The elimination of conflicting schedules, a desire to correct inadequacies in community cultural life, the need for better physical facilities, and cooperative fundraising are the factors which historically have led to the formation of community councils. More recently, the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts in 1965 led to the formation of over 30 new state arts councils and, in turn, a large group of community councils in these states.

In addition, community councils and arts institutions now find themselves in an urban matrix whose dimensions and characteristics are changing literally from day to day. The middle class exodus to suburbia, programs of urban renewal, traffic congestion, new federal programs in mass education, and racial unrest all affect the roles of museums, symphonies and theatres. Faced with the continued necessity of imroving artistic standards, these institutions must also consider such projects as serving the suburban audiences, improving the quality of arts education in local schools, providing programs for low income areas of the city, planning joint programs with local colleges or universities, and the perennial problem of adequate financing, it is in this area of comprehensive community planning and programming that community councils may ultimately make their most valuable contribution to the arts.

The gradual influx of public monies into the arts puts even more emphasis on planning. Over 80 federal programs for the states in other fields require the submission of a master plan in their respective areas before the state is eligible for a grant. This emphasis will unquestionably have its influence at the local level among private arts organizations and municipal and county governments. Community councils should be able to analyze their city, county or region, determine the major problem areas, marshall the cultural resources of several local institutions to provide comprehensive programs, and finance these programs with more than one source of funds (public or private) if necessary.

No attempt will be made here to discuss program areas in detail. These brief outlines serve only to indicate the scope of projects that are possible through cooperative programming.

CONTENTS
The planning process.
Arts in the schools.
Low income area programs.
The public media.
New art forms.
Urban design.