Stern Professor Publishes Article on Cultural Dominance of Cities
C. Samuel Craig, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, has written an article about the creation and consumption of culture and cultural products, including art, opera, dance, fashion, music, film, and television. The article, “Creating Cultural Products: Cities, Context, and Technology,” will be published in the journal City, Culture, and Society. In the article, Craig claims that rapid changes in technology have increased the prominence of large cities in cultural creation, while decreasing the creation of cultural products in smaller cities.
Craig suggests that cities support the development of cultural products because the inputs of cultural creation (ideas, resources, people) are concentrated in a specific geographic area. With the rise of technologies that allow culture to be shared across vast geographic distances, people outside of large cities are increasingly turning to technological means to consume culture. For example, opera lovers can enjoy simulcasts of Metropolitan Opera performances in New York City, but the availability of simulcasts may prevent fans from attending local productions. According to Craig, the rise of technology has helped large cities maintain cultural dominance while decreasing the influence of smaller cities.
However, Craig believes that small and medium cities can still play a cultural role. “To survive, smaller and medium-sized cities will need to carve out a particular cultural niche that cannot be easily duplicated,” Craig suggested. “Good examples are South by Southwest in Austin, Texas; the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina; and the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.”
