Research Grants in the Arts

Overview

<p>Research Grants in the Arts support research studies that investigate the value and/or impact of the arts, either as individual components of the U.S. arts ecology or as they interact with each other and/or with other domains of American life. Research Grants in the Arts provides an opportunity to engage with the National Endowment for the Arts’ five-year agenda for 2017-2021. The research agenda offers guidance on the types of study questions and topics that appeal to the agency’s long-term research goals.</p> <p>We are interested in research that identifies and examines:</p> <ul> <li>Factors that enhance or inhibit arts participation or arts/cultural assets;</li> <li>Detailed characteristics of arts participation or arts/cultural assets, and their interrelationships;</li> <li>Individual-level outcomes of arts participation, specifically outcomes corresponding with the following domains: social and emotional well-being; creativity, cognition, and learning; physiological processes of health and healing; and</li> <li>Societal or community-level outcomes of arts/cultural assets, specifically outcomes corresponding with the following domains: civic and corporate innovation; attraction for neighborhoods and businesses; national and/or state-level economic growth.</li> </ul> <p>Research studies that address research recommendations and priorities published in recent National Endowment for the Arts publications are also welcome.</p> <p>Projects may include, but are not limited to:</p> <ul> <li>Primary and/or secondary data analyses</li> <li>Economic impact studies</li> <li>Organizational research</li> <li>Psychological, physical health-related, or therapeutic studies</li> <li>Education studies in a variety of contexts (e.g., classrooms, informal venues, distance learning, or home-school environments)</li> <li>Dosage studies</li> <li>Third-party summative evaluations of an arts program's effectiveness and impact, such as applied evaluation studies/analyses that measure the impact or effectiveness of an organization’s arts program or project</li> <li>Comparison studies of arts interventions</li> <li>Statistically-driven meta-analyses of existing research that can yield a fresh understanding of the value and/or impact of the arts</li> <li>Translational research that moves scientific evidence toward the development, testing, and standardization of new arts-related programs, practices, models, or tools that can be used easily by other practitioners and researchers</li> </ul> <p>Applicants may propose research projects that focus on quantitative, qualitative, and/or mixed-method approaches using data gleaned from primary or secondary data. Sources may include but are not limited to, surveys, censuses, biological or medical experiments, observations, interviews, focus groups, social media activity, administrative data, and transactional/financial data. Other examples of data sources include archived materials such as written documents, audio/video recordings, or photographs and images.</p> <p>Primary data collection projects must include:</p> <ul> <li>Data analysis. We do not fund projects that focus exclusively on data acquisition.</li> <li>Plans to ensure fidelity of the data collection and program/therapy implementation through routine monitoring and oversight.</li> </ul> <p>For projects that explore the causal links between the arts and individual or community outcomes, experimental approaches such as randomized controlled trials are generally preferred. When experimental approaches are not feasible, then high-quality, quasi-experimental design studies offer an attractive alternative. We welcome the use of data in both the public and private domain, including commercial and/or administrative data sources.</p> <p>We are committed to supporting research teams that demonstrate interdisciplinary partnerships between arts practitioners and researchers/evaluators. Additionally, community-based participatory research is a promising methodology for engaging the public as active partners in research about the arts. Although not required, applicants are strongly encouraged to include project teams that enable substantial input and participation from arts practitioners and researchers/evaluators. If applicants do not already have research staff in their organizations, then they are strongly encouraged to collaborate with other organizations, entities, or individuals who will be able to support the technical requirements of the research project.</p>