The Public University's Performance in State Arts Policy: Lessons from Virginia

Abstract

This article investigates the extent to which public higher education institutions participate in state-level arts policy through a history of selected budgets and a textual analysis of performing arts presenting centers at public higher education institutions in Virginia. Evidence from this research suggests that the arts policy field is altered by the emergence of public higher education institutions as policy actors. The findings have financial and decision-making implications for arts policy makers, university administrators, and arts agencies as the participation of public higher education institutions affords new opportunities and challenges for the state encouragement of the arts.

Keywords:

• arts funding
• arts policy
• budgeting
• higher education institutions
• policy fields

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges the guidance and support of Drs. Laura S. Jensen and Larkin Dudley with the Center for Public Administration and Policy at Virginia Tech as well as the thoughtful comments provided by anonymous reviewers.

Notes

1. See Mulcahy (2006) for a thorough treatment of the terms “cultural policy” and “arts policy.”

2. See Schuster's diagram, Ecology of State Cultural Policy (2003, 6).

3. See Figures A1 and A2 that portray instability in appropriations to the Virginia Commission for the Arts, 1970–2012.

4. Stone and Sandfort (2009) acknowledged the contributions of many policy theories in the development of their framework, particularly the policy domain literature. A thorough examination of these concepts is outside the scope of this article.

5. Executive budgets and amendments were analyzed to account for changes that occurred between biennial appropriations.

6. Data came from the websites of public higher education institution PACs.

7. See the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia (http://www.schev.edu) and Virginia Performs (http://www.vaperforms.virginia.gov).