30 Years and Counting: A Context for Building a Shared Cross-Cultural Commons
Calling for an alternative economic vision that puts freedom, justice and equity at the core of society. By Jack (John Kuo Wei) Tchen (November 2007)

A Bridge Conversation on Creating with a Sense of Strategic Practice
Maribel Alvarez and Jason Bulluck on paying attention to the “little stuff,” engaging in critical discourse and understanding how power can be shaken up. By Jason Bulluck (April 2008)

A Call for Cultural Development
On the role of the "home-grown" artist in a vital, characteristically Southeastern culture, a "local life aware of itself." By Dudley Cocke and Ruby Lerner (October 2003)

A Jar in Tennessee
CAN reviews "Local Acts: Community-Based Performance in the United States," a new book by Jan Cohen-Cruz. By Richard Owen Geer (May 2005)

A Journey of Discouragement and Hope: An Introduction to Arts and Corrections
With 100 prison arts residencies under his belt, a working poet introduces the field. By Grady Hillman (December 2001)

A Question of Values
A "matrix" of common principles for community-based artists drawn up at a gathering of grassroots theater artists at Cornell University. First published in From the Ground Up: Grassroots Theater in Historical and Contemporary Perspective, 1993. (February 2000)

An Introduction to Community Art and Activism
Some history, theory and personal perspective on activist art for community change. By Jan Cohen-Cruz (February 2002)

An Introduction to Training in Community Arts
How and where training is being offered in community arts, from workshops to degree courses in universities. By Linda Frye Burnham (September 2001)

An Introduction to the Arts-for-Health Movement, or How the Arts Sneaked in on the Medical Model
A short history of the field of arts in healthcare, along with highlights, references and theory based on the author's own experience with arts in the U.S. By Janice Palmer (November 2001)

Art Centers for Adults with Disabilities
Theory, history, personal perspective from the founding director of National Institute of Arts and Disabilities. By Elias Katz (February 2002)

Art in Rebuilding Community: The Transforma Project in New Orleans
Can cultural activity produce meaningful and sustainable activity in a devastated community? By Jan Cohen-Cruz (June 2007)

Artibarri: To Share and Debate in Catalonia
A community arts network animated by ideas. By Arlene Goldbard (September 2007)

Arts and Creative Aging Across America
Overview from the point of view of the director of the National Center for Creative Aging. By Susan Perlstein (October 2002)

Authentic Passion: An introduction to the arts in rural and small communities
Overview from a noted South Dakota arts consultant. By Janet Brown (March 2002)

Beyond Victimization
On not letting our identities by defined by our oppression. Published in High Performance #72, Vol. XIX, No. 2, 1996. By Dan Kwong (October 2003)

Book Review: New Creative Community
CAN reviews a new book by cultural critic Arlene Goldbard. By Tom Borrup (November 2006)

Book Review: The Creative Community Builder’s Handbook
CAN reviews a new book by Tom Borrup & Partners for Livable Communities. By Libby Maynard (November 2006)

Bridges, Translations and Change: The Arts as Infrastructure in 21st Century America
Why the arts are, or should be, important in society. First published in High Performance #58/59, Vol. XV, No. 2/3, 1992. By William Cleveland (December 1999)

Challenging Our Students' Place through Collaborative Art: A Service-Learning Approach
Learning to develop a sense of place in the world. By Karen Hutzel (March 2008)

Chaos, Art and the Age of Uncertainty
Integrating the arts into culture. This speech was originally delivered on November 1, 1997 at the annual conference of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. By William Cleveland (December 1999)

Community Arts and Technology: Confessions of a Quiet Practitioner
Overview from the founding co-director of the Center for Digital Storytelling. By Joe Lambert (May 2002)

Community, Culture and Globalization
Chapter One of "Community, Culture and Globalization," anthology published by the Rockefeller Foundation. By Don Adams and Arlene Goldbard (January 2002)

Community-based Art for Social Change
A definitive essay on art and social change. By Kathie deNobriga and Mat Schwarzman (October 1999)

Concentric Circles: An Interview with Mary Jane Jacob
Independent curator Mary Jane Jacob on enlarging the notion of what art is, who makes it, where it's found. Published in High Performance #69/70, Vol. XVIII, No. 1/2, 1995. By Carole Tormollan (December 1999)

Converging Streams: The Community Arts and Sustainable Community Movements
Are we truly on the brink of a new paradigm? By Patricia A. Shifferd and Dorothy Lagerroos (November 2006)

Courting Catharsis
Review of the community play "Steelbound," produced as part of the Bethlehem, Pa., Steel Festival. By Gerard Stropnicky (October 1999)

Creating a Generative Moment — An Interview with Arlene Goldbard
One of the community arts movement's first national organizers talks about her novel, "Clarity." By Jan Cohen-Cruz (July 2004)

Cross Tides: Getting the picture
Review of Community Performance Inc. theater production in Newport News, Va. By Linda Frye Burnham (December 1999)

Cultural Policy: In the board rooms and on the streets
Overview from a noted consultant to foundations and government agencies. By Caron Atlas (August 2002)

Dancing From the Heart: Urban-based Community Arts
Overview by a Chicago-based director of community theater projects across the U.S. By Richard Owen Geer (May 2002)

Dancing in Community: Its Roots in Art
A short history of the field of community dance, along with highlights, references and theory based on the author's own experience with her company, the Dance Exchange. By Liz Lerman (September 2002)

Darn It, But Thank You
Review of "The Whole World Gets Well" by Scrap Mettle Soul, Chicago. By Linda Frye Burnham (June 2002)

Deeper than Skin or Gender: Community Arts and Cultural Diversity
Overview of the intersection of art and cultural diversity from the director of Atlanta Partnership for Arts in Learning and former director of Alternate ROOTS. By Alice Lovelace (July 2002)

Dialectic of Community Arts Practice and Globalization, or Is This Parade Going the Wrong Way?
Exploration of some contradictions in the methods used in community cultural development. By Tom Borrup (June 2003)

End Cultural Isolationism
No wonder America is hated in the world. Our government's policy of cultural isolationism is to blame. By Dudley Cocke (November 2001)

Everybody Say Hallelujah: the Burlington, Vermont, residency
"Eastside Story," coverage of the Burlington, Vermont, residency in the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange nationwide "Hallelujah" initiative, 1998-2002. By Linda Frye Burnham (May 2001)

Everybody Say Hallelujah: the Los Angeles, California, residency
"Westside Story," coverage of the Los Angeles, California, residency in the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange nationwide "Hallelujah" initiative, 1998-2002. By Linda Frye Burnham (May 2001)

Everybody Say Hallelujah: the Michigan residency
"On the Path to Paradise," coverage of the Michigan residency in the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange nationwide "Hallelujah" initiative, 1998-2002. By Linda Frye Burnham (January 2002)

Everybody Say Hallelujah: the Minneapolis, Minnesota, residency
"Dancing to the Music of Time," coverage of the Minneapolis, Minnesota, residency in the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange nationwide "Hallelujah" initiative, 1998-2002. By Linda Frye Burnham (December 2001)

Everybody Say Hallelujah: the North Carolina residencies
"From the Piedmont to the Blue Ridge," introduction to coverage of the North Carolina residencies in the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange nationwide "Hallelujah" initiative, 1998-2002. By Linda Frye Burnham (January 2003)

Finding the Thread of an Interrupted Conversation: the Arts, Education, and Community
Overview of arts and education from the director of Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE). By Arnold Aprill (February 2002)

First We Make Music: An Introduction to Music and Community Arts
Overview of community music from the director of the Contintental Harmonies Program of American Composers Forum. By Patricia A. Shifferd (March 2002)

Folklife, Meet Community Arts
A "polemic," chastising both folklorists and community-arts practitioners for remaining so isolated from each other. By Bau Graves (January 2004)

Grass ROOTS Vanguard
1982 article from Art in America, where the authors say "The neighborhood artist is the new vanguard." By Don Adams and Arlene Goldbard (August 2002)

Grassroots, Community-based Theater: A View of the Field and Its Context
History, theory and examples of community-based theater from a CAN co-director and founding director of the Road Company. By Robert H. Leonard (December 2003)

Hallelujah North Carolina: From the Piedmont to the Blue Ridge - the Asheville residency
Coverage of the Asheville, N.C., residency in the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange nationwide "Hallelujah" initiative, 1998-2002. By Linda Frye Burnham (January 2003)

Hallelujah North Carolina: From the Piedmont to the Blue Ridge - the Boone residency
Coverage of the Boone, N.C., residency in the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange nationwide "Hallelujah" initiative, 1998-2002. By Linda Frye Burnham (January 2003)

Hallelujah North Carolina: From the Piedmont to the Blue Ridge - the Greensboro residency
Coverage of the Greensboro, N.C., residency in the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange nationwide "Hallelujah" initiative, 1998-2002. By Linda Frye Burnham (January 2003)

Hallelujah North Carolina: From the Piedmont to the Blue Ridge - the Raleigh residency
Coverage of the Raleigh, N.C., residency in the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange nationwide "Hallelujah" initiative, 1998-2002. By Linda Frye Burnham (January 2003)

Hallelujah/USA: Call and Response
A few questions about the connection between art and faith, asked during the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange nationwide "Hallelujah" initiative, 1998-2002. By John Borstel (March 2003)

High Mass in the Church of Art: The "Hallelujah" Finale
Coverage of the ten-day final gathering in College Park, Maryland, of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange nationwide "Hallelujah" initiative, 1998-2002. By Linda Frye Burnham (March 2003)

Higher Ground: Informal Arts, Cultural Policy and the Evolving Role of Nonprofits
With the rise of the creative class, prosumers, Pro-ams and Net-Geners, are our nonprofit cultural institutions becoming outdated? By Tom Borrup (July 2007)

INROADS: The Intersection of Art & Civic Dialogue
Introduction to the use of civic dialogue in community development from the staff of the Animating Democracy Initiative. By Andrea Assaf, Pam Korza and Barbara Schaffer-Bacon (August 2002)

Ideology, Confrontation and Political Self-Awareness
The artist puts forward an understanding of how ideologies are developed and maintained, and how the activist artist can recognize and address them. Published in High Performance #13, Vol. IV, No. 1, 1981. By Adrian Piper (September 2002)

Laughing and Crying in An Age of Anxiety: An Interview with Liz Lerman
A conversation about a Dance Exchange repertory piece responding to 9/11, "Anatomies and Epidemics," created during the company's nationwide "Hallelujah" initiative, 1998-2002. By Linda Frye Burnham (January 2003)

Listening for the Lexicon of Cultural Shift
New language from old wisdom about community art as lived experience. By Linda Frye Burnham (May 2007)

Lyrical Expression, Critical Engagement, Transformative Action: An Introduction to Art and the Environment
History and theory of the visual arts as they engage our natural and built environment -- from a noted eco-artist/scholar. By Tim Collins (June 2003)

Mapping the Field: Arts-Based Community Development
Overview from the director of the Center for the Study of Art and Community. By William Cleveland (May 2002)

Meaning or McCalgary?
Speech on meaning in public life, delivered to the Alberta Cultural Think Tank in Canada, February 21, 2002 By Maryo Gard Ewell (March 2002)

Negotiations: Learning Hard Lessons
Why all this talk about the need to negotiate community arts projects? A story about a project that had some unsettling results. Published in High Performance #64 ,Vol. XVI, No. 4, 1993. By Robert H. Leonard (October 2003)

Nine Eleven, Fear and Hand Me Down Shoes
Review of "Hand Me Down Shoes" by Community Performance Inc. with the Mennonites in Newport News, Va. By Linda Frye Burnham (April 2002)

No Time for the Blues (Aesthetic)
From an issue of High Performance magazine by African-American artists examining the blues not just as music, but as painting, photography, fiction, politics, social condition and cultural force. High Performance #52, Vol. XIII, No. 4, 1990. By Pearl Cleage (September 2002)

Of the People, By the People, and For the People: The field of community performance
An essay on the essential attributes of community-based theater, and by extension, community-based arts. By Richard Owen Geer (October 1999)

Of the People, By the People, and For the People: The field of community performance
An essay on the essential attributes of community-based theater, and by extension, community-based arts. First published in High Performance #64, Vol. XVI, No. 4, 1993. By Richard Owen Geer (September 2002)

On Cultural Citizenship
A commentary on artists participating the civic life of their communities. Published in High Performance #67, Vol. XVII, No. 3, 1994. By John Killacky (December 1999)

Overlaps, Intersections and Conflicts: An Introduction to Arts and Culture
Ideas about the state of cultural democracy by a noted arts consultant and author. By Arlene Goldbard (March 2002)

Policy Research on Community Arts: A Collective Endeavor
An overview of the policies and methods of research in community arts from the director of the Culture, Creativity and Communities Program at the Urban Institute. By Maria-Rosario Jackson (July 2002)

Power and Mastery — Negotiations in Community-based Visual Art
Overview of the intersection of visual art and communities from an experienced practitioner. By Neill Bogan (October 2003)

Public Art's Cultural Evolution
Overview of the field of public art from the artistic director of Public Art Review. By Jack Becker (February 2002)

Richard Florida's High-class Glasses
Was he wrong about "The Rise of the Creative Class"? By Ann Daly (October 2004)

Socially Engaged Art, Critics and Discontents: An Interview with Claire Bishop
Is the aesthetic is being sacrificed on the altar of social change? By Jennifer Roche (July 2006)

Some Historical Threads of the Community Arts Story (and why they are important).
A history of community arts by the former associate director of the Colorado Council on the Arts. By Maryo Gard Ewell (July 2002)

Steelbound and Pouring the Sun: An artistic connection with a people's yearning
Review of the Bethlehem, Pa., Steel Festival. By Robert H. Leonard (October 1999)

Taking It to the Bank: Unlocking Community Cultural Assets
Meditation on cultural connections to Hernando DeSoto's book "The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else." By Tom Borrup (November 2003)

Telling and Listening in Public: The Critical Discourse
Essay about criticism in the field of community-based narrative performance work; part of "Connecting Californians: Finding the Art of Community Change" research project. By Linda Frye Burnham (February 2001)

Telling and Listening in Public: The Sustainability of Storytelling
Essay addressing whether a community-based narrative performance project's "storytelling energy" can continue in a community after the project is competed, including interviews with prominent practitioners; part of "Connecting Californians: Finding the Art of Community Change" research project. By Linda Frye Burnham (February 2001)

The Artist and Power
An excerpt from research about artists as leaders. By Anne Douglas and Chris Fremantle (November 2007)

The Artmaker as Active Agent: Six Portraits
Artist Susan Monagan explores the work of six individual community artists for her Cornell Masters thesis. By Susan Monagan (February 2006)

The CAN Report: The State of the Field of Community Cultural Development: Something New Emerges
A report from the Community Arts Network Gathering, May 2004. By Linda Frye Burnham, Steven Durland and Maryo Gard Ewell (August 2004)

The Community Cultural Development Field
First chapter of Don Adams and Arlene Goldbard's "Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development," book commissioned by Rockefeller Foundation in 2001. By Don Adams and Arlene Goldbard (August 2001)

The Cutting Edge Is Enormous: Liz Lerman and Richard Owen Geer
Shedding some new light on the artist's job by looking at two of the most accomplished community-based artists in the U.S. Published in High Performance #67, Vol. XVII, No. 3, 1994. By Linda Frye Burnham (September 2002)

The Dynamism of Arts-service Organizations
Introduction to the service organizations providing much of community arts' infrastructure -- by the former director of the National Association of Artists' Organizations. By Roberto Bedoya (January 2002)

The Flood of Possibilities: An Interview with Michelle Pearson
A conversation with the project leader for the four North Carolina residencies of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange's nationwide "Hallelujah" initiative, 1998-2002. By Linda Frye Burnham (January 2003)

The Funder's Tale
An award-winning Canadian storyteller ponders his new job: community-arts grants officer. By Dan Yashinsky (June 2007)

The Pedagogy of Intangible Heritage: Los Cenzontles and Mexican Folk Music
Cenzontles is more than an "arts services provider." It's a hub for cultural critique. By Maribel Alvarez (May 2006)

These are the times that try our Souls
Keynote speech at Animating Democracy's 2003 National Exchange on Art & Civic Dialogue in Flint, Mich. By Grace Lee Boggs (November 2003)

Thinking Outside the Cubicle? Does the 501(c)(3) Box Stifle Creativity in the Dot-com Era?
CAN reviews "There's Nothing Informal About It: Participatory Arts Within the Cultural Ecology of Silicon Valley," a new book by Maribel Alvarez. By Tom Borrup (February 2006)

Toward Asset-Based Community Cultural Development: A Journey Through the Disparate Worlds of Community Building
Review of strategies in community building by artists, urban planners and community developers. By Tom Borrup (April 2003)

Toward a Process for Critical Response
Early writing about the Critical Response Process now widely in use to critique artworks in process, developed by the author in collaboration with Alternate ROOTS. By Liz Lerman (October 2003)

Up the Revolution
Commentary on artists working in communities. Published in High Performance #38, Vol. X, No. 2, 1987. By Linda Frye Burnham (December 1999)

What Happens When the Revolution Doesn't Come?
Commentary on struggles and difficulties of activism. First published in High Performance #71, Vol. XIX, No. 1, 1996. By Keith Hennessy (December 1999)

What's Revolutionary About Valuing Assets as a Strategy in Cultural Work?
Some radical new insights on asset-based community building and its values. By Tom Borrup (September 2005)

When Seeing Is Not Believing: Community-based Arts and Criticism
A dialogue about quality in community-based theater with the author and a mainstream critic friend. By Jan Cohen-Cruz (June 2002)

Whose Agenda Is It, Anyway? Documentary Burdens, Community Benefits
History and theory of the documentary arts from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. By Lynn McKnight (August 2003)

Why Not Football? The Politics of Youth Arts Programs in America
Overview of community arts with young people: history, theory and personal perspective from the author of "Building the Code: Understanding Community-based Arts in America." By Mat Schwarzman (May 2002)

Writing Deeply: A Discussion with Three Writers
Three writers about community arts discuss strategies for critical writing about individual artists or companies. By Linda Frye Burnham, Jan Cohen-Cruz and Sonja Arsham Kuftinec (June 2002)

[How] Does Activist Performance Work?
Might theater, and the relationships it produces, be the site of social change? By Sonja Arsham Kuftinec (February 2008)

zAmya Theater Project: Toward an Intimacy of Social Change
zAmya is a place where those who have experienced homelessness are placed front and center. By Rachel Chaves (February 2008)