that, with the NFL\u2019s St. Louis Rams’ relocation to Los Angeles, St. Louis dodges a fiscal bullet by not having to sign a bad stadium deal. The city wins by losing.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, invasive \u201cmega events\u201d like the Super Bowl, the Olympics and the World Cup can be economic and cultural calamities for their communities as well. Economist Andrew Zimbalist\u2019s book \u201cCircus Maximus\u201d<\/a> notes that, beyond prestige and perhaps some tourist revenue, these events create concrete cultural infrastructure that monopolize scarce real estate, leaving spaces underutilized for decades.<\/p>\n

A cheaper, more equitable path<\/h2>\n

There is a cheaper, more equitable path toward creating culturally vibrant cities, one that requires less public funding and much less steel and glass.<\/p>\n

Festivals, both big and small, are becoming a more prominent feature of our cultural landscape. These events range from small street fairs to extravagant events that inhabit a city\u2019s downtown area for a long weekend. They include Austin\u2019s massive South by Southwest (SXSW), Boston\u2019s smaller Jamaica Plain Music Festival, Manhattan\u2019s mainstream Governor\u2019s Ball and Brooklyn\u2019s two-day AfroPunk Fest.<\/p>\n

Billboard has noted<\/a> that over 32 million people attended U.S. music festivals in 2014, and popular festivals can sell out within hours<\/a>, even before announcing the lineup of acts.<\/p>\n

Music festivals have become popular for three reasons. First, musicians and music labels are eager to perform live to offset declining record sales<\/a>. Next, today\u2019s music fans are seeking out more and more live performances<\/a>. And third, municipalities \u2013 in an era of intense urban branding and competition for tourists \u2013 are becoming amenable to developing music- and event-friendly policies.<\/p>\n

Unlike permanent stadiums and museums, festivals are nimble; they\u2019re able to switch venues and change up programming if necessary. They\u2019re also much more inclusive. Many are free to the public, utilize existing public spaces and cultural assets, spark interactions among community members and nurture positive images of urban areas, especially neighborhoods that might need a boost.<\/p>\n

A model for the 21st-century city<\/h2>\n

Recognizing the value in cultivating events, cities like Nashville and Austin have learned to promote a festival-friendly environment over the last decade. Both cities established entertainment zones that balance relaxed noise ordinances with affordable, mixed-use housing. At the same time, these cities champion their distinctive character and communities by embracing their festivals as \u201csignature events.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n Cities like Austin have marketed themselves as music-centered cities, promoting festivals as signature events.<\/span>
\n Andrees Latif\/Reuters<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These cities have made it easier to hold cultural events by streamlining the permitting process and allowing public parks to be used. Even their city halls have designated offices devoted to culture and music that wield bureaucratic influence and act as liaisons with local arts organizations. Some cities<\/a> have even established a new position: night mayor.<\/p>\n

In Austin, SXSW coordinates with some local nonprofits and artistic groups to better serve the local communities by offering legal, health and housing services for working musicians<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Nashville, the Country Music Association Festival funnels millions of dollars<\/a> into grade school education through its \u201cMusic Makes Us<\/a>\u201d program.<\/p>\n

Now other cities are following their lead.<\/p>\n

In New England, a burgeoning scene of club owners and musicians congregate each year at Newport\u2019s Jazz and Folk festivals, where they leverage local resources to attain international notoriety. Up-and-coming musicians have a voice in the festival\u2019s planning as members of the Newport Festival Advisory Board. They can also influence resource distribution by directing fundraising to targeted local groups.<\/p>\n

Replicating these successes can be challenging. Research has indicated that festivals sometimes exclude local residents<\/a>, and many events become vulnerable to overcommercialization<\/a>. Brands, for example, often flood the visual landscape of these festivals. When I began conducting research at the Newport Folk Festival, it was the Dunkin’ Donuts Newport Folk Festival, and nearly every surface of the facility seemed to be sheathed in corporate pink, orange, and brown. (The festival has since become a 501c3 nonprofit corporation, and now brands have a more muted profile at the event.)<\/p>\n

Carefully articulated policies around short-term events need to highlight community input and assessment, including greater representation of marginalized groups.<\/p>\n

Some might wonder if it\u2019s worth investing in something that leaves after only a few days. But the impermanence of festivals is a feature, not a flaw. Festivals are adaptable, using spaces that might otherwise go unoccupied, and they can act as platforms for existing local artistic groups.<\/p>\n

As Toronto Mayor John Tory noted in his introduction to the 2016 Canadian Music Week\u2019s Music City Summit<\/a>, building buildings can be risky.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should build the events,\u201d he said, \u201cand maybe a building will follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Jonathan Wynn<\/a>, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts Amherst<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Wynn, University of Massachusetts Amherst Last year the Institute of Museum and Library Services offered a catchy statistic: the United States has more museums than all the Starbucks and McDonald\u2019s combined. It\u2019s easy to understand why cities will leap at the opportunity to invest in new structures: \u201cStarchitect\u201d-designed buildings, from the Santiago Calatrava-designed Milwaukee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":4679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[40,38],"tags":[450,172,641,367,53,640,639,203,642,643],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4678"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4678"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4680,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4678\/revisions\/4680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}