This article views the production and performance of new art music as a public good that benefits society by infusing vitality into contemporary culture. This article presents a new modernity index (MI), a consistent index for assessing the degree to which a season of music programmes can be considered 'contemporary'. The article also presents a case study of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO), for the period 1895 to 2013. Analysis of the MI reveals trends over time, clearly showing a reduction in modernity as time goes on. This article discusses how the data based on the MI may be used by artistic organisations to transition its historic product (repertoire) into a more modern and socially relevant product. The study suggests that further research should examine increasing reliance on a private good model for financing art music that may lead to underproduction of contemporary art music.

To make real progress on what can only be classified as environmental emergencies, we need a wide base of public consensus for action given that public motivation and involvement is a prerequisite for policymakers to implement what our scientists urge us to do. In this light, crucial thresholds of public motivation and involvement can be created by reaching into the hearts of individuals, an area of competitive advantage for the arts. Efforts to enhance understanding in this arena, however, must incorporate sufficient complexity given highly complex and inter-related challenges in sustainability. This article thus presents a theoretical framework for the arts and sustainability based on the variables of artistic complexity and public engagement. The arts, when allowed sufficient scope and freedom, can assist society in marshalling and galvanizing people across the globe to take essential steps toward a sustainable planet.

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The creation of a sustainable world urgently requires managers of organizations to consider large-scale changes in the practices and policies of social and economic institutions. Compelling scientific and economic information on the environment, while the basis of much dialogue in higher education and in the public sphere, has failed to motivate adequate progress to date. In this article, therefore, we present an original theoretical model for a pedagogy that brings together the arts and sustainability. We postulate that motivation or "heart" to initiate such actions for the environment and persist in the face of societal and institutional inertia can come from the arts, particularly given their unique and time-proven ability to move the human heart in authentic ways. A sustainability pedagogy that utilizes the arts can be incorporated moreover into any discipline at any level of education. This