Immigrant Participatory Arts

Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley has just released the results of a groundbreaking study that examines participation in the arts by immigrants in Silicon Valley. Immigrant Participatory Arts: An Insight into Community-building in Silicon Valley by Dr. Pia Moriarty finds that the dominant reason for the existence of amateur arts groups in immigrant communities derives from a strong desire of parents to maintain the structure, values, language, and traditions of their families.

The study concludes that the participatory arts serve essential functions for Silicon Valley's immigrants and refugees in their ability to help them assimilate (to become civically and socially engaged) as well as, maintain their cultural identity.

Santa Clara County's population is 61% foreign born immigrants and their children. The County is home to people from 177 of the 194 nations of the world. Dr. Moriarty states that this region "offers a prime opportunity for studying the socioeconomic effects of globalization on the fabric of life in the United States.

The study focused on the County's largest immigrant and refugee population groups: people arriving from Mexico, Vietnam, China, India, Iran, and the Philippines, as well as multi-ethnic Islamic communities, and inter-ethnic collaborations led by San José's Japanese American elders. The study's findings are indicative, and meant to identify cultural patterns, as well as lay the groundwork for additional studies of trends in art-making.

Close to 90 participatory arts groups were sources for the six-month study, and data was gathered at over 100 performances, rehersals, planning meetings, amateur museum exhibits, street festivals, ethnic-based arts/language schools, and arts-mediated religious events.

The research is funded by The Rockefeller Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, as well as The Fund for Folk Culture's California Traditional Arts Advancement Program which is funded by The James Irvine Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Click here to download a copy of Immigrant Participatory Arts.
(1.6MB file, PDF format)

Click here to read a short article about the study from the San Jose Mercury News.

Click here to learn more about Cultural Initiatives' previous study, The Creative Community Index.

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© 2006 Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley

Updated: December 21, 2006