Kevin McCarthy is a senior social scientist of the RAND Corp.Ê He is the co-author of two recently-released reports for RAND.Ê The first is titled The Performing Arts in a New Era, and it lays out a threatening future for performing arts in America.His follow-up report, A New Framework for Building Participation in the Arts,Ê describes strategies being used by arts organizations throughout the country to broaden and deepen their audience participation.

Sherry New is the executive director of Ballet Arizona, one of the organizations singled out by Kevin McCarthy as leading the way with strategies to broaden and deepen arts audiences.Ê Sherry has a long career in nonprofit management and she serves on number of boards of philanthropic organization in metro Phoenix.

Mag Patridge is director of public relations and audience development at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.Ê Focusing on contemporary visual, performing and media art, The Walker Art Center aims to be a catalyst for the creative expression of artists and the active engagement of audiences.

We'll talk to them about the future of performing arts this week on "Smart City."