Organizational and Institutional Foundations of Omnivorousness in the United States: The W.P.A. and the Folk Festival

• In Event: 263 - Regular Session. Cultural Studies 3: Cultural Fields and Markets: Formation and Transformation

Abstract

An extraordinary re-organization of culture occurred at the turn of the twentieth century: the invention of a boundary between “highbrow” and “lowbrow” arts (DiMaggio 1982). The recent broadening of cultural tastes (among segments of the U.S. population) arguably augurs a second transformation and a new boundary of distinction, between narrow cultural “univores” and “omnivores” (Peterson and Simkus 1993). During both historical shifts, arts presenters provided programming to reflect shifting elite tastes, and to attract mass audiences and support budgets. To the best of my knowledge, scholars have yet to connect changes in 20th century United States arts organizations, and institutional practices within them, to their influence on the appearance of elite omnivores in surveys from the 1990s. In this paper, I trace one historical sightline, from the activities of New Deal arts agencies, through a federally-sponsored folk festival, to contemporary elites.

Author

• Jennifer C. Lena, Columbia University