Understanding the geography of access to cultural amenities: The case of Metropolitan Detroit

ABSTRACT

Arts and culture organizations are often framed as important actors in urban development efforts; however, questions of equity of access to cultural amenities and the problem of inequities in their distribution remain important concerns. This article explores geographical and demographic differences in access to 335 public and nonprofit cultural organizations located in the four counties of Metropolitan Detroit (Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw). It introduces a comprehensive, multi-component, index of access and uses GIS-modeling approach to investigate spatial distribution of these organizations. U.S. Census Bureau data are further used to analyze possible inequities in the distribution of cultural resources, as well as access that diverse populations have to such organizations. The analysis reveals that cultural organizations are unevenly distributed in the geographic area, and that certain groups of the population have relatively low access to particular cultural amenities. The article discusses implications of the findings and suggests future research directions.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Courtney Flynn, Carrie Beth Lasley, and Katelyn Burkart for their research support in the early stages of this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The term culture can be defined in a variety of ways, ranging from a broad conceptualization of culture as human values and beliefs systems, as well as more narrowly construed as institutions and organizations of the cultural sector (Williams, 1983). This article focuses on the organizational level of culture, to include formal organizations within the domain of arts, culture, and humanities.

2. Multiple terms with overlapping meaning have been used to describe the cultural sector, such as creative or cultural industries, creative vitality, the creative class, and other related concepts (Brooks & Kushner, 2001; Grodach et al., 2014; Markusen, 2014; Moldavanova et al., 2018; Reese et al., 2010). This study, however, focuses specifically on public and nonprofit formal arts and culture organizations that have clearly identifiable geographic locations.

3. The results of the Sustain Arts (2014) cultural census, as well as information about their geographic focus and methodology, are archived here: https://wordpress.foundationcenter.org/sustainarts/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2014/12/Key-Learnings-SE-Michigan.pdf.

4. As pointed out by one of the reviewers, libraries as public institutions are more numerous and more widely distributed geographically as compared to other organizational types, which is evident from their maps. That is why we “profile” each of the cultural sub-fields separately, so these differences are more pronounced and we can see the nuances when it comes to various socio-demographic parameters. The finding about libraries also has important policy implications, namely, that other organizations interested in improving access may consider collaborating with libraries on their outreach and programming.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts [under grant # 16-968176].

Notes on contributors

Alisa V. Moldavanova

Alisa V. Moldavanova is Associate Professor of Public Administration and Coordinator of the Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management in the Political Science Department at Wayne State University. Her current research investigates sustainability in the context of arts and culture organizations, as well as the role of inter-organizational networks in enhancing arts organizations’ ability to cope with external stress. She is also a co-editor of the 2018 volume “The Nonprofit Sector in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia: Civil Society Advances and Challenges.”

Lauren Meloche

Lauren Meloche is a Research Analyst at the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University. She engages in both academic research projects and community-based interventions that seek to promote community health and safety. She is skilled in various quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analysis. Lauren holds a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

T. Lyke Thompson

T. Lyke Thompson is the Director of the Center for Urban Studies and Professor in the Political Science Department at Wayne State University. He has edited or authored books on welfare reform and legislative term limits. He has published articles on Detroit politics, program evaluation and policy analysis, training for people with disabilities, early childhood education, economic development, citizen attitudes about service delivery, privatization, healthy homes, and disability policy. He is currently completing a study with others on legislative oversight of the executive across the 50 states.