In response to some baseless Twitter clickbait counterfactually claiming Brookings is the worst city in South Dakota (Instragram is not a source, ever), I notice South Dakota Tourism’s tweet about an August report from Southern Methodist University’s DataArts ranking Brookings as the seventh most “arts-vibrant” small city in the U.S. The Spearfish of the East joins a list of artsy micropolises led by Jackson, Wyoming; Summit Park, Utah; and Steamboat Springs Colorado:
Why do arts matter, in Brookings and everywhere else? They’re just another way to bring everyone together and save the planet from Trumpism, the way the Truman Commission wanted:
Arts and cultural organizations are engines of community development and community cohesion. The arts provide culturally infused experiences that are consumed in an open, social setting, which is ideal for engendering social integration in a diverse marketplace. The current climate of political, sociocultural, and economic polarization makes it more important than ever to recognize and celebrate the essential role that arts and culture play in making communities throughout the country not only more vibrant places to live and visit but also more unified, safe, and tolerant [Zannie Giraud Voss, Glenn Voss, Daniel Fonner, and Ludovica Marsili, “The Top 40 Most Arts-Vibrant Communities in America (2019),” SMU DataArts, August 2019.].
Some other South Dakota counties score pretty well on SMU DataArts’s arts-vibrancy scale. The I-29 corridor, the Black Hills, and even the capital area all have counties scoring in the green 80s and above on SMU’s 100-point scale:
Perhaps worth noting: Lawrence, Custer, and Fall River counties all appear to have more vibrant arts communities than larger hub Pennington, and Fort Pierre appears to be putting more effort and money into the arts than Pierre.
In the Minnesota metro, when they want to revitalize a low income, down on its luck neighborhood, they start with arts. They convert old buildings to artists’ lofts and studios with space for galleries.
The seasoned developers do this every time and it works. Artists and other creative types come, more people want to move into the area. More development follows.
Arts builds communities.
I’m surprised Vermillion isn’t mentioned. USD and its school of fine arts is a big factor in the community’s art sense. Brookings has the outdoor art fest and the state’s art museum, but in terms of an artistic culture Vermillion -along with the university- has more of artistic vibe, at least in my humble opinion.
Thanks for the good local word from Vermillion, Pete! The DataArts interactive county map gives Clay County decent marks: 89 for Arts Providers, 93 for Arts Dollars, 94 for Government Support, 79 for Socio-economic factors, and 91 for Other Leisure.
The figures in Brookings County: 98 for Arts Providers, 92 for Arts Dollars, 99 for Government Support, 75 for Socio-economic factors, and 95 for Other Leisure.
Debbo, interesting point on neighborhood revitalization. Give artists a canvas that spans a neighborhood, let them start the (re)creative process.
Art seems more at home in an old downtown than some new suburban development. Art grows in funk, not sterility.
Cory, true, “art grows in funk.” The most successful art locations in Minnesota are repurposed old factories and warehouses in the metro and hip little towns out on the prairie. One of the best is Lanesboro in the southeast corner of the state.
Didn’t Cat Deuter somewhat hippify Ree Heights in the 80s? I don’t think there was enough local government support to go farther with it.
Cat Deuter?! I hadn’t heard of her… but I find she’s in the SD Hall of Fame (even though she came from California!). It appears she does her work in Oregon now, on the Pacific Coast.
Cory, Cat married a local Hand County farmer/rancher, one of my high school classmates. She’s very talented. It’s too bad she/they had to move to Oregon to get their needs met.