Engaging Art

<p><em>Engaging Art</em> explores what it means to participate in the arts in contemporary society – from museum attendance to music downloading. Drawing on the perspectives of experts from diverse fields (including Princeton scholars Robert Wuthnow and Paul DiMaggio; Barry Schwartz author of <em>The Paradox of Choice</em>; and MIT scholars Henry Jenkins and Mark Schuster) this volume analyzes key trends involving technology audience demographics religion and the rise of do-it-yourself participatory culture. Commissioned by The Wallace Foundation and independently carried out by the Curb Center at Vanderbilt University <em>Engaging Art</em> offers a new framework for understanding the momentous changes impacting America’s cultural life over the past fifty years.</p><p>This volume offers suggestive glimpses into the character and consequence of a new engagement with old-fashioned participation in the arts. The authors in this volume hint at a bright future for art and citizen art making. They argue that if we center a new commitment to arts participation in everyday art making creativity and quality of life we will not only restore the lifelong pleasure of homemade art but will likely seed a new generation of enthusiasts who will support America’s signature nonprofit cultural institutions well into the future. </p>