This course will explore the development of art worlds and culture industries in the U.S. and the particular set of institutional constraints that shape them. Our focus will be on the cultural sector of the visual and performing arts from the perspectives of artists/producers, patrons/sponsors, experts/critics, arts administrators, and audiences, as well as on the development of cultural policy at the local, national, and international levels. Topics to be explored include: the social forces that shape contemporary tastes for and expectations about art; art controversies and their policy consequences; the challenges of sustaining cultural institutions in an era of change and of developing new and expanded audiences for the arts; and culture as a tool for economic revitalization.
