They make a way. - Maryland Institute College of Art

MICA students highlight their engagement in community at the annual CAPFest sponsored by the Community Arts Partnership. / MICA’s annual collaboration with the Maryland
Transit Administration and Baltimore City Public Schools empowers children by bringing their poetry to life visually for display on buses and trains.
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Education is not the sole area where the arts
empower communities, however. The impact is
multi-faceted and global. In the United States, for
example, a study of the final decades of the last
century showed that deteriorating neighborhoods
in Philadelphia with many cultural assets were
three to four times more likely to be revitalized
than other at risk areas, and a study of distressed
neighborhoods in the early part of the last decade
found that those with cultural assets were more
likely to see dramatic improvement in housing
markets. In Australia, 90 percent of people who
participated in nine community arts projects
indicated that the projects had a lasting impact
on the development of their communities.
Seventy-one percent of people that took part in 17
London-based arts projects felt an improvement
in confidence and self-esteem. Back in the United
States, almost one-half of healthcare institutions
provide arts programming; 78 percent of the
institutions invest in the programming because
of healing benefits that include shorter hospital
stays and reduced the need for medication.
With dozens of courses focused on community
engagement (and more being created), MICA
continues to set the national standard in
demonstrating how art and artists can bring
out the best in people and buttress communities.
The focus has taken place at both the undergraduate
and graduate level. That investment—
in personnel, time, and resources—has led to
the production of graduates who are making a
measurable difference in people’s lives everywhere.