Understanding the Arts and Creative Sector in the United States:

Ruth Ann Stewart, Joni Maya Cherbo, and Margaret Jane Wyszomirski, editors
(Rutgers University Press, 2008)

The arts and creative sector is one of the nation’s broadest, most important, and least understood social and economic assets, according to the new book Understanding the Arts and Creative Sector in the United States: The Public Life of the Arts co-edited by Ruth Ann Stewart of the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
    The timely collection of thirteen original essays by leading experts demonstrates that interest in the arts has accelerated in recent years, encompassing both nonprofit arts and cultural organizations, for-profit creative companies (such as advertising agencies, film producers, and commercial publishers), and community-based artistic activities. The book depicts the crucial importance of the arts to urban revitalization, civic engagement, historic preservation, economic development, international trade, and national identity. This volume illuminates the critical issues and policies that matter to the cultivation of the arts and creative sector in America.