There is among many nations a growing awareness that the arts and culture have an important role to play in forming the image that nations hold of themselves and that they convey in the international arena. At the same time, increased pressure on the public purse, new trade environments, and the revolution in communications technology are forcing the reexamination of cultural policy objectives and strategies for achieving those objectives in countries throughout the world. This book, based on the research and expertise of practitioners and scholars in the field of cultural policy, provides a...

Art and entertainment constitute America's second-largest export. Most Americans--96%, to be exact--are somehow involved in the arts, whether as audience participants, hobbyists, or via broadcast, recording, video, or the Internet. The contribution of the arts to the U.S. economy is stunning: the nonprofit arts industry alone contributes over 857 billion dollars per year, and America's fine and performing arts enjoy world-class status.

Despite its size, quality, and economic impact, the arts community is not articulate about how they serve public interests, and few citizens have an...

The arts and creative sector is one of the nation's broadest, most important, and least understood social and economic assets, encompassing both nonprofit arts and cultural organizations, for-profit creative companies, such as advertising agencies, film producers, and commercial publishers, and community-based artistic activities. The thirteen essays in this timely book demonstrate why interest in the arts and creative sector has accelerated in recent years, and the myriad ways that the arts are crucial to the social and national agenda and the critical issues and policies that relate to...