Creative Communities: Art Works in Economic Development is a new publication based on a series of papers commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts to stimulate more rigorous research on the arts and economic development.
The publication stems from a first-ever collaboration between the NEA and the Brookings Institution. The two organizations co-hosted the May 2012 symposium titled "The Arts, New Growth Theory, and Economic Development, where leading economists explored theories and empirical findings about the role of arts and culture in the U.S. economy. Archived video of the symposium is available at the Brookings website.