The ABCs of DEI in ACDs: Fostering belonging in arts and cultural districts

Arts and cultural districts (ACDs) grew in the United States as an urban economic development strategy in the 1990s and 2000s, but scholars and activists have critiqued their role in gentrification and investigated how they can support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in arts infrastructure. We draw from an original national survey of ACDs in the United States using regression analysis to explore relationships between organizational qualities, practices, and self-reported DEI outcomes among responding organizations. Do the typical DEI recommendations for non-profit and public sector organizations, such as prioritizing DEI, measuring outcomes, and prioritizing a high degree of participation, actually correlate with better reported DEI outcomes? These insights can provide planners engaged with arts and cultural policy, ACDs, and efforts to integrate the arts into planning practice a better understanding of how to ensure their work contributes toward equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging rather than gentrification or “dis-belonging”.