Definitions Matter: Dynamic Policy Framing of the Arts in Boston’s Sustainable Cultural Development

Xuefei Li, Margaret Wyszomirski and Biyun Zhu
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Xuefei Li: School of Government, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China
Margaret Wyszomirski: Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Biyun Zhu: School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 24, 1-17

Abstract: Cultural sustainability has become a fourth pillar in sustainable development studies. Different from the research approach to embedding culture into conventional sustainable discourse, this article argues that the sustainability and resilience issues within the arts and cultural sector should be paid more attention to. Putting the arts and cultural sector in urban settings, sustainable cultural development entails dynamic policy framing and changing policy justifications in response to an evolving socioeconomic and political environment. Taking the policy framing of the arts as an analytical lens, this paper aims to investigate this dynamic change and key driving factors through an in-depth case study of Boston’s urban cultural development. This article finds that different definitions of the arts are associated with different arts-based urban development strategies across four stages of cultural development in Boston spanning a period of over 75 years. The working definition moved from art to the arts, then to the creative arts industry, and eventually to cultural assets and creative capital. The policy framing of the arts keeps evolving and layering in pursuit of more legitimacy and resources regarding groups of stakeholders, field industry components, types of industrial structure, and multiple policy goals. This dynamic policy framing has been driven by arts advocacy groups, policy learning process, urban leadership change, and cultural institutional change, allowing Boston to draw on a growing and diversifying set of cultural resources in pursuit of sustainable cultural development.

Keywords: arts; definitions; policy framing; Boston; sustainable cultural development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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