Throughout the , artists and arts organizations working in the folk traditions of various cultures have carried on their work despite the often-meager incomes they may earn from it. They continue on, motivated by a commitment to their artistry, their family traditions, and the cultural heritage of their communities. Fortunately, these values are increasingly prized in the broader economy, as markets for traditional arts and for travel linked to the cultural uniqueness of particular places have grown substantially over the last several decades. They will continue to grow over the next several. Traditional arts, therefore, represent an opportunity for areas that have lagged behind rural areas, towns, and small cities in particular to capture a share of national growth, while preserving the cultural vitality essential to community quality of life. In 1999, the Fund for Folk Culture (FFC) a national nonprofit organization dedicated to the dynamic conservation of folk and traditional arts and culture in the initiated a funding program to support partnerships between regional economic development organizations and traditional artists and arts organizations. Underwritten by the Ford Foundation, the initiative funded about a dozen-and-a-half year-long projects chosen to show whether very modest amounts of money ($15,000 grants with a one-to-one match) could encourage members of a certain class of development agencies to help traditional artists gain more active and profitable access to the marketplace. This review of eight of those projects concludes that efforts to strengthen traditional culture and build the business skills of traditional artists and arts organizations registered important gains, but only if measured in terms that may be new to some economic developers. Some of the projects we reviewed helped solidify the community bonds vital to the continuation of artistic practices. For example, several projects encouraged youth to learn skills and increased a communitys understanding of its own cultural traditions. These community-building gains constitute a necessary pre-condition for artists broader market participation in the future.

The monograph by the Fund for Folk Culture (FFC) and the Urban Institute is an evaluation of the FFCs Partnerships in Local Culture program, but also identifies general issues and areas of collaboration for traditional artists, community based organizations and the economic development field