Multi-colored indoor visual projection installation taking up an entire gallery space

Media Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts envisions a nation with a robust creative ecosystem that is responsive and adapting to the dynamic, diverse, and evolving nature of the media arts field. Projects supported by the Arts Endowment are intended to support and advance careers for independent film and media artists, media arts practitioners, and artists exploring traditional or expanded forms of storytelling and visual expression using film, cinema, audio, broadcast, new media, creative code, and related formats. In addition, projects supported by the Arts Endowment provide opportunities for the public to deepen appreciation for, and experience, historic or contemporary works in-person, online, or through television or radio broadcast, digital streaming, or any other emerging formats including virtual, augmented, and mixed reality.

Arts, Culture, and the Digital Equity Act Webinar

With the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Congress took a significant step forward in achieving the Biden-Harris Administration's goal of ensuring that all Americans not only have access to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet but also the skills and resources needed for full participation in the society and economy of the United States.

This informational session, which took place on April 18, 2023, was co-hosted by the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Webinar hosts discussed the Digital Equity Act and how it relates to the arts and cultural field—including the rising digital and virtual needs of artists and audiences. A listening session followed during which participants' responded to elements of the Digital Equity Act Request for Comments in an effort to improve the design and implementation of the State Capacity and Competitive Grant Programs. 

Webinar archive | NEA Slide Deck | NTIA Slide Deck

Arts & Technology Field Scan

From 2019-2021, the Arts Endowment has conducted an Arts & Technology Field Scan, a national research study launched in partnership with the Ford Foundation and the Knight Foundation. The project’s research plan focused on learning directly from the lived experiences of working artists engaging with technology through formal and informal arts settings, including those working in nonprofit, commercial, and community-based contexts spanning multiple sectors and artistic disciplines. Findings from this research are synthesized in a report, Tech as Art: Supporting Artists Who Use Technology as a Creative Mediumalongside ten commissioned essays written by practitioners as provocations to the broader arts and cultural field. The essays focus on the idea that an equitable, resilient, and thriving arts and cultural ecosystem includes deepened support for artistic practices focused on technology as a creative medium.

The result of this two-year investigation uncovers a robust creative ecosystem of tech-focused artists and practices, and provides insight into the ways:

  • Artists create art works with digital technologies—by writing code, visualizing data, developing interactive experiences, and much more;
  • Artists build community by developing shared open-source tools, establishing online forums for knowledge exchange, and founding organizations to facilitate the creativity of others; and
  • Artists critique the influence of technologies on daily life through projects that question pervasive practices, such as data collection and surveillance, and their disproportionate impact on communities of color.

The field scan also uplifts best practices and recommendations, alongside challenges and opportunities, to strengthen the U.S. arts infrastructure serving tech-focused creative practices. For example, the report provides evidence of the ways tech-focused artists can bring specialized expertise in using digital technology to:

  • Connect audiences across physical and virtual spaces;
  • Contribute to accelerated action in addressing racial inequities and social injustices across the arts and technology and other sectors; and
  • Engage local communities, address social issues, and bridge digital divides through their arts projects.

Short video profiles were developed to accompany the artist case studies in the report. They are part of an Arts & Technology Field Scan conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the Ford Foundation and the Knight Foundation.

State arts agencies, regional arts organizations, and local arts councils are in a unique position within the creative ecosystem to cultivate infrastructure supporting the intersection of arts and technology. This two-page guide is intended for public arts funders interested in improving outreach and funding support for digital initiatives and technology-focused arts projects, cultivating regional infrastructure and cross-sector networks to advance arts and technology, and improving the capacity of arts organizations to support digital initiatives and emerging art forms that incorporate the use of creative code, computation, and data as an artistic medium.

Field Scan Report | Regional Trends Report | Essays | Case Study Videos | Launch Event Archive

Independent Film & Media Arts Field-Building Initiative 

The Independent Film & Media Arts Field-Building Initiative is a collaborative partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) focused on creating a space for knowledge exchange and relationship-building, with an emphasis on promoting regional networks, equity, and career sustainability for individuals working in the film and media arts industry. CONTINUE