On November 3, 2014, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), with support from ArtPlace America, convened 26 representatives from performing arts organizations, industry associations, and funders around the country. The convening focused on developing a better understanding of how performance-based organizations, and the artists they engage, transform places through their artistic practices.
Civic Engagement/Community Development
Minding the gap: Elucidating the disconnect between arts participation metrics and arts engagement within immigrant communities
A growing gap between national metrics of arts participation and the many, evolving ways in which people participate in artistic and aesthetic activities limits the degree to which such data can usefully inform policy decisions. The National Endowment for the Arts’ Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) is the primary source of arts participation data in the USA, but this instrument inadequately evaluates how members of minority and immigrant communities participate in the arts.
Arts Participation among People with Disabilities
Nearly 28 million U.S. adults have some type of disability related to hearing, sight, cognition, walking, and other activities of daily living. The latest NEA research offers the first, nationally representative analysis of arts-participation patterns among people with disabilities.
Measuring Cultural Engagement: A Quest for New Terms, Tools, and Techniques
This report summarizes a June 2014 symposium held at the Gallup Headquarters in Washington, DC, in partnership with the UK’s Arts & Humanities Research Council. Cultural researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from the U.S., the UK, and other countries met to review common assumptions, techniques, and challenges in measuring cultural engagement. The report offers expert guidance on how those measurements can be refined and made more relevant to different stakeholder groups.
When Going Gets Tough: Barriers and Motivations Affecting Arts Attendance
This report examines demographic and socio-economic characteristics of adults who attended visual and performing arts activities in 2012, but unlike prior NEA research it offers in-depth perspectives on attitudes, motivations, and barriers concerning arts attendance.
The Validating Arts & Livability Indicators (VALI) Study: Results and Recommendations
This report presents the findings of an effort undertaken by the Urban Institute to validate a set of candidate indicators for creative placemaking initiatives.
