Research into the value and impact of the arts is a core function of the National Endowment for the Arts. Through accurate, relevant, and timely analyses and reports, the Arts Endowment elucidates the factors, conditions, and characteristics of the U.S. arts ecosystem and the impact of the arts on other domains of American life. 

Research Agenda: FY 2022‐2026

This document sets forth a five‐year research agenda for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). In preparing this agenda, the NEA’s Office of Research & Analysis supervised a planning study that included a review of NEA research activities in the past decade, and arts-related research supported by other federal agencies. The study also used focus group meetings and interviews with field experts to gather views on priority research areas. These activities preceded a public comment period. The resulting agenda aligns with the NEA’s FY 2022-2026 strategic plan, to be published in early 2022. The agenda is based on results from a planning study conducted in 2019-2020.

See an infographic of high-level research priorities, as discussed in the agenda.

Studies

Research Publications
The Arts Endowment produces in-depth reports and analyses of research topics in the arts that demonstrate the value and impact of the arts in communities throughout the country.

Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account
The National Endowment for the Arts partners with the Bureau of Economic Analysis (U.S. Department of Commerce) to provide annual reports of the economic impact of arts and culture in the United States. 

Arts Data Profile Series
Collections of statistics, graphics, and summary results from data-mining about the arts.

Research Grants in the Arts Study Findings
Working papers, publications, and presentations that so far have resulted from NEA Research Grants in the Arts funding.

Initiatives

National Endowment for the Arts Research Labs
Transdisciplinary research teams investigating the value and impact of the arts.

Sound Health Network
A partnership of the Arts Endowment with the University of California, San Francisco in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Renée Fleming, the center’s artistic advisor. The Sound Health Network was established to promote research and public awareness about the impact of music on health and wellness.

Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network
Creative arts therapies at the core of patient-centered care for military members, veterans, and their families.

Arts & Human Development Task Force
The federal interagency task force established in 2011 to encourage research on the arts and human potential.

Quick Study Podcast

A new monthly audio feature using research to explore the arts sector and to demonstrate the arts’ value in everyday life.
Listen

Convenings

Research Convenings
National gatherings with researchers and arts and community experts.

Resources

Creative Forces National Resource Center/Clinical Research Findings
Creative Forces invests in research on the impacts and benefits – physical, emotional, social, and economic – of creative arts therapies as innovative treatment methods.

National Archive of Data on Arts and Culture
Hosted by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan. A webinar tour around the latest data on arts and culture at the National Archive of Data on Arts and Culture is now available. 

Program Evaluation and Performance Measurement
Links to online resources about program evaluation and performance measurement for arts organizations.

UMass Amherst NEA Archives Collection
A digitization of more than 40 years of publications on the arts and arts management.