Cultural Institutions

"Livable Communities for All Ages" is a thoughtful brochure that reflects years of expertise and findings, as well as resources and case studies, on how all facets of the community can contribute to a more “older adult –friendly” environment. Download here

With the goal of promoting safer and affordable communities, "Livable Communities for All Ages" features a specific guide on which aspects of civic life—whether the local Chamber of Commerce or an individual— can respond to the maturing of America with instructive measures on the benefits of older adult livability adaptations in four areas:

Discussions of livability typically focus exclusively on urban living, yet 20% of the country lives in rural areas or small towns. As speaker Rachel Goslins pointed out at Partners’ "Building Livable Communities” forum,  “It’s not necessarily true that a livable community is a city.” Goslins, the executive director of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, asked us all to consider what livability means for small towns and what urbanites can learn from them.

Her observation is a fitting one. Small towns fare well in many aspects of livability, boasting low crime rates, access to natural amenities, affordable housing and land, ease of mobility (for most), and engaged citizens with a strong sense of community. Yet there are many barriers to livability in small towns, as they strive to deal with changing demographics, the decline of traditional industries, environmental damage, and deteriorating infrastructure. These woes may sound familiar to residents of any size city, but the effect and the solutions for small towns are often different. Long distances between amenities, limited resources, and negative stereotypes about rural America can make these challenges more difficult to surmount. 

How does a city aspire to be livable when the outside public seemingly brands it as ‘dying?’ How does the city grow when it is told that is 'shrinking’? With eyes that are turning away from the core industrial cities and onto the technological hubs of the twenty-first century: can the city sustain itself?

For Mayor Jay Williams of Youngstown, OH, hearing his city being labeled by Forbes Magazine as one of  Americas 10 Fastest-Dying Cities, inspired him to take the city in a new direction; one that leveraged successful development upon its own definition.

At the “Building Livable Communities” forum held at Washington, DC's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden on September 22, 2010, Mayor Williams held a detailed discussion on how civic institutions in Youngstown redefined their role to promote dynamic change as amenity rich centers.

Oakland, CA

A Senior Theatre Company that uses theatre and storytelling to bridge generation gaps and break down stereotypes about aging.

Partners’ recent forum with the Hirshhorn Museum, “Building Livable Communities: Creating a Common Agenda,” served as a positive platform to re-announce a new and exciting agenda for architecture, design, and social experimentation: The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s Bubble Expansion and book store renovation. Attended by Congressional representatives, federal agencies, think tanks, cultural institutions, and community development leaders alike, Director of the Hirshhorn Museum Richard Koshalek discussed the museum’s upcoming plans.

The "Bubble,” as it is called for the short-term, is a joint venture of Koshalek and Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, a renowned New York-based design firm, to re-invent the Museum as an intentional classroom and illustrate intersections of public and private space. Additionally, the museum book store will undergo a transition from a common commercial entity to becoming integrated as a part of museum exhibition space, through a renovation and move to the basement of the building.

Perhaps this new agenda comes from the idea that we need to adapt spaces to peoples’ readily changing needs. Perhaps this comes from Richard Koshalek’s desire to make the Hirshhorn a world class modern art museum with a daring new exposition. Perhaps this comes from the need to blur public and private space by incorporating The "Bubble” as an almost space-less entity into a negative, or void, of the concrete mass building; and the book store as an experiment in museum exhibit space. Or perhaps this agenda just comes from a need to make the stolid flimsy, the serious fun, and the patron part of the exhibit. 

Long considered by many as the center of high society and fine art, museums have established themselves as the elite foundation for what many museum directors proudly describe as the, “cathedrals of culture.” In vibrant metropolises, urban museums have sought to find a composite group of high class patrons amongst the density and heterogeneous nature of the city. Up until recently, museum collections sought out only the most exclusive and rarest of art as a top priority in the agenda held by longtime directors. In the current era, however; a major trend has occurred amongst many of the directors who are facilitating new programs that allow each institution to provide a focused area for creating a multicultural setting in the local community.

Planning and public service provision have not always been open to constituent input at all stages of the development process. The past few decades, however, have brought increased public desire to provide input, and technology has further helped to facilitate this participation in more efficient and effective ways.

Abandoned properties are encountered with rising frequency in these difficult economic times. Most people simply see them as an eyesore or a threat to security. However, there are some organizations, such as Boston Street Lab and Chashama, which have found this situation to be an opportunity to get a little creative.  

As many traditional economic drivers leave our cities, institutions like libraries, colleges, and arts organizations are now the key to supporting vibrant communities.  Given the right leadership and resources, these “anchor” institutions can act as fulcrums of change for leveraging stronger development agendas. 

In order to achieve this goal, institutional leaders across the country are seeking guidance on how to use their own missions to improve their communities.  A new report, released by CEOs for Cities and Living Cities, responds to this call for direction.  How to Behave Like an Anchor Institution presents six case studies of institutions that have successfully become “community anchors, developers and forces of change for their neighborhoods.”

Read more about the project and download the full report by clicking here. 
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Click here to learn more about Partners’ related program, Institutions as Fulcrums of Change, which seeks to initiate changes in the philosophy and programming of community institutions to help them strengthen their communities.

Arts and Cultural Institutions:  Developing New Audiences and Better Neighborhoods. In the next two decades, this country will see a major shift in demographics of the population.The number of adults age 65+ in the U.S. will double, to more than 70 million. This upward trend is also true of the immigrant population. Immigrants now account for one in eight U.S. residents, the highest level in 80 years. For organizations that provide opportunities for arts and cultural participation, these demographic trends represent a challenge and an opportunity to expand their audiences and take leadership roles in their communities.

How are arts and cultural institutions responding?  What types of programs have been instituted?  What new partnerships have been made?  How has staff composition changed?  These are questions that Partners has been asked to answer thanks to funding from MetLife Foundation.  We are approaching arts and cultural organizations in six major cities—Atlanta, New York City, Phoenix, Dallas, Tampa and Chicago—about how and why they are reaching out to these two growth populations.

If you have a program reaching out to older adults or immigrants, we would like to hear from you.  You do not need to be located in one of the cities above—all good programs are welcome.  Please contact Penny Cuff at Partners ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 202-887-5990 x 101).