A New Institutionalist History of Appalshop: Exploring the Agential Dynamics of an Appalachian Community Cultural Development Organization
| dc.contributor.author | Lyon-Hill, Sarah | en |
| dc.contributor.committeechair | Stephenson, Max O. Jr. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Niewolny, Kimberly L. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Leonard, Robert H. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Tate, Anthony S. | en |
| dc.contributor.department | Public Administration/Public Affairs | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2021-08-01T06:00:10Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2021-08-01T06:00:10Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2020-02-07 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | This research draws on New Institutionalist theory as interpreted by Fligstein and McAdam (2012) to explore the relationship between structure and agency within one nonprofit organization, Appalshop, located in Central Appalachia. Since 1969, Appalshop has worked with peer institutions to form a larger community cultural development (CCD) field, characterized by actors that value the potential of art and cultural activities to create space for individual and collective imagining and reimagining of communities. Through an exploration of archival documents and interviews with 18 current and former Appalshop staff, I analyzed the organization's 50-year evolution. I identified ways in which Appalshop has operated in the midst of different enabling and inhibiting structural forces, how its staff has sought to assert agency by contesting or circumventing those extant forces, and how the ensuing tensions have shaped the organization's approach to social change. During its evolution, Appalshop can be seen as having gone through four different stages characterized by changing national policy and culture as well as the actions of different generations of Appalshop staff. In order to withstand the growth of neoliberalism, changing technology and regional socioeconomic circumstance, Appalshop staff have had to adapt the organization's modus operandi to one that is more region facing and service based. | en |
| dc.description.abstractgeneral | Appalshop is a community cultural development organization located in central Appalachia. Community cultural development (CCD) is characterized by actors that value the potential of art and cultural activities to create space for individual and collective reimagining of communities. Founded in 1969, Appalshop and its staff have approached CCD in many ways, including through media production, youth education, theater and community organizing and, more recently, through community economic development. I explored Appalshop's evolution and sought to assess the ways in which this arts nonprofit has reacted to changing circumstances nationally and within its region, how those external forces have influenced the organization, and how its staff members have worked to contest forces that inhibited their organization's avowed mission and preferred activities. I used New Institutionalist theory, an analytic framework that emphasizes the need to explore the different fields of influence on any organization as well as the individual actors within that entity who, through their drive to create and perpetuate shared social meaning, may adopt or contest the narratives of external fields. I employed new institutionalism to make sense of the factors that have shaped Appalshop's trajectory as an institution to date. During its evolution, Appalshop has experienced four different stages characterized by changing national policy and culture as well as the actions of different generations of Appalshop staff. To withstand the growth of neoliberalism, changing technology and regional socioeconomic circumstances, Appalshop staff have had to adapt the organization's established modus operandi to one that is more region facing and service based. | en |
| dc.description.degree | Doctor of Philosophy | en |
| dc.format.medium | ETD | en |
| dc.identifier.other | vt_gsexam:23379 | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/104467 | en |
| dc.publisher | Virginia Tech | en |
| dc.rights | In Copyright | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | en |
| dc.subject | New Institutionalism | en |
| dc.subject | Fields | en |
| dc.subject | Agency | en |
| dc.subject | Community Cultural Development | en |
| dc.subject | Arts Organizations | en |
| dc.subject | Appalachia | en |
| dc.title | A New Institutionalist History of Appalshop: Exploring the Agential Dynamics of an Appalachian Community Cultural Development Organization | en |
| dc.type | Dissertation | en |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Planning, Governance, and Globalization | en |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | en |
| thesis.degree.level | doctoral | en |
| thesis.degree.name | Doctor of Philosophy | en |