19 Small City Social & Cultural • Resources The same participant from Bethlehem – also the creative director at Touchstone Theatre – noted that “modernization may diminish this,” referring to the cultural meaning in Bethlehem’s festivals. Artists are increasingly concerned that these events, as they become further removed from the communities and identities where these traditions exist, risk losing their significance because of whitewashing or greenwashing. Cultural Institutions: Access and Engagement Participants also highlighted cultural institutions like museums, libraries, and community centers as low-barrier entry into a city’s social fabric. In Ann Arbor, their library functions as “a community center and social safety net.” Libraries have often become a “third space” outside of work and home where people can gather and also access free resources. They can also become places of support and safety during times of hardship, and they often extend their care to unhoused residents looking for safe and warm spaces. In addition, academics at the convening described how university infrastructure extends their spaces for the broader public and has increased access to arts and culture. At Wesleyan in Middletown, Connecticut, film services are “open to the public.” At Yale in New Haven, theatrical productions are “free and accessible,” and the university’s museums are described as “world class and mostly free.” These institutions lower the threshold for participation, offering people an easy entryway. This is especially significant in small cities, where theaters and museums are often actively working to engage with local conditions and relationships and foster spaces for dialogue. In this way, universities can serve as effective gateways into new forms of civic and cultural engagement. From here, larger questions emerged: Can social and cultural resources become more than coping mechanisms? Can they become the means through which newcomers and longer-term residents together reshape the future of their cities? In doing so, can they ultimately help dismantle the physical and legal barriers that prevent full participation and deter entry?
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