Social Impact of the Arts Project
University of Pennsylvania
School of Social Work
What Is SIAP?
The Social Impact of the Arts Project grew out of a conversation between Mark Stern, a professor at Penn, and Susan Seifert, a city planner, in early 1994. Susan, at the time, was research director for the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance (GPCA). GPCA was reviewing its research agenda and had placed economic impact analysis at the top of its agenda. Although Susan acknowledged the importance of economic impact, she felt that a narrow focus on economics obscured the variety of ways in which the arts and culture are important to society. One problem with making this case, as she explained to Mark, was that there were no clear methods for studying the social impact of the arts. This got Mark thinking.
That spring, Mark secured funding from the School of Social Work for some exploratory work on the study. In addition, he became the faculty advisor for two undergraduate urban studies students who were pursuing research internships for the summer. During the summer of 1994, the first research team--Mark, Susan, Gina Dyer, Alison Wolk, and Laura Amrofel--completed three tasks: a review of existing literature on the social impact of the arts, an analysis of the ways in which neighborhood influenced rates of cultural participation (Working Paper #1), and a pilot study of the impact of murals on two neighborhoods (Working Paper #2).
As luck would have it, early in 1995 Susan, who had left GPCA, was approached by the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation to collaborate on a study of arts resources for children and youth in Philadelphia. This gave Mark and Susan a chance to try out some of the research strategies they had been considering. The basic strategy was simple: carry out a set of interviews with key informants, develop an inventory of information on cultural providers, and link the inventory to census information. The Pew Charitable Trusts funded the study which is available on our web site.
One major discovery from this study was the importance of ethnic and economic diversity for arts and culture. In our work in 1996-1997, funded by the William Penn Foundation, we used this insight to investigate how social capital, diversity, and culture interact in Philadelphia. Working papers #3-#9 were a product of this study.
In 1997, we were asked by the William Penn Foundation to conduct research in association with its Culture Builds Community initiative. This project, which will end in 2001, allowed us to examine a variety of efforts on the part of the Foundation to improve the organizational capacity of community cultural providers and to support their efforts to strengthen their role in community building. Working papers #11 and #12 grew out of our work on Culture Builds Community. We completed the summary report for the project in 2002.
In 2002, SIAP received funding from the Rockefeller Foundation to continue its
systematic study of cultural expression in Philadelphia. This new
project--"Dynamics of Culture"--replicated our earlier databases on
cultural organizations and participation. In addition, the project used a
survey of artists in metropolitan Philadelphia to examine their social networks
and their role in the informal cultural sector. Beginning in 2006, SIAP collaborated with The Reinvestment
Fund to examine how existing research could be used to influence neighborhood
revitalization policy and practice.
SIAP
has also contributed
to the John
S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Community Partners in Arts Access
initiative. In 2005—in collaboration with Research for Action and Alan Brown—SIAP
completed a study of the current state of cultural
participation in North Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey. Between 2005 and 2008, it will be working
with cultural organizations in assessing the impact of the initiative.