City Makers: American Futures
The people, organizations, and ideas reshaping the country. A journey piloted by James Fallows with Deborah Fallows.
Arts
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Deborah Fallows Returning to Ohio
How a small, Midwestern town has changed over the decades—and where it aims to go
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Allison Osberg / Courtesy of Tides Institute and ... Little Town, Big Art
“The arts” might seem a frill or nicety. In Eastport, Maine, they’ve been at the center of economic and civic plans and have helped the little city “punch above its weight.”
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Deborah Fallows A Carnegie Legacy in Dodge City
Synergy of arts and civic life in a Kansas town
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Renee Rosensteel Language as Art in Pittsburgh
Exiled writers use words as art and inspire a community.
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Deb Fallows / The Atlantic Listening to Montana
In Chester, Montana, a world away from city life inspires an artist's music.
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Currier and Ives / Wikimedia Commona How Libraries Are Becoming Modern Makerspaces
They’ve long served as communal gathering spots, but these civic institutions are becoming gateways to technological tinkering.
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Stuart Siegel From Xizhou to Eastport to Ajo: Big Dreams in Small Towns
The same kind of ambition you see in political campaigns, races for sports championships, or attempts to score a big IPO—but toward a different end.
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Rogue Festival Creating California's New Bohemia—in an Unexpected Locale
"It's a great time to be an artist in Fresno." This is a possibility I had never considered before visiting. And now ...
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Photos James and Deborah Fallows Ajo, Arizona: Oasis in the Desert
How a city with century-old "good bones" tries to reinvent itself.
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Photos James and Deborah Fallows Ajo, Arizona: A Small Town Pushed to the Brink, and Coming Back
What does a town do when most of its people lose their jobs nearly overnight? For the people of this small town, the surprising answer places heavy emphasis on the arts.
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Mountain Stage A Vibrant American Musical Career, far From America's Cultural Capitals
What Larry Groce discovered by launching a national radio program from an out-of-the-way location
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Tom Nguyen How the Arts Drove Pittsburgh's Revitalization
The role of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, founded by a wealthy band of visionaries 30 years ago, is central—but hard to replicate.
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Renee Rosensteel Pittsburgh's City of Asylum
In the City of Bridges, an eclectic community embraces writers in exile.
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Jessica Phelps How to Attract Artists to a Down-and-Out Neighborhood
Columbus, Ohio, has figured out how to draw creative types to an area it is hoping to revitalize.
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Dreaming Big in South Carolina: A Public Boarding School for the Arts
by Deborah Fallows
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Wikimedia Commons Building a Museum: Report From Down East
A Maine couple defies the odds -- and helps to build community in the process.
