Most recent
How the Arts Can Create the Foundation for a Multiracial US Democracy — Nonprofit Quarterly
Local Culture of Global Proportions — Penn Press
West Philadelphia uses art to confront neighborhood problems and threats to democracy — PBS NewsHour
Democracy as Creative Practice: Weaving a Culture of Civic Life offers arts-based solutions to the threats to democracies around the world, practices that can foster more just and equitable societies. As long-time champions and observers of community-based creative and cultural practices, editors Tom Borrup and Andrew Zitcer elucidate work that not only responds to sociopolitical conditions but advances practice.
Practicing Cooperation is grounded in the voices of practitioners and the result is a clear-eyed look at the lived experience of cooperators from different parts of the economy and a guidebook for people on the potential of this way of life for the pursuit of justice and fairness.
PA Humanities Discovery Project
From 2021-2024, Julie Goodman and I partnered with PA Humanities on a participatory research project to lift up the voices of humanities practitioners across Pennsylvania. Rather than focusing on organizations, we asked individual practitioners why they do the work they do, and what they need to thrive. We posit that humanities is a fundamental human right, and that we need to move as a field beyond a previous focus on economic outcomes and the marginalization of creativity as a means of living in community. This project will roll out throughout 2025.
Creative Placemaking in Transition
Johanna Taylor and I have been thinking about what’s next for Creative Placemaking as a field. We have discussed these challenges and changes in the GIA Reader (here and here). We reflect on the ongoing relevance of the ArtPlace America field scans in an article for a2ru. More work from this project is forthcoming. Many of these ideas first appeared in a 2020 article in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.
Artist Basic Income
As artists and culture bearers face technological, economic, and ecological change, the precarity of their labor can no longer be ignored. Instead of advocating for artists as separate from other workers, Johanna Taylor and I ask how artists can organize in solidarity with other “gig” workers to stand up for interventions including but not limited to guaranteed income. We will present initial findings from this work in Vancouver at the Urban Affairs Association annual meeting in April, 2025.
Arts, Democracy, and Urbanism
Growing from the insights of Democracy as Creative Practice, and the participatory events that Tom Borrup and I planned to extend the conversation across geographies and disciplines, I am curious how we bring together students, scholars, artists, advocates, and organizations to advance democracy through creative work embedded in cities. This project is at an early stage — stay in touch for more information or to add your own voice.
Andrew Zitcer 