Arlene Goldbard is a writer, speaker, consultant and cultural activist whose focus is the intersection of culture, politics and spirituality. Her blog and other writings may be downloaded from her Web site: www.arlenegoldbard.com. She was born in New York and grew up near San Francisco. Her book New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development was published by New Village Press in November 2006. She is also co-author of Community, Culture and Globalization, an international anthology published by the Rockefeller Foundation, Crossroads: Reflections on the Politics of Culture, and author of Clarity, a novel. Her essays have been published in Art in America, Theatre, Tikkun, Teaching Artist Journal, and many other publications. She has addressed many academic and community audiences in the U.S. and Europe, on topics ranging from the ethics of community arts practice to the development of integral organizations. She has provided advice and counsel to hundreds of community-based organizations, independent media groups, and public and private funders and policymakers including the Rockefeller Foundation, the Independent Television Service, Appalshop, WomenArts, the Center for Digital Storytelling, and dozens of others. She serves as President of the Board of Directors of The Shalom Center. The Wave was published simultaneously with a companion work of nonfiction on art's public purpose, The Culture of Possibility: Art, Artists & The Future.