Erin Harkey: Arts, Culture, and a Healthy Democracy

About this episode

Erin Harkey discusses the importance of arts and culture in building a healthy democracy and community.

Editor’s Note: This episode was recorded in April 2026, before the City of San Diego released its initial FY27 budget proposal. That proposal has since raised urgent questions about the future of public arts funding in San Diego, making this conversation with Erin Harkey especially timely. Erin Harkey is the President and CEO of Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing arts and culture. She helps shape the national conversation about public arts funding, creative workers, cultural policy, and the future of the arts ecosystem. Before joining Americans for the Arts, Erin held major arts and civic leadership roles in Chicago, including serving as Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Her career also includes work in Los Angeles and Long Beach, giving her a perspective that spans local practice, regional systems, and national advocacy. This Episode: How do arts and culture help build a healthy society? Erin and Grant explore the arts as both a reflection of community health and a force that helps create it. Erin points to a striking statistic: 76% of Americans say the arts are personally important to them. That…

People in this episode

Host: Grant Oliphant

Guest: Erin Harkey

Topics covered

• arts and culture
• public arts funding
• community health
• cultural policy
• national advocacy

Keywords

• public arts funding
• community health
• cultural policy
• Americans for the Arts
• arts ecosystem

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Americans for the Arts

Places: San Diego, Chicago, Los Angeles, Long Beach

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