Arts Learning Across a City: How Ecosystem Thinking Helps Shape Understanding of Black-Centered and Eurocentric Arts Programming

Abstract

Given historical patterns of unequal access to arts education, we used an ecosystem perspective to investigate Black Centered Arts and Eurocentric Arts in a mid-sized U.S. city, with a focus on youth programs, museums, and other youth arts organizations. We found that practitioner-leaders valued arts quality, equitable access, community embeddedness, and cultural preservation. Programs that provided access to Eurocentric arts tended to be older, larger, and better funded, and network analysis revealed a subnetwork made up largely of Black Centered Arts organizations. Results will inform an ongoing research-practice-philanthropy partnership structured to develop a more equitable city-wide arts ecosystem.