University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Culture and Social Wellbeing in New York City Social Impact of the Arts Project 3-2017 The oS cial Wellbeing of New York City's Neighborhoods: The onC tribution of Culture and the Arts Mark J. Stern University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Susan C. Seifert University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/siap_culture_nyc Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons, Public Policy Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Stern, Mark J. and Seifert, Susan C., "The ocS ial Wellbeing of New York City's Neighborhoods: The onC tribution of Culture and the Arts" (2017). Culture and Social Wellbeing in New York City. 1. https://repository.upenn.edu/siap_culture_nyc/1 The ulturC e and Social Wellbeing in New York City project was undertaken in collaboration with Reinvestment Fund, a community development financial institution, with support by the Surdna Foundation, the NYC Cultural Agenda Fund in the New York Community Trust, and the University of Pennsylvania. The er search was conducted between 2014 and 2017. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/siap_culture_nyc/1 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The oS cial Wellbeing of New York City's Neighborhoods: The Contribution of Culture and the Arts Abstract This research report presents the conceptual framework, data and methodology, findings and implications of a three-year study of the relationship of cultural ecology to social wellbeing across New York City neighborhoods. The et am gathered data from City agencies, borough arts councils, and cultural practitioners to develop a 10-dimension social wellbeing framework—beginning with construction of a cultural asset index—for every neighborhood in the City’s five boroughs. The ocs ial wellbeing tool enabled a variety of analyses: the distribution of opportunity across the City; identification of areas with concentrated advantage, concentrated disadvantage, and “diverse and struggling” neighborhoods with both strengths and challenges; and analysis of the relationship of “neighborhood cultural ecology” to other features of community wellbeing. Major findings include: 1) Cultural resources are unequally distributed across the city, with many neighborhoods having few resources. 2) At the same time, there are a significant number of civic clusters—that is, lower-income neighborhoods with more cultural resources than their economic standing would lead us to predict. 3) Although lower-income neighborhoods have relatively few resources, these neighborhoods demonstrate the strongest relationship between culture and social wellbeing. Notably, if we control for socio-economic status and ethnic composition, the presence of cultural resources is significantly associated with improved outcomes around health, schooling, and personal security. Qualitative study highlighted how neighborhood cultural ecology also contributes to other dimensions of wellbeing—in particular, social connection, political and cultural voice, and the public environment and public sphere. Disciplines Arts and Humanities | Public Policy | Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies | Urban Studies and Planning Comments The ulturC e and Social Wellbeing in New York City project was undertaken in collaboration with Reinvestment Fund, a community development financial institution, with support by the Surdna Foundation, the NYC Cultural Agenda Fund in the New York Community Trust, and the University of Pennsylvania. The research was conducted between 2014 and 2017. This research report is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/siap_culture_nyc/1 THE SOCIAL WELLBEING OF NEW YORK CITY’S NEIGHBORHOODS: THE CONTRIBUTION OF CULTURE AND THE ARTS Mark J. Stern and Susan C. Seifert University of Pennsylvania Social Impact of the Arts Project March 2017 This project was generously supported by the Surdna Foundation, the New York City Cultural Agenda Fund in the New York Community Trust, and the University of Pennsylvania. The project was undertaken in collaboration with Reinvestment Fund, a community development financial institution. The views expressed are solely those of the authors. For information about the Social Impact of the Arts Project (SIAP) or a downloadable copy of the research report and summary, visit the SIAP Collections at Penn Libraries’ ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/siap/. CONTENTS Introduction Chapter 1—Conceptual Framework Chapter 1 outlines the two key concepts of the report. Neighborhood cultural ecology focuses on the relationship between social context and the clustering of cultural assets in particular neighborhoods. We employ the idea of social wellbeing as a multi-dimensional framework that assesses residents’ opportunity to live a life they have reason to value. Chapter 2—Measuring New York City’s Cultural Assets Chapter 2 describes our approach to developing estimates of four types of cultural assets at the neighborhood level: nonprofits, for-profits, employed artists, and cultural participants. We then combine these four measures into a Cultural Asset Index that we use to identify several types of cultural clusters across the five boroughs. Chapter 3—Measuring Social Wellbeing in New York City Chapter 3 describes how we estimate nine other dimensions of social wellbeing. We then combine these and the Cultural Asset Index to identify four types of social wellbeing clusters in New York City. Chapter 4—Analytical Perspectives on Culture and Social Wellbeing in New York City Chapter 4 focuses on the relationship between neighborhood cultural ecology and other dimensions of social wellbeing. In particular, we analyze the relationship between the Cultural Asset Index and measures of health, personal security, and school effectiveness. Chapter 5—Community Perspectives on Culture and Social Wellbeing in New York City Chapter 5 uses interviews conducted with community-based cultural practitioners to explore the relationship between culture and social wellbeing. We focus on three dimensions of wellbeing: social connection, political and cultural voice, and the public environment and public sphere. Chapter 6—Conclusion The Conclusion summarizes the key concepts and findings of the study, identifies implications for policy and further research, and looks ahead to ongoing work on the project. APPENDIX Introduction This report presents the current findings of a study of culture and social wellbeing in New York City conducted by the University of Pennsylvania Social Impact of the Arts Project (SIAP) in collaboration with Reinvestment Fund. The project began in the fall of 2014 when SIAP accepted an invitation from Tom Finkelpearl, Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for the City, to conduct a study of the social value of the arts. The study builds on SIAP’s over twenty years of research and writing on the non- economic impact of the arts on urban communities. During that time, SIAP has formulated a perspective on culture’s role in urban neighborhoods based on the idea of neighborhood cultural ecology or “natural” cultural districts. We’ve completed a variety of studies—typically combining quantitative data analysis and qualitative evidence from interviews and observation—in a number of cities, including Philadelphia, Seattle, and Baltimore. In 2011 SIAP, The Reinvestment Fund and the City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy were funded by the National Endowment for the Arts’ Our Town program and by ArtPlace America to complete what became the CultureBlocks project. Much of that project focused on the creation of an online cultural and community asset mapping application. However, the research element of the project focused on integrating a new concept—social wellbeing—into our conceptualization of the social role of the arts. Based on preliminary work undertaken by Mark Stern and Ira Goldstein with the students in their Urban Studies course at Penn, the goal was to develop a multidimensional model of social wellbeing, which drew on the work of a group of international scholars including Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz, and Martha Nussbaum. Our research differed from earlier international work on wellbeing, known as the capability approach, in three ways. First, we conceptualized culture as a core dimension of wellbeing, specifically as one dimension of social connection. Second, we wanted to explore culture as a potential contributor to other dimensions of wellbeing. Third, our goal was to estimate social wellbeing at the neighborhood level, rather than at a larger geography (typically nation-state). Our previous work on neighborhood ecology (and, of course, the large body of theoretical and empirical work on the ecological approach) had convinced us that only a focus on small geographies provides a full understanding of social wellbeing as experienced by urban residents. The original analysis of Philadelphia’s social wellbeing index and the relationship between culture and other dimensions was completed in December 2013. In the meantime, the Surdna Foundation approached SIAP about continuing the investigation of culture and social wellbeing in other American cities. In early 2014 SIAP began the Surdna-funded work, which included updating of the work in Philadelphia and preliminary investigation of the feasibility of similar