This study is the seventh survey of Americans and the Arts, the landmark series of studies under the auspices of the American Council for the Arts which have documented the levels of interest and involvement in the arts among the American people, as well as how they feel about key issues such as the arts and education and the pivotal issue of support and funding of the National Endowment for the Arts.

This issue of Monographs will provide an overview of cultural diversity as it relates to the local arts agency field, as well as raise difficult questions, offer suggestions for the future and profile local arts agencies addressing cultural equity and cultural diversity. Given accelerating changes in demographics in many cities across America, it is no wonder that local arts agency administrators have been increasingly challenged to more accurately reflect the composition of their communities in their programming.

The 1997 Program Prospectus is a summary of Very Special Arts program activities in the , planned for the period from October 1, 1996 through September 30, 1997. This publication reflects the creativity and diversity of arts programs throughout the VSA network.

This issue of monographs looks at initiatives in rural America that have changing identities, economies, geographies, commodities and populations.

Attracting more people to the arts is a major goal of museums and orchestras throughout the country. As Feldstein (1991, 9) has commented in his volume on the economics of art museums, too little is done to attract members of the public who normally do not come to the museum, too little is done to educate those who do come, and too few specialized exhibitions are presented for relatively well-informed museum visitors.

Identities are collective before they become individualized, and the arts have always been used to establish the parameters of identities. The question then arises; what and whose memory and history are to be included or excluded, defined and sacralized, by and through the arts? The answer to that inherently political question sets the boundaries of the collectivity, be it nation, ethnic group or the arts community itself.

Little has been heard from the front lines, from the people who have been targeted by censorship and the arts advocates who have spent enormous energy and time working to defend freedom of expression. In [this book], we have gathered those voices together for the first time to tell their very personal side of the story. (from abstract)

Informed Americans are all too familiar with the list of grim problems facing this nation today. To mobilize the required resources and bear the necessary sacrifices calls for a high level of motivation. How can we regain motivation, the will, the vitality to deal with the challenges ahead. That is the issue that is addressed in this paper.

Bool edited by Sue Vineyard, a compilation of essays about volunteer diversity, leadership, and management.

Of course this is not a new idea. Over the past two decades some of this country's finest artists and arts organizations have been quietly establishing a remarkable record of innovation and success in institutional and community settings.