The Cultural Stimulus

2009-02-24T10:41:00.000-05:00

Stimulus
1. Something causing or regarded as causing a response.
2. An agent, action, or condition that elicits or accelerates a physiological or psychological activity or response.
3. Something that incites or rouses to action; an incentive: “Works which were in themselves poor have often proved a stimulus to the imagination” (W.H. Auden).

In February 2009, Congress passed and President Obama signed a $787 BILLION (and change) Stimulus Package, meant to kick-start the American economy. It includes money for education, job training and unemployment insurance; health care, housing, highways and high-speed rail; tax cuts and tax credits; research in basic and applied science, including the National Science Foundation, NASA, water, wind, solar and geothermal power. (Look here for a quick overview). The announced goal is to create 3-4 million jobs in the US in the next year. The larger task, however, is to restore confidence and hope for a better future.

Can there be a Cultural Stimulus that would amplify and enhance the economic one? Could cultural work act as an economic “multiplier”? What actions could we take to repair and restore civic confidence? How could we act—visibly, intelligently, deliberately—to contribute to the success of the stimulus package? What sort of interventions might give Central Ohio a lift?

The Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities and the Arts Initiative at Ohio State University invite your ideas and proposals for a Cultural Stimulus at an open forum on Tuesday, March 10 4 – 6 pm at the George Wells Knight House, 104 East 15th Avenue.

Can't make it, or can't wait? Contribute your ideas and suggestions here.

The Cultural Stimulus:

The Cultural Stimulus