The Center for Arts and Culture is taking an inventory of research initiatives and projects in the arts and culture.  This includes programs and projects in the arts, humanities, cultural heritage and creative industries and those that examine the intersection of creativity and culture with policy questions in technology, law, globalization, access, and community revitalization. 

If you would like to submit information on your project please email Allison Brugg at abrugg@culturalpolicy.org. Please include key project details such as: project title, investigators/contacts, sponsors/funders, project description, academic/applied fields of interest, and project duration.

Results

Results of the arts and culture research initiatives scan are organized by subject area:

Access & Equity
Community
Creative Sector
Creativity & the Law
Education & the Creative Workforce
Globalization
National Investment
Preservation and Heritage

Press Ctrl+F on your keyboard to perform searches using alternate terms.

Access & Equity

American Art Museums and their Use of the Web www.princeton.edu/~artspol.kracman.html

Using a sample of 50 of the approximately 150 museum sites online, this project focuses on how museums use their sites to gather information about visitors and to involve visitors in the operation both of the site and of the museum itself.

Sponsors     Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University

Researchers     Kimberly Kracman, Princeton University

The Arts Management Research Clearinghouse (AMRC)
http://amrc.uoregon.edu

Launched in September 2000, The Arts Management Research Clearinghouse (AMRC) is a web-based virtual forum designed to support the resource and communication needs of both producers and consumers of arts management publications, organizations, master's student research, data sets, and descriptive resources addressing research methods. Through an interactive component, users add value to the site by contributing content and comments about resources. In this way, AMRC incorporates the strengths of both community technology by providing centralized information, and commentary from the field.

The AMRC is geared toward students and faculty in academic programs worldwide, as well as practitioners in the field. All persons interested in research in the field of arts management are welcome to use and contribute to the site! The primary Clearinghouse goal is to provide a central access point to research materials, generated and maintained by a growing list of site users including individuals, arts organizations and academic programs.

Specific resources posted on the AMRC include: Frequently Asked Questions about research; a regularly updated feature, posted on the home page; the AMRC Databank, searchable by descriptors; descriptive information about research methods; access to a web site that addresses research ethics and Human Subjects compliance; publications in related disciplinary areas; links to organizations that publish and promote research; relevant resources produced by AAAE member institutions; annual updates of master's student research (title/abstract, access to full text retrieval); course outlines for research courses at various academic institutions.

Users are encouraged to engage the site in many ways. Faculty and students may want to use the AMRC as a resource in academic courses that address research methods or require research inquiry. Programs may contribute titles and abstracts of research produced by their students each year. All users are asked to take ownership of the site by suggesting useful links to pertinent resources and organizations. Commentary in the form of annotations about the usefulness or quality of any resource is welcome, and will be of benefit to others.

Sponsors    Institute of Community Arts Studies, University of Oregon; Northwest Academic Computing Consortium

Researcher     Linda Ettinger, University of Oregon

Center and Periphery in Communications and Culture
www.princeton.edu/~artspol/proj5.html

While the centralization of state power has long been a focus of research, the centralization of capacities for communication has received less attention. For this project, the question is to what extent, and with what consequences, have communications centers dominated periphery -- the metropolis over the hinterland, cities over rural areas and small towns -- in the United States compared to Great Britain, France and Germany in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Researchers     Paul Starr, Princeton University

Cultural Information Online www.princeton.edu/~artspol/hargitta.html

This study examines the organization of the World Wide Web, in particular, portal sites (points-of-entry sites) on the Internet. This project has four sections that deal with the production of culture, industry structure, user perception and user participation. The first part of this study focuses on how portal sites allocate user attention on the World Wide Web and how these sites influence the Web's creative labor market (e.g. the producers of graphics, design and other visual content). Ultimately, the project will investigate how information is distributed on the Net  (e.g. do most users get top-down, processed information or do they play an active role in creating visible information) and how open the system is to new or dissenting ideas.

Sponsors     Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University

Researchers     Eszter Hargittai, Princeton University

Museums and Multicultural Awareness http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/projects.html

This evaluation study considers the effectiveness of the Field Museum's Cultural Connections project, a consortium of Chicago ethnic museums that strives to increase multicultural awareness among program participants (http://www.fieldmuseum.org/research_collections/ccuc/cultural.htm). A survey instrument will be developed that measures the program's impact on audience attitudes.

Sponsors     The Cultural Policy Program, University of Chicago

Researchers     Lawrence Rothfield, University of Chicago

The Social, Political and Cultural Impact of New Technologies: Insights from Surveys on Contemporary Patterns of Internet Users www.princeton.edu/~artspol/proj1.html

This project is funded through a subgrant from the University of Maryland to examine the social impact of new technologies. Using survey data collected from the Year 2000 General Social Survey, researchers will examine the impact of the Internet on social inequality, democracy and cultural choice. Researchers are interested in several orienting questions: 1) To what extent does the Internet make knowledge more widely available and to what extent does it provide privileged access for high-status persons, thereby exacerbating social inequalities?  2) To what extent does the Internet promote civility, social capital and democratic participation versus increased opinion polarization, political alienation and extremism? And, 3) To what extent does Web use expose people to diverse and wide-ranging cultural sites and artistic forms; and, to what extent do Internet users gravitate to a few major sites that offer mainstream news and entertainment?

Sponsors     National Science Foundation;  Pew Charitable Trusts

Researchers     John Robinson, Princeton University;  Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University

Trends in Arts Participation www.princeton.edu/~artspol/proj4.html

This project explores trends in public participation in the arts. Using three years of data from the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (1982, 1992, 1997), the study will explore patterns of cohort change in public participation in the arts. Do younger cohorts attend ballet, musicals, drama, opera, classical music concerts and art museums more or less than older cohorts? In addition, the project examines whether the role of the arts as "cultural capital" has diminished over time; whether the gender division of cultural labor has declined; and the extent to which trends have been influenced by change in age of marriage, age of child-bearing and the proportion of single-parent families. To help answer these questions, the project will analyze cohort trends for disaggregated groups including men, women and the college educated. It will also examine cohort trends in childhood experiences in the arts

Researchers     Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University

Community      back to the top

A NEW National Economic Impact Study www.artsusa.org/research/econ_prosp.html

This project updates and builds upon Americans for the Art's first national economic impact study done in 1994. It will analyze data on 35-40 communities to study: expenditures by nonprofit arts organizations; induced spending by arts audiences; and cultural tourism behavior of each community's local arts audiences.

Researchers     Randy Cohen, Americans for the Arts; Michelle Brown, Americans for the Arts

Animating Democracy Initiative www.artsusa.org/AnimatingDemocracy/index.html

This project fosters artistic activities that encourage civic dialogue on important contemporary issues and promote public awareness and discussion. ADI's goals are to: 1) Advance aesthetic and programmatic experimentation and innovation in this arena of work; 2) Strengthen the role and organizational capacity of arts and cultural institutions engaged in this work; 3) Build the body of knowledge about this work and increase access to information and resources for arts and civic dialogue fields; 4) Increase understanding and exchange across artistic disciplines and with civic dialogue leaders about the philosophical, aesthetic, and practical aspects of arts-based civic dialogue; and 5) Increase public understanding of the role of artists and arts and cultural institutions in civic life.

Sponsors     Ford Foundation; Americans for the Arts

Researchers     Barbara Schaffer Bacon, Americans for the Arts; Randy Cohen, Americans for the Arts

Art and Religion in American Life
www.culturalpolicy.org

This is a model initiative to bring together different sectors to inform ongoing conversation and exchange ideas. It examines the intersection of art and religion, and the spirit that informs them both. Research on intersection and interplay of art and religion is ongoing by distinguished scholars. There are meetings of journalists, artists and humanists.Crossroads: Art and Religion in American Life, a volume edited by Alberta Arthurs and Glenn Wallach, will be available from The New Press in Spring 2001.

Sponsors     Henry Luce Foundation; MEM Associates; Center for Arts and Culture

Researchers     Alberta Arthurs, MEM Associates; Glenn Wallach, Center for arts and Culture

Arts and Culture Indicators in Community Building www.urban.org/nnip/acip.html

This project develops neighborhood indicators for the arts and culture in collaboration with the Urban Institute's National Neighborhood Indicators Project.  It's purpose is to gain clarity about the assets of urban neighborhoods and explore ho arts and culture are understood and valued at the neighborhood level by a variety of stakeholders.  The project seeks to move the arts and culture onto the agenda of other sectors.

Sponsors     Rockefeller Foundation

Researchers     Maria-Rosario Jackson, The Urban Institute

Arts Opportunities for Young People in Chicago

This project examines the scope and character of arts opportunities for young people in one city. It shares the information gathered with directors, staff and funders of arts programs for young people so that they can consider the implications of the findings for their programs. It also explores a strategy of investigation for its applicability to other categories of primary support. 

Sponsors     Elizabeth Morese Charitable Trusts; Illinois Arts Council; Rockefeller Foundation; City of Chicago

Researchers     Joan Costello, University of Chicago

Arts Performance Index

This project attempts to quantify the health, status and impact of the nonprofit arts industry as a single measure or several summary measures. It will produce a tool for dialogue about sectoral issues.

Sponsors     James Irvine Foundation

Researchers     Randy Cohen, Americans for the Arts

Boston Indicators of Progress, Change and Sustainability
www.tbf.org/publications/community.htm

This project develops indicators of progress, change and sustainability for the city of Boston, MA. It links various sustainability measures together, including data on arts and culture.

Sponsors    Boston Foundation

Researchers     Charlotte Kahn, Boston Foundation

Community Impact: The Role of Smaller Arts Organizations in New York State
www.allianceforarts.org

This study seeks to better understand the contributions of New York State's smaller arts organizations (the large majority of all arts groups in the state) to their local communities. Born out of a 1997 statewide assessment -- designed to estimate the full impact of spending of cultural organizations and tourists -- this new study focuses on the important community impact of small organizations that is not addressed in economic impact analysis.

Sponsors    New York State Council on the Arts; Chase Manhattan Bank; Arts Research Center, Alliance for the Arts

Researchers     Pam Shipley, Alliance for the Arts; Catherine Lanier, Alliance for the Arts

Community Indicators Project www.knightfdn.org/indicatiors/indicators.html

This project intends to develop information in all seven priority areas of the Knight Foundation's funding interests, including arts/culture, in the 26 communities in which the Knight Foundation makes local grants. Multi-part data collection includes: surveys to document citizen engagement, attitudes and behaviors; profiles based on secondary data for content and performance measures; capacity building strategies and collaboration with local communities for primary data collection about a core set of arts and culture indicators.

Sponsors      John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Princeton Survey Research Associates; Urban Institute; American Institutes for Research; RMC Research; Americans for the Arts

Researchers     Christine Dwyer, RMC Research; Maria-Rosario Jackson, The Urban Institute; Randy Cohen, Americans for the Arts

Community Partnerships for Cultural Participation: Status, Trends and Prospects

Researches and develops strategies for building arts participation. Work is supported by civic, business and cultural leaders in each of the participating communities.

Sponsors     Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund

Researchers     J. Christopher Walker, The Urban Institute

The Creative Community: Leveraging Creativity and Culture for Silicon Valley's Economic and Civic Future
www.arts4sv.org/about/whats_new.html

Sponsors     John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Americans for the Arts

Researchers     Doug Henton, Collaborative Economics; John Kreidler, Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley; Kim Walesh, Collaborative Economics

Cultural Indicators for New York City
www.allianceforarts.org

This project examines sources of income and major categories of expenditures among New York City Department of Cultural Affairs funded organizations. Analysis will be based on detailed application data from organizations funded in FY 1995, '97 and '99 -- establishing a set of indicators of the economic health of New York City's nonprofit cultural industry, to be observed annually.

Sponsors     New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; Arts Research Council, Alliance for the Arts

Researchers     Catherine Lanier, Alliance for the Arts; Edgar Zavala, Alliance for the Arts

Culture Builds Community: An Effort to Strengthen Cultural Organizations and Urban Communities  www.livable.com/WorkPages/Work_CBC_Page.htm

This project seeks to strengthen community-based cultural organizations and improve the role of cultural organizations in strengthening urban neighborhoods. This is accomplished through management support and community support and innovative funding.

Sponsors     William Penn Foundation

Researchers     Robert McNully, Partners for Livable Communities

Funders' Collaborative for Strong Latino Communities

This initiative builds organizational capacity among Latino nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and builds a broader funding base for them.

Sponsors     Rockefeller Foundation

Researchers     Diana Campoamor, Hispanics in Philanthropy

Intergenerational Photography

This unique program brings together seniors from San Francisco area senior centers and fifth graders from Bessie Charmichael Elementary School for a ten-week course that focuses on the participants' relationship with their neighborhoods and homes.   The curriculum contains writing exercises, oral histories and photography.

Sponsors     Ansel Adams Center, Friends of Photography

Leadership for a Changing World
www.leadershipforchange.org

Leadership for a Changing World is a program of the Ford Foundation in partnership with the Washington-based Advocacy Institute, which will manage the program, and the Robert F. Wagnder Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, which will conduct related research. The program has three goals: to recognize the achievements of outstanding leaders, to provide financial support for their continued work, and to study how leadership is perceived, created, and sustained.

Leadership for a Changing World will recognize indivudal leaders or leadership teams who have worked for at least two years in fields such as economic and community development, human rights, the arts, education, sexual and reproductive health, religion, media, and the environment. They can be working in a specific geographic community or in broader communities linked by affinity, ideas and values.

Researchers based at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University will explore how leadership is created and sustained, focusing at first on the dynamics of shared leadership, and will eventually publish their findings. "By working closely with the awardees to uinderstand their histories, challenges, and approaches, we hope to learn more about new ways to lead and help expand the way leadership is perceived in this country," said Professor Ellen Schall, director of the Leadership Initiative at the Wagner School.

Twenty winners will be chosen to each of the next three years, with the first selection announced in October, 2001. Nominations will be accepted by the Advocacy Institution through January 5, 2001. Leaders must be nominated by someone who is well acquainted with their work and can attest to their qualifications.

Sponsors    Ford Foundation

Researchers    Ellen Schall,   Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, New York University;  Stephen   Bobb, The Advocacy Institute

Maine Communities in the New Century www.mainehumanities.org

The Maine Communities in the New Century Program acknowledges the link between the health of community life and a vibrant array of community arts and cultural resources. The Maine Legislature passed legislation in 1999 creating a unique state-level joint planning council -- the Maine Cultural Affairs Council (MCAC) -- comprised of five government and two nonprofit agencies, all of which share statewide cultural missions: the Maine Arts Commission, Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Maine State Library, Maine State Museum, Maine State Archives, and Maine Humanities Council. The statute specifies that MCAC plan programs with these objectives: 1) preservation of the state's historic resources, properties, artifacts and documents; 2) expansion of access to improved educational resources; and 3) strengthening of community and economic development through local cultural resources.   Maine Communities in the New Century is a statewide case study on the MCAC program. It is being carried out by the Maine Humanities Council.

Sponsors     The Pew Charitable Trusts

Researchers     Dorothy Schwartz, Maine Humanities Council

Measuring the Impact of a Community-Based Music Commissioning Project

Continental Harmony is one of the National Endowment for the Arts' millennium projects in partnership with American Composers Forum.   Fifty-eight communities, at least one in every state, selected a composer to write music for their celebration of the year 2000. The works were written for local performing forces and were developed in the course of a composer residency.  The researchers have developed a multidimensional research protocol to measure the impact of this program on the composers, the host organizations, and the larger communities in which the projects are taking place. Data collection and analysis are on-going, with a goal of developing testable models of the contribution of the arts to community development.

Sponsors     American Composers Forum

Researchers     Patricia Shifferd, American Composers Forum;  William Cleveland, Center for the Study of Art and Community

Museums and Multicultural Awareness http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/projects.html

This evaluation study considers the effectiveness of the Field Museum's Cultural Connections project, a consortium of Chicago ethnic museums that strives to increase multicultural awareness among program participants (http://www.fieldmuseum.org/research_collections/ccuc/cultural.htm). A survey instrument will be developed that measures the program's impact on audience attitudes.

Sponsors     The Cultural Policy Program, University of Chicago

Researchers    Lawrence Rothfield, University of Chicago

National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support  www.artsusa.org/ProfilesProject/

This project maps the distribution of the nation's nonprofit cultural organizations and benchmarks their patterns and sources of support. It is also an in-depth study of cultural activities in 10 communities. The project intends to increase the capacity of local communities to conduct reliable policy-relevant research about the arts and culture.  Ultimately it will help answer a number of important policy questions both locally and nationally: 1) Who pays for arts and culture in this country? 2) How do revenue patterns differ between cultural organizations of different budget sizes and different disciplines? 3) Do regional differences exist in streams of funding to arts and cultural organizations? 4) What are the funding innovations and streams of support provided by local governments to arts and culture? 

Sponsors     The Pew Chairtable Trusts; Americans for the Arts; Arts Policy and Administration Program, Ohio State University

Researchers     Margaret Wyszomirski, Ohio State University; Randy Cohen, Americans for the Arts; Therese Filicko, Ohio State University

Ohio State of the Arts Report

An extensive research assessment of the arts in the state of Ohio which will provide a basis for identifying issues and policy planning.

Sponsors     Ohio Arts Council; Arts Policy Administration program, Ohio State University

Researchers     Melissa Donovan, Ohio State University

Participation Project: Artists, Communities and Cultural Citizenship
www.getty.edu/gri/public/partproj.htm

This project explores the connections between community-based artmaking and other kinds of civic engagement. The project includes the creation of evaluation and measurement tools that will help determine how community-based artmaking has an effect on other participatory behaviors. The mission and goals of the project are: to develop greater civic participation using cultural arts resources as the catalyst; to develop strategies that utilize and promote artists and cultural resources; to foster projects or activities that stimulate community interaction; to encourage and support the development of ongoing innovative partnerships between cultural and other community organizations; to identify and utilize existing cultural and community networks, practices and wisdom; and to create a report that will profile and document the assessment process.

Sponsors     Getty Research Institute

Researchers     Josephine Ramirez, Getty Research Institute

Planning Grant for Better Business Practices

This project aims to help the five leading performing arts service organizations strengthen their business practices through improved collection and use of reliable data and to make more powerful arguments for strengthened financial and policy support by measuring the value that their member organizations add to their communities.

Sponsors     The Pew Charitable Trusts

Researchers     Laura Young, OPERA America, Inc.

The Politics of Performing Arts Centers

Sponsors     Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University

Researchers     Michael Danielson, Princeton University

Public Attitudes toward Artists, and Artists Training and Career Project
http://www.tc.columbia.edu/centers/rcac

A systematic look at the way the public views artists, this study will encourage people to reflect on an individual basis on their personal experiences in relation to artists. This will create a means for dialogue about public perceptions of artists, help to clarify vague and spontaneous reactions to artists, center the debate on artists in a focused, serious, personal way, and elicit responses that examine   whether artists are integrated into the fabric of daily life.

Researchers     Joan Jeffri, Columbia University

Reinventing Downtown: Sports, Culture, Conventions and the New American City
www.princeton.edu/~artspol/proj2.html

This study examines contemporary efforts to restructure central business districts in the United States. The focus is on three kinds of development:  1) sports facilities, most commonly in the form of arenas and stadiums for professional teams; 2) cultural development, broadly defined to include the performing arts, museums, halls of fame and related attractions such as aquariums; and 3) convention centers and associated visitors facilities. These three approaches will be compared in order to highlight the distinctive political and economic forces behind each type of urban revitalization program.  The project will include an empirical study of several dozen of America's largest cities, a few case studies, and a review of cost-benefit studies and critiques for a smaller sample of cities.

Sponsors     Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University

Researchers     Michael Danielson, Princeton University

Social Impact of the Arts Project

This project develops methods for studying the role of arts and culture in contemporary American society. It has undertaken a variety of research projects in Philadelphia, PA that examine the relationship of arts and culture to other forms of civic engagement, the connection of regional and neighborhood participation, and the ways in which the arts affect neighborhoods' quality of life.  

Sponsors     William Penn Foundation; Faculty Development Fund of the School of Social Work, University of Pennsylvania

Researchers     Mark Stern, University of Pennsylvania; Susan Seifert, University of Pennsylvania

Social Impact of the Informal Arts in Chicago Communities

Determines the extent and impact of "informal"/"unincorporated" arts activities in selected Chicago communities. "Unincorporated" and "informal" arts refer to the multitude of creative cultural experiences which fall outside traditional non-profit and commercial settings. The research will document the composition of the informal part of the arts sector within the studied communities, its relationship to the non-profit and commercial parts of he sector, as well as its social impact on participants, their communities and beyond.

Researchers     Alaka Wali, Chicago Center for Arts Policy at Columbia College;  Elena Marchesi, Chicago Center for Arts Policy at Columbia College

Social Indicators and the Nation's Social Health

This indicators project seeks to produce an annual Social Survey of the nation, a "census of well being" that combines the social sciences and the arts and humanities. Its goal is to provide a firm alternative to economic indicators.

Sponsors     Rockefeller Foundation; Ford Foundation; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Researchers     Fordham Institute for Innovation in Social Policy, Fordham University

Technical Assistance Needs Assessment and Inventory

ARTS, Inc., the Los Angeles-area arts service organization, is conducting research as part of the California Arts Council's efforts to develop a statewide technical assistance plan for the California arts organizations. The research will address how technical assistance providers, statewide, can work together more effectively, make maximum use of limited resources, avoid duplication, and encourage collaboration. A statewide needs assement will identify the kinds of technical assistance needed and by whom, whil an inventory of technical assistance providers will identify who is able to serve the identified needs. The information will be gathered through a Needs Assessment survey and a Technical Assistance Inventory survey.

Through ARTS, Inc.'s gathering and analysis of this information, the California Arts Council will be able to identify technical assistance needs that are yet to be filled and consider ways in which a statewide system for technical assistance can be strengthened. Further, this information-gathering can lay a foundation for several follow-up activities that the California Arts Council might puruse: 1) the inventory of technical assistance providers in a serachable, on-line format, including a calendar; 2) opportunities for technical assistance providers and California arts organizations to interact on-line; and 3) a system for evaluating the effectiveness of technical assistance provided to California arts organizations. 

Sponsors     California Arts Council

Researchers     David Pankratz, ARTS Inc.

Creative Sector    back to the top

Art and Religion in American Life
www.culturalpolicy.org

This is a model initiative to bring together different sectors to inform ongoing conversation and exchange ideas. It examines the intersection of art and religion, and the spirit that informs them both.  Research on intersection and interplay of art and religion is ongoing by distinguished scholars. There are meetings of journalists, artists and humanists.  Crossroads: Art and Religion in American Life, a volume edited by Alberta Arthurs and Glenn Wallach, will be available from The New Press in Spring 2001.

Sponsors     Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University

Researchers     Alberta Arthurs, MEM Associates;  Glenn Wallach, Center for Arts and Culture

Art Journalism in "Marketplace"  www.mpr.org/press_releases/releases/2000818_artsdesk.html

The project establishes a new "Business of the Arts" news desk to provide a weekly story on public radio's leading national business news program, "Marketplace". The desk is based in Philadelphia at WHYY Radio.

Sponsors      Pew Charitable Trusts

Researchers     Beatrice Black, WHYY Philadelphia Public Radio

Bibliography of Research on Artists
http://www.tc.columbia.edu/centers/rcac

The extensive and evolving bibliography includes works by arts managers, sociologists, political scientists, psychologists and other researchers on artists. Additional access for researchers on artists to a listserv for communication.

Sponsors     Columbia University, Teachers College, Research Center for Arts and Culture

Researchers     Joan Jeffri, Columbia University

Chronicle of Culture

This is a feasibility study to determine whether there is need enough in the field to justify creation of a "chronicle of Culture" comparable to existing "chronicles" in higher education and philanthropy. This publication would be focused on policy issues in the arts and culture

Sponsors     The Pew Charitable Trusts

Researchers     Alberta Arthurs, MEM Associates; Ron Wolk, independent consultant

Clearinghouse
www.artsusa.org/clearinghouse/index.cfm

The National Arts Policy Clearinghouse is a comprehensive research/resource tool containing approximately 7000 items (published since 1960) documenting information on the arts and culture in the United States. Categories of bibliographic information are: public support for the arts; private support for the arts; community development and the arts; economics and the arts; cultural policy; arts advocacy; arts participation; public art; nonprofit arts organizations; cultural facilities; and resources for individual artists.

Researchers     Lori Robishaw, Americans for the Arts

Community Conflict over Art and Culture
www.princeton.edu/~artspol/proj6.html

The initiative studies community conflict over the arts and culture. Scholars and graduate students designed and carried out a pilot study in 1998 that attempted to identify and analyze every case of arts conflict in the Philadelphia area from 1965 to 1997.  The project's primary research question is, "Has the incidence of public conflict over the arts increased and has the nature of such conflicts changed in the past three decades?" In an effort to test several theories related to cultural conflict, researchers are examining such questions as: What is the nature of the grievances brought against art works (e.g. exhibitions, performances, books, films)? What role do local and national organizations play in articulating grievances or initiating conflict? How often do conflicts revolve around religious concerns? How have conflicts been resolved and how have patterns of resolution changed? To what extent do conflicts become politicized and how has this changed over time?

Researchers     Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University

The Creative Community: Leveraging Creativity and Culture for Silicon Valley's Economic and Civic Future
www.arts4sv.org/about/whats_new.html

Silicon Valley's reputation for excellence lies in its technological and economic achievement. Building on this base and the incredible milieu for business and technology innovation, Silicon Valley can pioneer the next-generation metropolitan community. This working paper argues that moving in this direction is essential not just for achieving a higher quality community in the near future, but for the Valley's long term economic and civic achievement.

Sponsors      John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Americans for the Arts

Researchers     Doug Henton, Collaborative Economics; John Kreidler, Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley; Kim Walesh, Collaborative Economics

Cultural Policy Inventory
www.culturalpolicy.org

This project collects data on the arts and culture in five areas and makes it available to the public through online, searchable databases. The five areas of collection are: a bibliography; a library of organizations; a bank of policy experts; a calendar of events and opportunities including calls for papers and conference proceedings; and relevant facts and statistics about the cultural sector.

Sponsors      Pew Charitable Trusts

Researchers     Center for Arts and Culture

Directory of Artist Population Studies
ww.princeton.edu/~artspol/butler.html

This project compiled an annotated directory that documents more than 80 different studies of artist populations and includes information about research methods and the types of data employed in each.  The bibliography will make it easier for students and other researchers to get an overview of the current literature on artists, and second, to explore the range of ways in which scholars have defined "artists" and, having defined them, the methods they have used to locate this relatively difficult to find group of people.

Sponsors     Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University

Researchers     Donnell Butler, Princeton University

EGG: The Arts Show
www.thirteen.org/egg

This project builds positive public perceptions of artists and cultural institutions and the contributions they make to society. The series is aimed at motivating viewers to increase participation in and support for the arts. The pilot season is completed and the regular season will begin to air in February 2001.

Sponsors     The Pew Charitable Trusts; Thirteen-WNET

Researchers      Jack Venza, Educational Broadcasting Company

Integrated Assessment of Policy-Relevant Research and Data on the Arts

Sponsors     The Pew Charitable Trusts; Rockefeller Foundation

Researchers      Kevin McCarthy, RAND Corporation

Maine Communities in the New Century
www.mainehumanities.org

The Maine Communities in the New Century Program acknowledges the link between the health of community life and a vibrant array of community arts and cultural resources. The Maine Legislature passed legislation in 1999 creating a unique state-level joint planning council -- the Maine Cultural Affairs Council (MCAC) -- comprised of five government and two nonprofit agencies, all of which share statewide cultural missions: the Maine Arts Commission, Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Maine State Library, Maine State Museum, Maine State Archives, and Maine umanities Council. The statute specifies that MCAC plan programs with these objectives: 1) preservation of the state's historic resources, properties, artifacts and documents; 2) expansion of access to improved educational resources; and 3) strengthening of community and economic development through local cultural resources. Maine Communities in the New Century is a statewide case study on the MCAC program. It is being carried out by the Maine Humanities Council.

Sponsors     The Pew Charitable Trusts

Researchers    Dorothy Schwartz, Maine Humanities Coucnil

Mapping Associational Infrastructure of the Arts and Cultural Sector

This project currently has three components underway: (1) Preliminary analysis of a national database of over 4,000 support and membership organizations; (2) Construction of another database of approximately 800 national membership organizations that represent nonprofit, avocational, and commercial arts and culture interests; and (3) development of five case studies of the role of national arts service organizations in public and private policymaking.

In Fall 2001 work will begin on a book molding all of this work together into seven prospective chapters: (1) Mapping the Cultural Infrastructure; (2) The Role of National Membership Groups; (3) Mapping the Infrastructures for Different Art Fields; (4) Arts Service Organizations and Public Policy Making; (5) Arts Service Organizations and Private Policy Making; (6) International Aspecits of the Cultural Infrastructure; (7) A concluding chapter.

Sponsors     Ford Foundation; Aspen Institute

Researchers     Margaret Wyszomirski, Ohio State University; Joni Cherbo, independent scholar

Measuring Aesthetic Experience
http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/projects.html

Sponsors      Cultural Policy Program, University of Chicago

Researchers     Colm O'Muircheartaigh, University of Chicago Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies; National Opinion Research Center

Measuring the Health of our Common Culture

Culture is where the environment was 30 years ago as a policy sector: something that individuals and groups express intense concern about, but not yet an established field of study through which research can be organized and contested or from which policy can be regularly informed. In the seventies, economists answered the challenge by developing powerful new survey instruments (in particular the "contingent valuation method") to get at the complex and often unarticulated feelings the public holds about environmental goods. Now a leading economist in environmental ppolicy is joining forces with humanists to create a similar set of tools to measure public preferences for cultural goods.

In order to systematically analyze specific cultural policy questions, we need to understand the tradeoffs that people tend to make between their private consumption and public consumption; we need to know how they want to divide public consumption over general areas such as education, health, safety, parks, and the arts; and finally we need to determine how citizens want to further divide consumption wihtin a given arena, for example, how do they divide their resources in the arena of art between music, literature, painting and theater? By mapping the choices people make at these levels, this study will generate measurable evidence for the relative value of the arts.

Sponsors     Cultural Policy Program, University of Chicago

Researchers     Don Coursey, University of Chicago; Bill Brown, University of Chicago, English

Meetings Analysis and Planning

An initiative to further development and dissemination of information on major cultural policy issues among leaders in the field. The initiative is focused on coordinating a series of meetings and analyzing these and other convenings, including investigation of the range and quality of conferences currently sponsored by arts, cultural and academic organizations.

Sponsors     The Pew Charitable Trusts

Researchers     Alberta Arthurs, MEM Associates; Steven Tepper, Princeton University

Methodologies for Data Collection on Artists and Arts Organizations

This project studies methodologies for capturing  information on difficult-to-find types of artists and arts organizations, with the goal of designing a state-of-the-art study of this kind.

Sponsors     Center for Arts and Cultural Policy, Princeton University

Researchers     Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University

National Arts Journalism Program
www.najp.org

The National Arts Journalism Program is the nation's premier center supporting the improvement of arts journalism. NAJP oversees academic fellowships at Columbia University, along with research, publications and discussions bringing together journalists, news executives, artists, cultural organization administrators, funders and others concerned with arts and culture in America today.   The program's broad-based mission is to foster and engage in thoughtful discussion of the arts and their place in society as well as the cultural issues that underlie our valuation of the arts.

Sponsors     The Pew Charitable Trusts; Columbia University School of Journalism

Researchers     Andras Szanto, National Arts Journalism Program

National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support
www.artsusa.org/ProfilesProject/

This project maps the distribution of the nation's nonprofit cultural organizations and benchmarks their patterns and sources of support. It is also an in-depth study of cultural activities in 10 communities. The project intends to increase the capacity of local communities to conduct reliable policy-relevant research about the arts and culture.  Ultimately it will help answer a number of important policy questions both locally and nationally: 1) Who pays for arts and culture in this country? 2) How do revenue patterns differ between cultural organizations of different budget sizes and different disciplines? 3) Do regional differences exist in streams of funding to arts and cultural organizations? 4) What are the funding innovations and streams of support provided by local governments to arts and culture?

Sponsors     The Pew Chairtable Trusts; Americans for the Arts; Arts Policy and Administration Program, Ohio State University

Researchers     Margaret Wyszomirski, Ohio State University;  Randy Cohen, Americans for the Arts;  Therese Filicko, Ohio State Universtiy

Patterns of Cultural Contention

This project analyzes patterns of cultural contention in 50 U.S. cities during the 1990s.

Sponsors     Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University

Researchers     Steven Tepper, Princeton University

Public Art Service Study

This study works to establish a national public art service organization that will gather, centralize and disseminate information on the public art sector and promote critical discourse in the field.

Sponsors     Americans for the Arts

Researchers     Randy Cohen, Americans for the Arts

Research on Cultural Conflict in the Contemporary United States

Paul DiMaggio, principal investigator, and Steven Tepper, project director, will lead a team of undergraduate and graduate researchers in an exploration of trends in public attitudes toward the arts and other "hot button" social issues; a study of hundreds of public conflict events occurring in different communities across America as well as over time; and an examination of how the press has covered -- and shaped -- cultural conflict in the U.S. since 1985. The research is expected to yield several books, a national conference and new data resources that will be available to other scholars who are interested in analyzing both incidents of public controversy as well as media depictions of controversy.

Sponsors     Rockefeller Foundation; Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University

Researchers     Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University; Steven Tepper, Princeton University

State Arts Agency Profile Survey

On a cyclical basis (every 3-4 years) NASAA administers a comprehensive State Arts Agency Profile Survey. Profile data yield both quantitative and qualitative information about state arts agencies and their structural characteristics, programmatic characteristics and funding mechanisms. Due to be administered in March of 2001, the upcoming the upcoming Profile targets several areas of special interest to cultural policy researchers, including policy governance models, funding decentralization and the roles played by private and governmental partners in state-level arts initiatives.

Sponor          National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

Researcher     Kelly Barsdate, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

Technical Assistance Needs Assessment and Inventory

ARTS, Inc., the Los Angeles-area arts service organization, is conducting research as part of the California Arts Council's efforts to develop a statewide technical assistance plan for the California arts organizations. The research will address how technical assistance providers, statewide, can work together more effectively, make maximum use of limited resources, avoid duplication, and encourage collaboration. A statewide needs assement will identify the kinds of technical assistance needed and by whom, whil an inventory of technical assistance providers will identify who is able to serve the identified needs. The information will be gathered through a Needs Assessment survey and a Technical Assistance Inventory survey.

Through ARTS, Inc.'s gathering and analysis of this information, the California Arts Council will be able to identify technical assistance needs that are yet to be filled and consider ways in which a statewide system for technical assistance can be strengthened. Further, this information-gathering can lay a foundation for several follow-up activities that the California Arts Council might puruse: 1) the inventory of technical assistance providers in a serachable, on-line format, including a calendar; 2) opportunities for technical assistance providers and California arts organizations to interact on-line; and 3) a system for evaluating the effectiveness of technical assistance provided to California arts organizations. 

Sponsors     California Arts Council

Researchers     David Pankratz, ARTS Inc.

Technology Needs Assessment

Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Arts Management and Technology (CMAT), the University of Akron and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) along with seven state arts agencies, surveyed the technical resources, capabilities and needs of the cultural community in Alaska, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh region). The project's overall purpose was to reveal the perceived technology needs of artists and cultural organizations, information which will inform the policy-making, planning and service delivery strategies of state arts agencies and other cultural entities. Although not constructed from a representative sample, the study nevertheless will help develop a foundation of knowledge about how the arts sector uses tehcnology for artistic creation/production as well as management and marketing. Questionnaires were collected from 1, 224 arts organizations and 3,407 individual artists. Respondents came from both metropolitan and rural areas and included an array of artistic disciplines and various organizational types. Complete study findings have not yet been publishes (as of 1/01).

Sponsors     Alaska State Arts Council,  State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (Hawaii), Maryland State Arts Council, Kentucky Arts Council, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Minnesota Arts Board, Ohio Arts Council

Researchers     Durand Pope, University of Akron;  Kelly Barsdate, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies;  Dan Martin, Carnegie Mellon University

The Two Ravens Project: Digital Society and the Humanities
www.princeton.edu/~artspol/proj3.html

The Two Ravens Project is a five-year program that brings together humanities practitioners, scientists, technical experts, and representatives of business and the creative arts to help frame pending research on the social consequences of new digital technologies. The project undertakes two principal goals: first, to refocus currently polarized and simplistic discussions about technology as it relates to culture, education, and the individual in terms that recognize the complexity and ambiguity of these issues; second, to invigorate these discussions with perspectives normally associated with the humanities -- perspectives largely absent from current discourse.  The project will convene conferences, workshops, and occasions for public discourse.

Sponsors      The libraries at Rice University; Princeton University Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies; National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage; The Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute at the University of Glasgow

Researchers     The libraries at Rice University; Princeton University Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies; National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage; The Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute at the University of Glasgow

Unified Database of Arts Organizations
nccs.urban.org/UDAO.htm

Sponsors     National Endowment for the Arts

Researchers      Kelly Barsdate, National Association of State Arts Agencies; Thomas Pollak, The Urban Institute

Creativity & the Law      back to the top

Art, Technology and Intellectual Property
www.columbia.edu/cu/assembly/

Sponsors     Rockefeller Foundation; Arts Policy and Administration Program, Ohio State University

Researchers     Alberta Arthurs, MEM Associates; Frank Hodsoll, Hodsoll & Associates; Margaret Wyszomirski, Ohio State University; Michael Shapiro, International Intellectual Property Institue; David Mortimer, The American Assembly

Free Expression Policy Project
www.ncac.org/projects/fepp.html

Sponsors     Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Rockefeller Foundation; Open Society Institute; National Coalition Against Censorship

Researchers    Marjorie Heins, Free Expression Policy Project

Freedom of Expression in Art and Culture

Sponsors     Various litigants in the culture war

Researchers    Judith Hanna, University of Maryland

Obscenity Law and the Censorship of Erotic Literature in New York City, 1820-1860
www.princeton.edu/~artspol/dennis.html

Sponsors      Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University

Researchers    Donna Dennis, Princeton University


Education & the Creative Workforce   back to the top

Animating Democracy Initiative
www.artsusa.org/AnimatingDemocracy/index.html

This project fosters artistic activities that encourage civic dialogue on important contemporary issues and promote public awareness and discussion. ADI's goals are to: 1) Advance aesthetic and programmatic experimentation and innovation in this arena of work; 2) Strengthen the role and organizational capacity of arts and cultural institutions engaged in this work; 3) Build the body of knowledge about this work and increase access to information and resources for arts and civic dialogue fields; 4) Increase understanding and exchange across artistic disciplines and with civic dialogue leaders about the philosophical, aesthetic, and practical aspects of arts-based civic dialogue; and 5) Increase public understanding of the role of artists and arts and cultural institutions in civic life.

Sponsors     Ford Foundation; Americans for the Arts

Researchers     Barbara Schaffer Bacon, Americans for the Arts; Randy Cohen, Americans for the Arts

Artists Training and Career Project

Sponsors     Research Center for Arts and Culture, Columbia University Teachers College

Researchers     Joan Jeffri, Columbia University

The Arts Management Research Clearinghouse (AMRC)
http://amrc.uoregon.edu

Sponsors      Institute of Community Arts Studies, University of Oregon; Northwest Academic Computing Consortium

Researcher      Linda Ettinger, University of Oregon

ARTS SURVIVE
www.pz.harvard.edu/Research/ArtsSurv.htm

Many arts education partnerships between schools and professional artists and/or arts organizations are started, but far too few survive beyond their first years and initial sources of funding. ARTS SURVIVE, a three year national research study which began in July, 1997, is investigating arts education partnerships in schools in order to ascertain why some partnerships survive and others do not. The study will provide a greater undertanding of what survival means to arts education parternships and, specifically, what circumstances, activities, and interactions among teachers, students, and others, are essential to build and sustain lasting partnerships. Through careful study of how leaders of surviving partnerships have negotiated the integration of arts partnerships into the life -- and budget -- of their schools, ARTS SURVIVE will identify critical keys to partnership survival.

An executive summary of the report from the project, "Arts Survive: A Study of Sustainability in Arts Education Partnerships," is available online.

Sponsor   John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Researchers    Steve Seidel and Meredith Eppel, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Career Tracking in the Arts

This project is an examination of the education, experience and career tracks of executive directors of state arts agencies.

Researchers     Lawrence Mankin, Arizona State University; N. Joseph Cayer, Arizona State University; Ron Perry, Arizona State University; Shelly Cohn, Arizona Commission on the Arts

Collaborations between Choreographers and Musicians
www.princeton.edu/~artspol.stiefel.html

This project investigates the nature of modern dance/music collaboration. By interviewing performers, choreographers and composers at the Bates Dance Festival, this project will investigate how organizational factors (funding, administration, presentation, venues, etc.) influence the nature of collaboration between these two art forms.

Sponsors     Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University

Researchers     Van Stiefel, Princeton University

Community Partnerships for Cultural Participation: Status, Trends and Prospects

Sponsors      Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund

Researchers     J. Christopher Walker, The Urban Institute

The Creative Classrooms Project
www.pz.harvard.edu/Research/CrClass.htm

Project Zero has a long history of exploring issues related to both creativity, its origins and development in individuals, and teaching, its methods for supporting higher-order thinking, understanding, and cognitive development. The Creative Classrooms Project draws on this background to explore how creativity relates to the act of teaching itself.

Disney Learning Partnership is a new philanthropic initiative of The Walt Disney Company dedicated to supporting creative teaching strategies that engage children in learning. It was founded as an outgrowth of the American Teacher Awards, which since 1989 have sought to identify and honor some of the nation's best teachers. These teachers represent a rich resource regarding creativity in teaching. Collectively they provide rich and varied examples of creative classrooms as well as knowledge about the growth and sustenance of creativity in teaching. Project Zero has partnered with Disney Learning Partnership to leverage this valuable resource of expert teachers. Drawing on classroom videotapes of the ATA teachers in action and interviews with these past honorees, we are working to produce video and print materials that will support the individual and group study of creativity in teaching.

We identify three principal dimensions of the creative classroom. These include approaching content creatively, creative teaching and learning practices, and cultivating student creativity. Each of these three dimensions is informed by the overarching characteristics of "creative spirit" of the individual teacher. Rather than existing as a separate dimension of the creative classroom, a teacher's creative spirit (which consists of a teacher's passion, responsiveness, tolerance for ambiguity, risk-taking, playfulness, and personalized expression) infuses and gives life to each of the three principal dimensions of the creative classroom.

Sponsors    Disney Learning Partnership and Project Zero, Harvard University

Researchers   Tina Grotzer and Ron Ritchhart, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Directory of Artist Population Studies
www.princeton.edu/~artspol/butler.html

Sponsors     Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University

Researchers     Donnell Butler, Princeton University

EGG: The Arts Show
www.thirteen.org/egg

Sponsors     The Pew Charitable Trusts; Thirteen-WNET

Researchers     Jack Venza, Educational Broadcasting Company

Information on Artists I and II
http://www.tc.columbia.edu/centers/rcac

Two studies, almost ten years apart, of artists in ten U.S. locations (Boston, Cape Cod, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Western Massachusetts) with a follow-up in four (Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York and San Francisco). Focus is on artists' work-related, human and social service needs including health insurance, life insurance, retirement plans, live/work space, income, income from art, education , professional status.

Sponsors     Columbia University, Teachers College, Research Center for Arts and Culture

Researchers     Joan Jeffri, Columbia University

Intergenerational Photography

Sponsors     Ansel Adams Center, Friends of Photography

International Issues in Cultural Management Training

International Issues in Cultural Management Training is a project conducted by the Arts Policy & Administration program in cooperation with an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students at The Ohio State University. External potential partnerships with organizations, independent researchers and consultants around the world are being pursued.

The initial goal of the International Issues in Cultural Management Training project is to identify and synthesize the research and experience in international arts management for the practical application of the information to training programs. A set of initial literature reviews, bibliographies, list of key players, and working papers will be compiled in order to determine the scope and framework available in a number of issue areas. These include: copyright and intellectual property; culture and development; cultural diplomacy; cultural tourism; global cultural heritage and patrimony; global popular culture; international cultural exchanges; international touring and presenting; multiculturalism; transnational organizations. A survey of university arts administration training programs will be conducted to identify international curriculum components.

Sponsor     The Ohio State University

Researchers     Patricia Dewey; Margaret Wyszomirski, Ohio State University

Leadership for a Changing World
www.leadershipforchange.org

Leadership for a Changing World is a program of the Ford Foundation in partnership with the Washington-based Advocacy Institute, which will manage the program, and the Robert F. Wagnder Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, which will conduct related research. The program has three goals: to recognize the achievements of outstanding leaders, to provide financial support for their continued work, and to study how leadership is perceived, created, and sustained.

Leadership for a Changing World will recognize indivudal leaders or leadership teams who have worked for at least two years in fields such as economic and community development, human rights, the arts, education, sexual and reproductive health, religion, media, and the environment. They can be working in a specific geographic community or in broader communities linked by affinity, ideas and values.

Researchers based at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University will explore how leadership is created and sustained, focusing at first on the dynamics of shared leadership, and will eventually publish their findings. "By working closely with the awardees to uinderstand their histories, challenges, and approaches, we hope to learn more about new ways to lead and help expand the way leadership is perceived in this country," said Professor Ellen Schall, director of the Leadership Initiative at the Wagner School.

Twenty winners will be chosen to each of the next three years, with the first selection announced in October, 2001. Nominations will be accepted by the Advocacy Institution through January 5, 2001. Leaders must be nominated by someone who is well acquainted with their work and can attest to their qualifications.

Sponsors    Ford Foundation

Researchers    Ellen Schall,   Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, New York University;  Stephen   Bobb, The Advocacy Institute

Measuring the Impact of a Community-Based Music Commissioning Project