Learning Broadly

Bottom Line Up Front: Art and culture have an important role in economic development.

I believe that we can, and we must, learn from across contexts and disciplines. Consider a recent evaluation produced by the Kresge Foundation on the Findings from a Multi-Year Evaluation of the National Fresh, Local, and Equitable (FreshLo) Initiative. This is a fascinating study that looks at the Impact of the FreshLo program at the Kresge foundations. On its face – this looks like something quite unrelated to my own work. However consider the fundamental principals and I would argue that these are broadly applicable.

The Kresge review identified the following lessons:

1. Place-based investments – wherein recognition of the need for solutions to come from the most affected communities, rather than from an elite that parachutes in with theories not borne of lived experience.
2. Centering local residents – this authentic engagement means that together, residents have identified community assets and needs, and have crafted solutions to meet those needs and to advance their vision for their communities. These solutions make lives better. But resident engagement has a larger significance as well: it builds and strengthens the structures and processes of local participatory decision-making. 
3. Local leadership – community members are uniquely positioned to lead: they are the experts on their own neighborhoods, as well as on the strengths, opportunities, and relationships that can help advance their vision for a healthy community. To center this community expertise and the community’s vision for the future, funders can invest in resident leadership development.
4. Long term investing – Place-based investments should continue funding on the order of 5-10 years. Economic and democratic renewal need consistent and dependable resources, which will give local communities time enough to plan, try new things, strengthen capacities, build strong social networks, and solidify institutions.
5. Culture – Art served as a medium for the community to imagine the future that they wished to create and to move away from deficit-based narratives. Art was not merely added on top of program planning and implementation; rather, discovery through artistic methods was a crucial starting point that supported the community to identify the path forward, and to continue to create and build that vision together along the way.

As I am just wrapping a US$100M project design effort and as I reflect on these lessons, I hope that items 1-4 have been well covered in our project design; the last is completely absent.

From my experience I suggest the following high level observations:

Public Participation

This is really were so many development efforts go off the rails; public participation is perfunctory, limited, or otherwise constrained. Economic Development is not something that happens to people – it is a process by which people are meaningfully engaged. At the end of the day the development benefits come as much from providing agency as from the material things.

I am partial to the International Association for Public Participation‘s Participation Spectrum because it helps manage public expectations about why their opinions are being solicited and how their input will be used. An important element of a robust public engagement is making sure that all the stakeholders are at the table – this takes committed leadership both from within the community but also from the donor.

Parenthetically, I suggest that no engineer should be awarded their Professional Engineering license until they demonstrate an understanding of local government and have sat through a contentious public hearing (or several!).

Intimate Understanding and Long Term Solutions

Co-design is the engagement of stakeholders in defining a problem and potential solutions.

Adaptive Management is the iterative process of implementation that enables and encourages learning by doing by the stakeholders and their implementing partners and/or advisers.

Culture

Here is an interesting lesson, one that I have rarely, if ever, observed in the international domain – the importance of culture as part of the solution.

This is one that I will have to reflect on. In my current work all of our projects are subject to Cost-Benefit Analysis – the goal being to get rid of the gold-plating. Art (and cultural activities generally) – are very likely to be seen as very low returns on investment – particularly in the context of economic development.

How has art and culture activities contributed to success in community and economic development in your projects?