Can the Arts Revive a Town?

Cities and towns across California and the United States have invested in arts programming and arts districts as a way to revitalize their communities. The results have been mixed. In Visalia, investments in the arts are credited for strengthening downtown and convincing young, educated Central Valley natives to return and settle there. But elsewhere, the investments have not turned out as well. Expensive new arts endeavors haven?t drawn large audiences or had significant impacts on their cities and neighborhoods. What has Visalia done right? What can other places learn from arts-centered revivals that have worked, and those that haven?t? Arts Consortium director Caroline Koontz, Visalia Opera founder Rosalinda Verde, and artist and College of the Sequoias professor Richard Peterson visit Zócalo to discuss the economic, social, and cultural effects of the arts on community life.