Understanding American cultural policy: the multi-level governance of the arts and humanities

ABSTRACT

This article uses multi-level governance theory to investigate American cultural policy towards the arts and humanities. The National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965 articulates the value of the arts and humanities for the American people, providing the foundation for the development of a complex bureaucracy at state and federal levels. The resulting multi-level governance model highlights the interplay among public agencies at federal and state levels, the links with nonprofit organizations, the varied organizational structures that imply different mechanisms for involving citizens, and the diverse sources of funding. These findings show how American cultural policy is based on a fragmented but coordinated bureaucracy that supports a pluralistic society.

KEYWORDS:

• NEH
• NEA
• American cultural policy
• multi-level governance
• arts and humanities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Eleonora Redaelli is an associate professor at the University of Oregon. Originally from Italy, she studied at Università degli Studi di Milano and at Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi. After working for public and private institutions in the Italian cultural sector, she received her Ph.D. at The Ohio State University and coordinated and taught in the Arts Management program at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She specializes in cultural policy, cultural planning, and arts management education. Her works appear in International Journal of the Arts in Society, City, Culture and Society, Urban Affairs Review, Cultural Trends, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Policy Studies, Urban Geography, Journal of General Education, and Cities. She coauthored Arts Management and Cultural Policy Research with Jonathan Paquette. Her book Connecting Arts and Place: Cultural Policy and American Cities is in press with Palgrave.

Notes

1 Western States Arts Alliance (California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming), Arts Midwest (North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio), Mid-America Arts Alliance (Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas), South Arts (Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina), Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), and the New England Federation for the Arts (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont).