In response to the growing awareness and call-to-action to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in all sectors, including the arts and cultural sector (Americans for the Arts, 2019; Schonfeld & Sweeney, 2016; Sidford & National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, 2011), there has been an emergence of a policy area which I term as “cultural equity policy”. Cultural equity policy (CEP) can be understood as policy in the arts and cultural sector that facilitates an equitable and accessible distribution of opportunities and resources to all people, including but not limited to, diverse and historically underrepresented communities. As DEI-focused practices continue to rise in the arts and cultural sector (Giloth, 2018; Grantmakers in the Arts, 2015, 2019), evidence of CEP can be found throughout the urban arts and cultural system bearing effects on system entities (American Alliance of Museums, 2018; Ashley et al., 2021; McClelland et al., 2019).
The City of Houston is a diverse metropolis that articulated the existence of inequity issues within its arts and cultural sector in its most recent cultural plan (City of Houston: Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, 2015), while DEI-focused practices continued to rise and the government explored the use of policy strategies to build equitable outcomes within the sector (City of Houston: Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, 2020, 2017; Devadanam, 2021; Tallet, 2021).
This paper builds upon a scholarly inquiry examining the nascent yet rapidly growing area of cultural equity policy and the relationship between CEP and the increased presence of DEI practices for arts and culture organizations and their funders in the City of Houston (Janardhan, 2023). The inquiry utilizes case study methodology and a research protocol that is informed by agenda setting theory and creative justice (Banks, 2017; Jones & Baumgartner, 1993) and an analytical framework informed by agenda setting theory, Multiple Streams Analysis, and thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998; Kingdon, 2003).
With this inquiry as a foundation, the paper examines the topical issue of inequity, the developing of equitable policy solutions at the municipal level, the evidence and ramifications of such policy, and the growing evidence of DEI-based organizational practices, all of which are topics of growing interest in the area of urban cultural policy (Cuyler, 2015; Voss et al., 2021; Winesmith, 2017).
Keeping the backdrop of policy recommendations from the initial scholarly inquiry including – the strategic utilization of research to strengthen and support local cultural policy infrastructure, placing focus on capacity building for the sector, and defining a local arts advocacy identity – the paper contributes to the scholarly and practical domain areas within cultural policy and social justice by examining and establishing the novel concept of CEP within the context of the body of scholarly work relating to policy, equity, and justice; analyzing the provenance and evidence of CEP within municipal policy systems, and laying down a roadmap for the utilization of CEP within diverse urban cultural ecosystems.

KEYWORDS: cultural equity policy, DEI practices, agenda setting, equity-based policymaking, arts and culture organizations
 

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