How local arts power renewal around the world
by Lisa Richards Toney, President and CEO of APAP
Before roads were paved or banks were built, communities around the world started with one thing—a gathering place. A church. A community bandstand. A makeshift stage in a barn. Born of an abundance of civic instinct and shared imagination, these were spaces where communities took shape.
That impulse to gather and connect is still in our cultural fabric. At a recent National Association of Performing Arts Managers and Agents (NAPAMA) retreat in Wilmington, North Carolina, Mayor Bill Saffo said Thalian Hall is likely the busiest building in the city. It shares space with City Hall.
In Des Moines, Iowa, a historic armoury is becoming a performing arts centre as city offices relocate. Fishers, Indiana, is developing an Arts & Municipal Complex. In Tysons, Virginia, Capital One Hall blends corporate headquarters with a public performance venue. Around the world, cities from Seoul to São Paulo are taking similar steps—embedding the arts in civic and urban design as a strategy for resilience.
In a time of marked changes in global mobility, economic uncertainty and increasing polarisation, communities are again turning to the arts as a unifier. Not as an extra, but as an essential.
Where the arts hit the ground
These stories reflect a growing understanding. The arts are not separate from civic life—the arts are civic life. Theatres, festivals and community centres are our cultural power grid, sparking creativity, generating cohesion and drawing from an abundance of local talent and vision to help fractured communities rewire for resilience. They offer scaffolding that helps us treat the symptoms of disconnection and address its causes, linking identity, empathy and trust.
Resilience, creativity and human connection, core to the arts, are now strategic assets for global competitiveness. In the age of AI, the arts cultivate human-centred leadership and creative intelligence.
The World Health Organisation calls the arts vital to public health, mental wellbeing, social connection and recovery outcomes. UNESCO, too, has emphasised the cultural and economic urgency of arts infrastructure. States that recognise this are linking the arts with housing, mental health, disaster response and economic growth infrastructure plans.
This isn’t a fringe trend, either. The only fringe idea is divesting from systems that prove essential to civic and economic renewal, reducing costs and improving lives.
Systems that scale and regenerate
The arts don’t just reach people, they channel abundance into regeneration, turning imagination into infrastructure. A public mural becomes a landmark. A youth troupe becomes a leadership pipeline. A touring show sparks small
business growth.
APAP sees this multiplier effect daily. A grant to a local presenter becomes a paycheck, a performance and a ripple that generates jobs, wellbeing, pride and trust. The impact scales.
The numbers tell the story. Proximity to arts venues can raise property values by 20 per cent. Youth arts programmes reduce crime and boost graduation rates. Arts-based health interventions shorten hospital stays.
While the US arts sector contributes over $1 trillion to GDP annually, similar ripple effects have been measured in Australia, the EU and across emerging markets. A $1 arts investment can return $10 in community value.
Investing in talent and mobility
Arts education teaches what tomorrow demands: creativity, collaboration, adaptability and emotional intelligence. These are “soft skills” and survival skills in a world where change is the
only constant.
Funding that unlocks arts access, especially in under-resourced areas, generates mobility and civic participation. When funded properly, these systems become engines of innovation and solutions to foster community belonging.
Google’s investments in digital access and arts education reflect this. Creative capacity is essential for shaping future-ready economies. The arts bridge what we can build with who we
can become.
Why the arts can’t wait
The arts are neither niche nor luxury. They’re engines of economic mobility, civic belonging and community resilience. Artists are leaders and cultural stewards, not just gig workers.
Arts associations like APAP aren’t just trade groups. They’re national catalysts, growing capacity, informing policy and organising collective power.
Like hospitals or universities, the performing arts field sits atop a deep reservoir of alumni, stakeholders and supporters, but with a unique advantage. Our abundance of transformative power creates a reflexive, almost Pavlovian response across our network. It doesn’t just exist. It activates.
The arts don’t sit on the sidelines. They lay the foundation, transforming arts funding into fuel for workforce development, innovation and local solutions that scale.
Let’s build from the arts up
This is an invitation to dreamers, investors, civic leaders and doers. Ours is a global field of abundance, vision and resolve. If you’re seeking an investment with real economic and civic returns, this
is it.
The arts aren’t accessories. They’re prerequisites. They grow talent. Drive innovation. Foster belonging. Strengthen social cohesion. Improve health. The live performance experience connects people in ways data alone never will.
Don’t just attend. Build. Don’t just sponsor. Co-invest. Don’t just talk about impact. Make it real. The arts exist everywhere. Invest in their catalytic power, and you’ll ignite possibility everywhere they reach.
Reference: delawareartsalliance.org/government-funding-arts/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
