Graduation Semester and Year
Spring 2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Public and Urban Administration
Department
Public Administration
First Advisor
Karabi Bezboruah
Second Advisor
Jiwon Suh
Third Advisor
Emily Nwakpuda
Fourth Advisor
Alejandro Rodriguez
Abstract
Arts nonprofits play vital roles in defining the character of a community. However, our collective relationship with these organizations is evolving. This article-based dissertation leverages mixed methods to explore arts nonprofits’ evolving relationship with society.
The first article conceptually analyzes historical trends in arts advocacy in the United States. It explores how the arguments organizational supporters make in the hopes of securing financial and public support have developed and shifted in popularity over the past half-century. These streams are thematically connected through an emphasis on utilitarianism and value-extraction, and they have historically been employed in almost completely static proportion to each other over time.
The second study employs multilevel regression modeling to compare differing types of arts organizations along three dimensions of organizational health. It identifies a small-but-significant relationship between organizational type and operations—but also indicates that organization-specific contexts are much stronger predictors of operational health. This article also demonstrates an overdue approach for grappling with organizational diversity within the subsector.
The third article leverages ordered logit regression to examine the relationship between local arts economies and educational institutions. The paper implies a complex relationship between university density and arts economies, with university-aged local populations exhibiting a stronger association with arts vibrancy than the institutions themselves. It also indicates that community colleges may exhibit outsized positive impacts on cultural economies compared to their university counterparts. This article also demonstrates the reciprocal nature of interorganizational relationships by inverting traditional utilitarian perspectives on the arts.
By studying the evolving role of arts organizations in contemporary society, this dissertation represents a step forward for research on arts nonprofits and cultural policy. Its exploration of these changing dynamics will serve useful for administrators and policymakers seeking to form public-private partnerships to promote cultural vibrancy in a variety of urban, suburban, and rural contexts.
Keywords
Arts nonprofits, Placemaking, Institutional theory, Cultural policy, Nonprofit management, Resource dependency theory, Mixed methods, Cultural sector
Disciplines
Arts Management | Nonprofit Administration and Management | Public Administration | Public Policy
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Meagher, Trevor, "FINDING OUR WAY: THREE STUDIES ON THE EVOLVING ROLE OF ARTS NONPROFITS IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY" (2025). Public Affairs Dissertations. 233.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/publicaffairs_dissertations/233
Included in
Arts Management Commons, Nonprofit Administration and Management Commons, Public Administration Commons, Public Policy Commons