Informal Arts: Finding Cohesion, Capacity
and Other Cultural Benefits in Unexpected Places

No one really knows how many Americans find ways to create and express themselves through informal arts activities. A decade ago a study of arts participation by the National Endowment for the Arts found that in a nation of 200 million adults over 20 million sang in choral groups; more than 30 million painted or drew; 22 million played classical music. Countless others surely participate in activities the NEA study did not record: rock bands, hip-hop, folk music, and other popular and traditional art forms. The informal arts are a mass phenomenon.

But what is their significance? The Center’s Informal Arts Study was a groundbreaking investigation of participatory arts activities and the settings in which they take place in Chicago. We found that the informal arts are inclusive activities. Participation in the informal arts is hands-on. It is not limited to joining an audience. Our study revealed a
rich continuum of informal arts activities parks, churches, homes, libraries, community centers, social service agencies, and coffee shops in all Chicago neighborhoods. We found that the informal arts thrive in neighborhoods with little or no nonprofit arts activity.

Millions of people make art informally because it gives them pleasure, because
they learn from it, because they want to communicate, create beauty, tell their stories, and make something with friends and neighbors. These deeply satisfying, yet challenging, experiences are intrinsic to the making of art. We found that the informal
arts are also a powerful source of social capital in communities, and have the potential to make significant contributions to community development. Informal arts activities sustain immigrant traditions and bind ethnic communities. They are pathways to assimilation as well. We also found evidence that the informal arts are a vital source of innovation and continuity for the commercial and nonprofit sectors, and that informal artists are among the most loyal and knowledgeable segments of the art audience.

The value of the informal arts to individual lives and community vitality is enormous,
but they are, for the most part, invisible from a policy perspective. Parks, for example, generally provide more space and resources to sports than to the arts. And the small size and unincorporated status of most informal arts activities keeps them off the philanthropic agenda. It is tempting to consider how many more Americans might participate in the informal arts if more space and resources were accessible.

The informal arts study's principle investigator was Dr. Alaka Wali, an anthropologist and the director of the Center for Cultural Understanding and Change at the Field Museum. The project director was Elena Marcheschi.

Alta Mira Press will publish the study in book form later this year.

The full report is currently available in PDF.

Informal Arts: Finding Cohesion, Capacity and Other
Cultural Benefits in Unexpected Places
by Alaka Wali, PhD., Principal Investigator
Rebecca Severson, M.A., Ethnographer
Mario Longoni, M.A., Ethnographer