Paper presented at Conference on the Economic Impact of the Arts, sponsored by Cornell University, Graduate School of Business and Public Administration, held in Ithaca, New York, May 27-28, 1981.

Nobody is surprised anymore when good ideas about the arts come out of this North Carolina city. Before the National Endowment for the Arts and most state arts councils were established, Winston-Salem was generating a kind of cultural energy which since has become a guide for other communities. (Normal Madel, Scripps-Howard Syndicate, May 1980).

To the casual observer, the fact that a cultural complex has become the centerpiece of an effort to revitalize downtown Winston-Salem may seem counter-intuitive, unorthodox and even ill-advised. Other papers in this volume provide evidence to the contrary, in particular Susan Hollis documents in detail the way that the development of the downtown cultural complex in Winston-Salem has stimulated an impressive amount of investment and economic activity.

This paper examines Winston-Salem's downtown development from a different perspective - that of cultural policy. It contends that the move downtown will strengthen the arts in Winston-Salem and that the move is a logical step in the increasing community involvement of the arts in that city. It contends that the decision to move downtown reflects increasing linkage between the arts and the community. Moving downtown enhances the visibility of the arts to the public and to important decision makers in the community. Involvement in downtown development puts the arts at the geographic center of community life. This increases the likelihood of community support, which in turn generates the funds and audience necessary for the pursuit of excellence. For reasons of cultural as well as economic policy, the Winston-Salem experience provides a model that cna be followed by arts organizations in other communities. (p. 53-63)

[For a longer version of this paper, as presented at the Conference on the Economic Impact of
 the Arts, see Art and Economic Development.]

Paper presented at Conference on the Economic Impact of the Arts, sponsored by Cornell University, Graduate School of Business and Public Administration, held in Ithaca, New York, May 27-28, 1981.