This report uses data from the 2017 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts to characterize and compare adults who read books in print only, who read books electronically, and who listen to audiobooks.
General
3 Principles for an Anti-Racist, Equitable State Response to COVID-19 — and a Stronger Recovery
COVID-19’s effects have underscored the ways our nation’s history of racism, bias, and discrimination are embedded in our health, social, and economic systems. People of color are experiencing disproportionately more infections and hospitalizations – and among Black people, highly disproportionate death rates – with people of color also overrepresented in jobs that are at higher infection risk now and in the jobs hardest hit economically. Shaping these outcomes are structural barriers like wealth and income disparities, inadequate access to health care, and racial discrimination built into the health system. States therefore have critical policy choices to make: they can repeat and exacerbate these inequities, which also will damage the economy, or they can set another course – toward anti-racist, equitable, and inclusive communities and an economic recovery that extends to all people.
Three principles should guide state policymakers in these equity efforts:
- Target aid to those most in need due to the COVID-19 and consequent economic crises.
- Advance anti-racist and equitable policies – both short- and long-term – to dismantle persistent racial, gender, and economic inequities and other barriers that non-dominant groups and identities experience.
- Protect state finances to preserve the foundations of long-term economic growth and opportunity.
Teaching Artists as Essential Workers: Respect, Collaboration, and Heft
In this piece, Dennie Palmer Wolf imagines the possibilities for teaching artists in the context of COVID-19. She writes “This time, strange as it is, is not time out; it’s time to plunge deep in.”
What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being?
Over the past two decades, there has been a major increase in research into the effects of the arts on health and well-being, alongside developments in practice and policy activities in different countries across the WHO European Region and further afield. This report synthesizes the global evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being, with a specific focus on the WHO European Region. Results from over 3000 studies identified a major role for the arts in the prevention of ill health, promotion of health, and management and treatment of illness across the lifespan. The reviewed evidence included study designs such as uncontrolled pilot studies, case studies, small-scale cross-sectional surveys, nationally representative longitudinal cohort studies, community-wide ethnographies and randomized controlled trials from diverse disciplines. The beneficial impact of the arts could be furthered through acknowledging and acting on the growing evidence base; promoting arts engagement at the individual, local and national levels; and supporting cross-sectoral collaboration
Talking About Race
Talking about race, although hard, is necessary. We are here to provide tools and guidance to empower your journey and inspire conversation.
You care about making the world a more equitable and just place for all. You may just be starting to think about your role and ability to impact others, or, you may be further along on your journey. Wherever you are, what you do and say matters. Explore how to speak and engage constructively about race, so we can all grow together.
The Road Forward: Best Practices Tip Sheet for Arts Organizations Re-engaging with Audiences or Visitors
The National Endowment for the Arts is offering the following guidance, based on a review and compilation of promising measures that arts organizations are taking to address COVID-19 to date. The list is not prescriptive or comprehensive. It does not supersede guidance from local, state, and national public health authorities.
