Fostering the arts to foster rural communities

Take a moment to remember your teenage glory days. Many think of Friday night lights associated with your football team's valiant efforts. The smell of stale popcorn so familiar may have you longing for the innocence and irresponsibility of those years. When you close your eyes and picture that time, it becomes a near-impossible feat to imagine that scene without also hearing the iconic drumlines. As halftime rears, the band is gearing up to perform alongside the cheerleading and dance teams. A warm summer breeze crosses your face, and your only care in the world is your team scoring the winning touchdown.

For many Americans, however, this memory is one only seen in movies. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were 25,188 rural schools, responsible for educating 18.7% of American students. The lower population density in these schools results in fewer musical ensemble opportunities, due to how many states allocate funding. Although musical and artistic education isn't unheard of in rural areas, these types of classes are often taught by existing staff members (without a background in this type of education) and the first curricula to be dropped when budget cuts must be made. 

Community music programs offer some relief to students longing for music opportunities but can prove to be inaccessible due to socioeconomic factors. Additionally, many of these programs are only offered on a county level or in urban/suburban areas, creating a distance barrier as well. Not only do these students miss out on music education and opportunities, they also don't get to experience the social aspect as well.

This gap in education and socialization doesn't just pertain to music, however. This gap can be seen in the arts as a whole. An Americans for the Arts article elaborates on how rural communities investing in art can create lasting, positive change:

The arts are kindling for the economy—small investments that deliver big returns. They get people out of their homes and spending money in the community. . . . This provides vital income to local merchants, energizes the downtown, and puts people to work.

In 2020, arts and cultural economic activity accounted for $876.7 billion of the GDP. Of that, rural states (those in which 30 percent or more of the population live in rural areas) reaped $72.8 billion to their economies. The successes of these rural arts organizations can be quantified by comparison to their urban counterparts. Research done by the National Endowment for the Arts shows that both rural and urban arts organizations qualify as substantive innovators, a term reserved for businesses that actively create intellectual property worth protecting. This parallel is hardly seen in other service industries. Additionally, a USDA Economic Research Service study showed that rural arts organizations bring in more nonlocal attendance than their urban counterparts.

Future changes to rural systems should take this research into account when determining the allocation of their time and resources and should invest in the arts when taking actions to strengthen and grow their communities. The positive impact of fostering art in rural communities is so convincing that the National Governor's Association released a framework for rebuilding to incorporate these arts organizations into their communities.

A portion of the NGA report suggests engaging the community, particularly the youth, in becoming artistic entrepreneurs to expand creativity-based economic growth. By creating entrepreneurial opportunities for the youth in rural communities, rural politicians can also help combat the out-migration problem—sometimes called rural “brain drain”—that these communities are facing.

A successful example of this concept is the Hinterland Music Festival, which takes place in St. Charles, Iowa, population 647. This music festival brings in world class acts and helps the community by featuring art, craft vendors, and food vendors, which roughly 14,000 attendees support. Aside from the financial benefit, the community also bands together to prepare and execute this festival and are shifting their community culture to accommodate this event.

An earlier blog post boasts another example of the importance of arts in fostering culture in rural communities. Found here, this post elaborates on Virginia's Crooked Road and how that rural community became a destination on the basis of their bluegrass musical roots. Even though their local economy is dwindling, the spirit of bluegrass is much alive and bonds the residents through daily pick-up jams.

This phenomenon is far from novel, as rural communities have been culturally impacted and strengthened by the commonality of community events throughout history. Lori Pourier of the Oglala Lakota tribe describes artists as “culture bearers,” in explaining the long-standing traditions of her tribe. Additionally, Dennis Coelho wrote an article in the late 1900s describing the positive cultural identity that was formed with the tradition of a large-scale rural community event, stating:

Throughout rural America, community events such as Homecomings act as centripetal forces pulling members back into the center of values, of behaviors, of world view all tied together in activities that reinforce the past and tailor the future. . .. Community events in America reinforce and restate the expected style of behavior in attempting to reintegrate distant members to the community's values. No event, no matter how tedious, is all work—nor is any festivity all frolic. Perhaps there is something in humanity that best transmits and receives cultural statements as a mixture of frivolity and determination.

Focusing on fostering the development and prevalence of art organizations in rural communities will positively impact the youth, stability, growth, culture, and identity of the community, and should be more seriously considered by struggling towns in their future planning and restructuring.