CALUMET – The people of Calumet have been trying for decades – since the end of the copper-mining era – to find other economic drivers for the community, and a recent academic study suggests the arts could at least help create sustainability in the village and surrounding area.

Richelle Winkler, associate professor of sociology and demography at Michigan Technological University, published an article in the academic journal Sustainability called “Boom, Bust and Beyond: Arts and Sustainability in Calumet, Michigan.”

Winkler said she teaches a course in sustainable development in rural areas. Three years ago, she and some of her students started working on the art and sustainability study in Calumet after being asked by the members of Main Street Calumet to look into it.

“That’s really where the topic came from,” she said. “It was important for me to incorporate real-world examples and problems.”

There are about 10 art “spaces” in Calumet, Winkler said. Those spaces include galleries and other businesses where art is displayed, such as coffee shops, and the Calumet Theatre.

Winkler said the students attended the First Friday program in Calumet, which is intended to highlight the various art galleries and other locations where art is displayed. The students did interviews with visitors there to see the art.

“They sort of fell in love with Calumet,” she said of the students involved with the project.

Although there are many galleries and other locations where art is displayed, Winkler said what the study showed was the people showing art don’t really communicate with each other.

“They were doing their own thing,” she said.

Although there really is no competition among the art spaces in Calumet, Winkler said the study suggests if those people start working together, it could strengthen the arts as a draw for the community.

There are many empty or partially occupied buildings in Calumet, and Winkler said the study showed those locations could provide low-cost spaces for the expansion of art displays.

Winkler said the study shows that developing the arts in Calumet won’t provide a strong economic stimulus to the community, but strengthening the arts can help with building a sense of pride of place and can help build social, human and cultural capital in the community.

“We found it’s helping to build some of the components of sustainability,” she said. “We didn’t find that necessarily it’s going to be the only answer.”