Yesterday I went to the Measuring the Muse conference at Columbia University's National Arts Journalism Program. It was a gathering of leading researchers in the cultural sector, all responding to the report I blogged about a few weeks ago, which is called Gifts of the Muse. The report is an attempt to build a case fo arts support that doesn't rest on quanitifiable or instrumental values of the arts. For example, why do arts advocates say that the arts are good for the economy or the arts help improve children's test scores, instead of saying things like the arts make better people or the arts are an important way of knowing the world.

So about 150 people, including artists (not enough), academics, policy wonks, administrative folks, funders, and journalists sat down for a day and had a time of it. The best part was the morning - after Dana Gioia spoke (he's the Chairman of the NEA), a couple dozen researchers had 12 minutes each to present their current work. It was an interesting overview of the research that's going on in the sector in the U.S. One of the speakers, Steven Tepper, is a professor from Vanderbilt University who studies how college students find out about new music. His research is looking at the importance of "mavens." These are people he defines as music-seekers and music-sharers. 94% of college students told his research team they rely on mavens to tell them what to listen to, and 32% of the folks consider themselves mavens. These mavens "act as instigators of experimentation." Tepper thinks that public policy ought to look not just at how the public can best gain access to "old" art but also be concerned with how people find out about the new.

We also heard Toqir Mukhtar of Princeton University speak on, "Is the classical music audience facing extinction," Joan Jeffri from Columbia talk about what happens to dancers when they retire, various presenters with new economic impact studies that analyze the role of creative industries, and remarks by New York's impressive Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Kate Levin, about the impact of Christo's Gates on New York's cultural institutions.

You might wonder why I would go to such a meeting and spend a whole day there when there is so much to do back at the ranch. The answer is easy. I am frequently, if not daily, in the position of making a case for the arts and it is really helpful to exchange ideas with other people who do the same. To the extent that we can hone our arguments, draw on research, and become more persuasive, radio stations like The Current can be born.

Have a great week-end and thanks for listening.