All NEA Research Labs

 

Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Principal Investigator: Tamara Underiner, PhD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

Arizona State University will develop a new Caregiving Research Initiative within its Creative Health Collaborations research hub, which will examine the role of three different art forms in supporting three different caregiving contexts. The art forms and contexts are: 1) theater-making for parents and families of children with special needs, 2) technology-enhanced narrative expression for families of cancer patients, and 3) music for families of veterans suffering post-traumatic stress disorder. The Lab's keystone study will be conducted in partnership with Childsplay Theatre Company in Tempe, Arizona. Products likely to result from this Lab include: peer-review research journal publications, conference presentations, a best-practices guide for potential collaborators and a workbook or manual that may be used by other theater companies developing their own programming for working with families of special-needs children, and tools for the caregivers themselves. 

Other Key Personnel

  • David Coon, PhD
  • Elizabeth Reifsnider, PhD
  • Stephani Etheridge Woodson, PhD
  • Shelby Langer, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

Boise State University, Boise, ID
Principal Investigator: Amanda Ashley, PhD

* Monitoring and Improving Systems

Researchers from the Place, Arts, and Cultural Systems Lab (PACS) at Boise State University will examine whether and how arts and cultural districts (ACDs) support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The lab's research questions will investigate how such districts can become effective drivers of economic and social change while remaining diverse, inclusive, and equitable places. To support integration of evidence-based DEI practices with ACD development and operations, PACS will assemble a team representing national, regional, and local organizations in the arts, planning, and economic and community development.

Using a mixed-methods research approach, the lab will conduct a national survey. PACS will learn from and serve ACD organizations and their communities by creating classifications and national public database of ACD characteristics. The lab and its partners, such as Surel's Place, an artist community in Idaho, will use this database to analyze existing patterns of DEI practice; identify promising practices for different district types, geographies, and capacities; and design a flexible ACD toolkit for communities exhibiting different resources and needs. Future research activities may include case studies of ACDs in the Intermountain West and Midwest and beyond. The project will enrich the understanding by local economic and community planners and developers of how to improve DEI practices within arts and cultural districts; the resulting knowledge also may benefit funders and policymakers who support creative placemaking strategies in the United States.

Other Key Personnel

  • Carolyn Loh, PhD
  • Jonathan Jae-an Crisman, PhD
  • Leslie Durham, PhD
  • Stephanie Ryberg-Webster, PhD
  • Dianna Ruberto, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
Principal Investigator: Girija Kaimal, EdD, MA

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

Drexel University will develop a NEA Research Lab titled Arts Research on Chronic Stress Lab (ARCS) to explore the intersection of the arts, health, and social/emotional well-being. Research studies in the ARCS lab will focus on therapeutic art-making, creative arts therapies and connect with community-based arts organizations to enhance social engagement and overall well-being in individuals who have been affected by chronic stressors including chronic illness, prolonged caregiving, academic stressors and trauma, as well as testing the effects of creative arts therapies in pediatric cancer care settings, for post-surgical pain management and opioid usage, and for military service members who have post-traumatic stress and/or traumatic brain injury. The studies use interdisciplinary mixed methods experimental designs, incorporate a range of data sources (biomarkers, standardized surveys, narratives, artwork and music) and examine short term and long-term health outcomes. The Drexel team will collaborate and consult with arts practitioners from a range of sites in the Philadelphia and Washington DC region as well as sites affiliated with the Arts Endowment's Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network.

Other Key Personnel

  • Joke Bradt, PhD, MT-BC
  • Minjung Shim, PhD, BC-DMT

For more information and updateson this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Principal Investigator: Thalia Goldstein, PhD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

The George Mason University Arts Research Center (“MasonARC”) is a multidisciplinary research center involving the expertise of three faculty members at George Mason University, with a research focus on arts engagement, child development, and education. Studies will examine the outcomes of arts education in low-income, ethnically diverse high school students; the effect of theatre training on social skills; and students’ sense of agency. Additionally, the research center will involve public engagement and distribution of research through a website and a regularly updated blog on arts research across domains, and a biennial conference on the latest research and practice in arts and child development. The MasonARC includes strong arts partnerships with two of Virginia’s most established arts education and producing nonprofits (Virginia Repertory Theatre and the Mason Community Arts Academy).

Other Key Personnel

  • Adam Winsler, PhD
  • Kimberly Sheridan, EdD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
Principal Investigator: Joanne Loewy, DA, LCAT, MT-BC

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

The Assessment of Music Experiences in Navigating Depression (AMEND) lab at Mount Sinai Health System's Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine, in partnership with Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, will measure the social-emotional benefits of music participation in individual and group settings, specifically for individuals across the lifespan and who have clinical depression. Subpopulations of interest are children, teens, and college students; first-time parent(s) of pre-term infants; and older adults with neurologic diseases.

Using mixed-methods research approaches, the lab will conduct a series of studies examining the impact of music through various modes of engagement, including music concerts and music therapy sessions. Comparison-group studies of standard care without music engagement also will be conducted. Pre- and post-intervention data will be collected from participants on outcomes such as depression and resilience, mood and affect, sleep quality, and quality of life. Additional data will be collected to understand contextual factors such as participants' prior levels of experience working with music.

Planned research products include a lab website, recordings of "well-being" music concerts held for the participants, research articles, conference presentations, and a standardized assessment tool and manual that will inform creative arts therapists and other healthcare professionals about the impacts that music engagement may have for depression. Additional partners include Cooper Union, Third Street Music School, Young Adults Institute, and Lincoln Center Moments.

Other Key Personnel

  • Angela Diaz, MD, PhD, MPH
  • Manuel Bagorro
  • Nathan Goldstein, MD
  • Wendy Neal, MD
  • Joyce Fogel, MD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 
Principal Investigator: Joanna Woronkowicz, PhD

* The Arts, Economic Growth, and Innovation

Researchers from Indiana University, Bloomington and Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis will create Arts Entrepreneurship and Innovation (AEI) Lab to conduct studies on the role of artists in civic innovation; artists and new economies (including crowdfunding patterns for artists); digital media growth; and other topics. The Lab will 1) use experimental research designs to study embedded artists-in-residence in a public sector context; 2) analyze artists' careers by using various large datasets, such as the Current Population Survey, the American Community Survey, and the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project, and using statewide survey data in partnership with the Indiana Arts Commission; 3) perform research on conditions that foster successful artistic entrepreneurship and audience development; 4) publish the research conducted during the initial Lab award in top journals and other outlets; and 5) organize and sponsor panels at national and international research convenings.

Other Key Personnel

  • Douglas Noonan, PhD
  • Thomas Guevara, MA

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

New York University, New York, NY
Principal Investigator: Alex Ruthmann, PhD

* The Arts, Economic Growth, and Innovation

New York University, in partnership with the New World Symphony (NWS) in Miami, Florida, will establish the Sustainable Entrepreneurship in the Performing Arts Lab to investigate methods and characteristics that foster entrepreneurship and innovation within the classical music ecosystem in the United States. Researchers will evaluate outcomes from musician fellows in NWS BLUE (Build, Learn, Understand, Experiment), an entrepreneurial training program. The Lab researchers will capture, describe, and map emerging entrepreneurial mindsets, skills, and practices among NWS BLUE fellows, as well as organizational characteristics that support sustainable innovation in their communities. Future studies will involve data collection from current employers, educational feeder organizations and schools, and the local communities they serve. Products likely to result from this Lab include: quarterly podcasts; conference presentations; a Sustainable Entrepreneurship in the Arts Summit event; and academic publications.

Other Key Personnel

  • Bruce Carter, PhD
  • Tanya Kalmanovitch

 


 

Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Principal Investigator: Jules Rochielle Sievert, MFA

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

The East Boston Spatial Justice Lab at Northeastern University and its partner, Maverick Landing Community Services, will evaluate the arts' role in fostering community healing and social cohesion in East Boston, in addition to the well-being of community residents and their sense of belonging. The lab, which combines expertise in art, design, law, community organizing, and program evaluation, will execute a series of case studies and participatory action research methods to conduct and assess how community arts events emphasizing the values of belonging and social cohesion impact East Boston residents. These community arts-based workshops will include listening sessions, learning events, a speaker series, codesigning sessions, and town halls. Data will be collected through surveys, interviews, and focus groups.

The team will share its findings and resources through a website and social media, academic publications and white papers, public presentations, open houses, public exhibits, and workshops. Additional partners include City Life/Vida Urbana, which is a grassroots community organization, and local artists and arts and cultural organizers. Future activities of the lab may extend to studies of the arts' impact on social community belonging and social cohesion as relevant to sectors such as public health, justice, and the environment.

Other Key Personnel

  • Miso Kim, PhD
  • Tiana Yom, EdD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

Rice University, Houston, TX
Principal Investigator: Christopher Fagundes, PhD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

In partnership with Musiqa, Rice University will establish a research hub for measuring the effects of music-making and music engagement on cognitive and social-emotional well-being. The Lab's keystone study—a randomized, waitlist-control trial—will examine older adults with mild cognitive impairment who will undergo a six-week course combining musical exposure, creativity, and performance. The program culminates in creation of a final composition, with participants performing to family, caregivers, and members of the community. Outcome measures will include pre- and post-intervention assessments on intelligence and cognitive flexibility; loneliness, social support, and perceived psychological stress; and neural markers such as brain modularity and flexibility. The researchers hypothesize that the program studied under the Research Lab can provide a model for addressing the need for low-cost, nonpharmacological interventions for cognitive impaired patients and their caregivers.

Other Key Personnel

  • Anthony Brandt, PhD
  • Bryan Denny, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage

 


 

Texas A & M University, College Station, TX
Principal Investigator: Daniel Bowen, PhD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

Researchers at Texas A & M University and the University of Missouri will develop an NEA Research Lab dedicated to high-impact, experimental, practitioner-engaged, policy-relevant studies focused on youth. Specifically, the researchers will incorporate a research-practitioner model into their research agenda, which includes a collaboration with Arts Connect, a collective impact initiative, based in Houston, Texas, that unites more than 30 local arts and cultural organizations, the Houston Independent School District, the City of Houston's Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs, and local philanthropic foundations working to ensure that all children from the Greater Houston community have access to the arts. In their keystone study, researchers will conduct a randomized-controlled trial with the Houston Ballet to examine the social and emotional effects of participating in a semester-long high energy dance and movement program for children in elementary schools serving high proportions of low-income, Hispanic students. Products likely to result from this Lab include: an annual convening to share the Lab's progress and findings and engage attendees in refining the Lab's future research projects and agenda; research resources and products that promote research and data-sharing, transparency, and replicability; peer-review research journal publications; and conference presentations.

Other Key Personnel

  • Brian Kisida, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
Principal Investigator: Peter Martens, PhD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

Texas Tech's Talkington College of Visual and Performing Arts will advance research projects as part of its Arts Initiative in Medicine program. The Lab will pair arts-based therapies with neuropsychological methods of investigation such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and psychophysiological data systems, which analyze heart rate, skin conductance, eye tracking, and facial EMG. Its keystone study will involve a team of artists, clinicians, and electronic media faculty in developing and testing a visual arts-based app (using interactive virtual reality) as a rehabilitative tool for stroke survivors with aphasia. The researchers will examine changes in these patients' cognitive and emotional processing by tracking heart rate, sympathetic nervous system activation, skin conductance, and brain activity. Future research studies under this Research Lab would extend to various clinical populations, e.g., patients with ADHD, Alzheimer's disease and dementia, language impairments, and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Nonprofit arts partners include Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts and the Museum of Texas Tech University.

Other Key Personnel

  • Justin Keene, PhD
  • Melinda Corwin, PhD
  • John Velez, PhD
  • Genevieve Durham DeCesaro, MFA

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR
Principal Investigator: Jay Greene, PhD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

Supported by the NEA from 2017-2021

Researchers at the Character Assessment Initiative at the University of Arkansas' Department of Education Reform will develop a NEA Research Lab on “The Arts, Health, and Social/Emotional Well-Being”. The lab will study fourth- and fifth-graders who either do or do not attend arts-related field trips. This research has the potential to identify how disadvantaged students might be affected by out-of-school arts experiences. Further, the project could yield future studies of other cognitive and emotional outcomes associated with arts-enriched education.

Other Key Personnel

  • Thalia Goldstein, PhD
  • Heidi Holmes, PhD 

 


 

University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Principal Investigator: Robert Bilder, PhD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

The Research Lab at UCLA will develop a reliable, valid, flexible, and scalable Arts Impact Measurement System (AIMS), an electronic assessment application software for integration with mobile devices. Using psychometrics, AIMS will measure self-reported health and well-being outcomes associated with arts participation. The assessment tool will be pilot-tested in partnership with Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz/Los Angeles Unified School District Jazz Academy (in public-school outreach programs) and on campus arts-engagement experiences to promote well-being among students, staff, and faculty at UCLA—in partnership with the Semel Mindful Music program. To the extent possible, the researchers intend to make the application created under the Lab freely available to the international arts community, and will facilitate public release of the data, after safeguarding for confidentiality and privacy protections. This project lays the groundwork for greater translational research focused on understanding the fundamental cognitive and biological mechanisms by which the arts affect well-being.

Other Key Personnel

  • Armen Arevian, MD, PhD
  • Ariana Anderson, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

University of California, San Diego, CA
Principal Investigator: Timothy Brown, PhD

* The Arts, Cognition, and Learning

The University of California, San Diego will establish a group of Early Academic Readiness and Learning Intervention (EARLI) studies that will test the influence of various school-day musical interventions on early childhood development. Activities include a phased research plan beginning with an initial feasibility study of a vocal music intervention, with a focus on assessing language, brain, and social development outcomes. Children in Transitional Kindergarten (TK) classes who participate in a daily singing program will be assessed three times a year on cognitive, affective, social, academic, and music skills through standardized and experimental performance-based measures, observational measures, and teacher and parent questionnaires. The research agenda will progress toward a major, multidimensional study of the effects of several hypothesized enhancing and protective aspects of musical experiences during childhood. This Research Lab builds on an interdisciplinary team's deep experience in music and large-scale longitudinal child development studies, bridging fields such as cognitive science, developmental psychology, neuroscience, musicology, and education. The ultimate goal is to identify and characterize potential effects and to define their interactions with child's age, status of brain development, and genetic variation. Partners include nonprofit arts partner San Diego Children's Choir and education partner Vista Unified School District.

Other Key Personnel

  • Terry Jernigan, PhD
  • Matthew Doyle, EdD
  • Margie Orem, MA
  • John Iversen, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

University of California, San Francisco, CA
Principal Investigator: Charles Limb, MD

* The Arts, Cognition, and Learning

The Sound and Music Perception Lab at the University of California, San Francisco will conduct studies to identify neural substrates for creativity across a range of art forms. This lab's principal activity will involve collecting and analyzing data from "genius improvisers" in music, the visual arts, and comedy. Participants in these three art forms will perform an improvisational task, compared with an appropriate control task, while their brains are scanned with a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) device. In addition, participants will complete a battery of assessments, including personality measures, tests of creativity, and tests of cognitive abilities. Researchers will work with SF Jazz, The San Francisco Art Institute, Second City Improvisation Troupe, and Speechless to design experimental tasks suitable for each artistic domain and will help recruit participants. The studies will serve as proof-of-concept for studying improvisation across artistic domains.

Other Key Personnel

  • Karen Barrett, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO
Principal Investigator: Marc Moss, MD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

As part of its research agenda, University of Colorado Denver will develop and test a series of creative arts therapy programs designed to build resilience among critical care health professionals. The programs will use qualitative, mixed-method, and randomized controlled study designs and will integrate visual arts therapy, music therapy, dance/movement therapy, and writing/poetry therapy. Research activities will include focus groups of important stakeholders, such as critical care providers, intensive care unit managers and hospital administrators, and national critical care leadership. Organization partners include Ponzio Creative Arts Therapy Program at Children's Hospital Colorado and Lighthouse Writers Workshop; these organizations will help to design experimental tasks suitable for each artistic domain and will aid in recruiting participants. Future directions may include studying longer-term treatment effects of creative arts therapies for health care professionals as well as the indirect effects such programs have on patient outcomes.

Other Key Personnel

  • Meredith Mealer, PhD, RN

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Principal Investigator: Jill Sonke, PhD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

The UF Center for Arts in Medicine program will partner with UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine program to develop an "EpiArts" Lab to apply epidemiological research approaches to the arts. The Lab will plan and implement a long-term research agenda to explore the relationships between arts/cultural engagement and population health outcomes. Researchers will host three virtual roundtable convenings of national arts and public health stakeholders to identify priority research questions and outcomes for analysis, and then will analyze several large-cohort, longitudinal, and publicly available, deidentified datasets such as those sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics, and datasets from the Health and Retirement Study and the General Social Survey—both featuring arts and cultural survey items developed by the Arts Endowment. To the extent possible, research questions will consider how arts engagement uniquely contributes to health, above and beyond other types of non-arts engagement. The Lab initially will focus its review on the arts' relationships to mental health and well-being, health behaviors, and non-communicable diseases. Additional research may include targeted experimental studies. Products stemming from the Lab may include peer-review publications, conference presentations, webinars or other virtual or in-person events, websites/webpages, or infographics to translate the Lab's results to the general public and to leaders in the arts/cultural and health sectors. Such products also may include research reports, white papers, policy briefs, guides or toolkits, blogs, and opinion/reflection pieces.

Other Key Personnel

  • Daisy Fancourt, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Principal Investigator: Charles Fluharty, MDiv

* The Arts, Economic Growth, and Innovation

Supported by the NEA from 2017-2019

The Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) at the University of Iowa, in partnership with the organization Art of the Rural, will look at the intersection of “The Arts, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation” in rural contexts. RUPRI also will work with its Rural Intracultural Policy Council to develop pilot studies of rural "cultural ecologies." The pilot studies may use social network analysis, structured interviews, and respondent-driven survey sampling to test hypotheses about cultural and social capital as preconditions to innovation.

Other Key Personnel

  • Kiley Arroyo, MA
  • Sam Cordes, PhD
  • Matthew Fluharty, PhD
  • Thomas Johnson, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Principal Investigator: Kenneth Elpus, PhD

* The Arts, Cognition, and Learning

Researchers will develop the Music and Arts Education Data Lab (MADLab), a national hub for the analysis of large-scale quantitative data on arts students, arts educators, and the ecosystem of arts education in the United States across multiple arts disciplines. The MADLab’s keystone study will involve creating and analyzing data from a national survey of arts educators, exploring the status and nature of arts education in public schools. The team also will analyze several large-cohort, longitudinal, and publicly available datasets such as those from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). One NCES survey, the Middle Grades Longitudinal Study, features arts survey items developed or refined by the National Endowment for the Arts. The team also will host a series of researcher/practitioner convenings, produce research reports, create applied tools with accompanying toolkits, and develop a pre-doctoral graduate research training program in music and arts education research. Partnering arts organizations include the National Association for Music Education, the National Art Education Association, the National Dance Education Organization, the Educational Theatre Association, and Young Audiences.

Other Key Personnel

  • Yan Li, PhD
  • Stephanie Prichard, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Principal Investigator: Aston McCullough, PhD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

Supported by the NEA from 2021-2023

Researchers with the Laboratory for the Scientific Study of Dance (LAB:SYNC) at University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and its nonprofit arts partner Five College Dance, will develop, refine, and validate a battery of dance exposure measurement tools such as computer vision (2D/3D cameras), wearable sensors, self-report perceptual measures, and physiological assessments of health. Also, the Lab will disseminate key reports on the relationship between dance and health, and it will provide other researchers with access to a multivariable database to facilitate original analyses of dance exposures and health outcomes in adults. In keeping with its research agenda, the Lab will conduct additional studies to investigate how lifetime exposures to dance are related to physical and mental health outcomes in adults of different age groups and with different levels of exposure to dance training. Additional products likely to result from this Lab include: peer-review research journal publications, conference presentations and other research products to coincide with events such as the annual Dance Science Symposium at UMass Amherst and the American College Dance Association Conference, and quarterly newsletter articles that will share the Lab's progress and research findings with the public.

Other Key Personnel

  • Bruna Martins-Klein, PhD
  • Ravi Ranjan, PhD

 


 

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Principal Investigator: Cathlyn Newell

* Monitoring and Improving Systems

Researchers at the University of Michigan will conduct a key research study that focuses on a hypothesis that public art can benefit communities by reducing firearm-related police incidents (and other violent crimes). Researchers will expand a current database of public artworks in residential areas of Detroit to analyze the effects of art installed in public spaces on total firearm crime incidents involving youth under 18. Additional planned studies include: 1) developing and testing a best-practice model for commissioning public artworks, and 2) conducting a cost-benefit analysis of commissioning public art to reduce firearm injury. Products likely to result from this lab include: research and policy briefs, and community engagement opportunities in Detroit via public art projects that seek to reduce firearm incidents. Community partners include City of Detroit City Walls & Blight Abatement Artist Program, Garage Cultural – a community arts education collective, Detroit Science Gallery, The Detroit Collaborative Design Center, and Detroit Cartography/Geography.

Other Key Personnel

  • Marc Zimmerman, PhD
  • Stephanie Tharp, MID
  • Jane Prophet, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Principal Investigator: Kathryn Cullen, PD/PI

* The Arts, Cognition, and Learning

A team of scientists, clinicians, designers, and artists from the University of Minnesota and the university's Weisman Art Museum will collaborate on a research agenda measuring and fostering creativity development in adolescence through arts engagement. In the keystone study, researchers will conduct a community-based participatory study with diverse, underrepresented adolescents who will participate in a creative arts and science program during an academic year. To examine the program's impact on youth outcomes, the team will use qualitative research approaches (i.e., in-depth interviews, observations of participants, arts-based methods) and quantitative ones (i.e., pre- and post-program self-report measures), as well as brain scans, to assess cognitive and social processes in adolescent creativity and arts development. The team will co-develop a study task that can be completed while in an MRI scanner, and which will allow researchers to measure research participants' brain processes while engaging in the task. An additional product will include a Weisman Art Museum showcase of the adolescents' artwork.

Other Key Personnel

  • Yuko Taniguchi, MFA
  • Abimbola Asojo, PhD
  • Mark Fiecas, PhD
  • Ricki Williams

  For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Principal Investigator: Emily Hartlerode

* Monitoring and Improving Systems

Administered by the university's Museum of Natural and Cultural History, Oregon Folklife Network (the state's designated folk and traditional arts program) will study the impacts of Traditional Arts Apprenticeships (TAA) on artists and culture-bearers and the communities they serve, with a near-term goal of improving national data collection and reporting from an equity perspective. The Oregon Folklife Network seeks to answer questions such as: 1) To what degree are community values, as expressed by traditional arts apprentices, similar or different across regions, cultures, and art forms?; 2) To what degree are the community values served by TAA programming goals?; and 3) How can TAA administrative mechanisms be revised to better accommodate those community values?

The lab will start its multi-phase project by transcribing and analyzing previously conducted ethnographic interviews with apprentices from three localities (Oregon, Texas, and New York City). The team of researchers, arts administrators, and previous folk and traditional arts apprentices will use the transcripts to build a classification system of cultural values. Results from this phase will shape future research frameworks, and will produce recommendations on interview techniques that can be used routinely in TAA program delivery. Future research phases will build on results and recommendations from the first phase.

The team will share its findings and resources through a website, conference panels, webinars, and digital reports. Key partners for the lab include Western Arts Federation, Texas Folklife, New York Center for Traditional Music and Dance, Caledonia Northern Folk Studios, American Folklore Society, Alliance for California Traditional Arts, National Council for the Traditional Arts, Preserving America's Cultural Traditions, and Local Learning Network.

Other Key Personnel

  • Deana Dartt, PhD
  • Sergio Alonso
  • Sachindara Navinna
  • Theresa Secord

 


 

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Principal Investigator: James Pawelski, PhD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

In partnership with Philadelphia Museum of Art and researchers at other universities, the Research Lab at University of Pennsylvania will examine the relationship between "immersive" visual arts experiences and psychological well-being. In a field-based experiment, university students will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions lasting several weeks: a museum immersion group (receiving instructions for the "mindful" viewing of artworks in a museum) and a museum non-immersion control group (receiving no specific instructions while visiting a museum. An additional substudy will include real-time assessment of subjects' behaviors and experiences—both in their daily lives and while undergoing one of the two conditions in the field experiment. For several days before and during the experiment, participants will answer questions about their immersive arts experiences and about their emotional states. Additional studies will include the conduct of a nationally representative survey. Part of the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project at the University of Pennsylvania's Positive Psychology Center, the Lab's future projects may entail experimental studies of immersive arts experiences in music, literature, theater, and film.

Other Key Personnel

  • Louis Tay, PhD
  • Ellen Winner, PhD
  • Katherine Cotter, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.


 

University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 
Principal Investigator: Jennifer Bugos, PhD

* The Arts, Cognition, and Learning

Researchers at the University of South Florida will conduct a keystone study that will examine the effects of fine motor learning (piano instruction), gross motor learning (percussion instruction), and no motor learning (music appreciation) in a randomized sample of children, young adults, and older adults. The study will use standardized measures of music achievement, executive functioning, attention, and motor skills assessed prior to participation, as well as at follow-up intervals of one, two, and three months.

Products likely to result from this lab will include peer-reviewed journal publications, as well as a toolkit to be made publicly available on the lab's website. The toolkit will contain research articles, video lessons, student interviews, course materials/manuals, research slides, and developmental teaching strategies. Partners include Kuumba Dancers and Drummers and the Patel Conservatory at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts.

Other Key Personnel

  • Darlene DeMarie, PhD
  • Kyaien Conner, MSW, MPH

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage

 


 

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 
Principal Investigator, Assal Habibi, PhD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

The University of Southern California's Brain and Music Lab will partner with the university's Thornton School of Music and its Alzheimer Disease Research Center to conduct a series of studies examining the effects of music engagement through choir training on hearing, communication, and psychosocial well-being of individuals with or at risk for Alzheimer's disease, and their caregivers. The lab, which corresponds with the NEA research priority topic of "measuring the arts' impacts on health and wellness for individuals," will consider factors such as age, genetic predisposition, socio-economic characteristics, demographic backgrounds, and the caregiver role in relation to the benefits of music engagement on the cognitive and socioemotional well-being of older adults. For the lab's keystone study, a team of interdisciplinary researchers will conduct a randomized-controlled trial of a 16-week music intervention for older adults from diverse backgrounds, with some participants assigned to an experimental group (community choir-singing) and others to a control group (music-listening). Pre- and post-intervention data will be collected from participants through a variety of measurement tools such as electrophysiology, wearable sensors, and psychosocial metrics. Future studies conducted by the lab will identify the effects of choir-singing on emotional stress and quality of life for caregivers of individuals with dementia in particular, and will explore other benefits of co-participation in choir-singing by individuals with dementia and their caregivers. The team will share its findings and resources through a website, academic publications and presentations, and mainstream media outlets; non-technical products will be available in both English and Spanish. The team also hopes to disseminate research and products through the Sound Health Network, a separate NEA initiative in partnership with University of California San Francisco.

Other Key Personnel

  • Bruna Martins-Klein, PhD

 For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
Principal Investigator: Stanislas Renard, DMA, DBA

* The Arts, Economic Growth, and Innovation

University of Texas at San Antonio will partner with the Americans for the Arts to develop an Arts Entrepreneurship Research Lab, which will focus on studying arts incubators to understand the economic potential of artists as non-conventional entrepreneurs and the impact of the digital divide for arts-based entrepreneurs. Researchers will use a mixed-methods approach to assess best practices of national arts incubators as well as assess arts entrepreneurs' digital skills and entrepreneurial skills, artist recognition, and economic impact; as well as incubator output through standardized metrics.

Other Key Personnel

  • Gianluca Zanella, MA
  • Randy Cohen

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
Principal Investigator: Yorel Lashley, PhD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

The University of Wisconsin Community Arts Collaboratory (Arts Collab), in partnership with the Madison Metropolitan School District's Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child Madison program, will conduct mixed-method, waitlist-controlled trials to evaluate social and emotional learning (SEL) outcomes for elementary school students who participate in Arts Collab performing arts programs (dance, creative writing and theater, and drumming). The studies also will measure teacher professional development growth from training in arts integration and SEL. Participating schools include a high percentage of students from marginalized groups, such as students of color, economically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities, and English language learners. Student outcomes of interest include gains in self-efficacy in art skill, coping and discipline, and sense of community/connection. Among teachers, likely outcomes are greater use and understanding of arts integration and SEL, and reductions in student behavior referrals. Products and services likely to result from this Lab include: four regional arts integration symposia permitting teachers, teaching artists, and community educators to engage with the Lab's research findings through hands-on workshops and data/assessment toolkits; a website, a blog, and social media activity; and conference presentations.

Other Key Personnel

  • Kate Corby, MFA
  • Erica Halverson, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
Principal Investigator: Nathaniel Stern, PhD

* The Arts, Economic Growth, and Innovation

To address high unemployment among neurodiverse populations, researchers in art and design, sociology, and mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee will partner with the nonprofit organization, Islands of Brilliance, to create the Autism Brilliance Lab for Entrepreneurship. The keystone study will include a longitudinal analysis of participant outcomes from the Islands of Brilliance program, which offers creativity-focused workshops, mentorships, on-the-job training, consulting, and other programming to help neurodiverse students acquire skills that prepare them to succeed in post-secondary and workplace opportunities. Data sources include online surveys of students and their parents/guardians and mentors, as well as video-recorded observations of student-mentor interactions. Products likely to result from this lab will include academic journal publications, conference presentations, exhibitions, and new, evidence-based programming for job training.

Other Key Personnel

  • Celeste Campos-Castillo, PhD
  • Ilya Avdeev, PhD
  • Mark Fairbanks
  • Jeana Holt, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Principal Investigator: Jennifer Novak-Leonard, PhD

* The Arts, Cognition, and Learning

Supported by the NEA from 2017-2020

The Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, & Public Policy at Vanderbilt University will partner with Northwestern University, the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago and with the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville to develop a NEA Research Lab on “The Arts, Creativity, Cognition, and Learning”. Through the lab, researchers will conduct a nationally representative survey to test the relationship between arts-based creativity and broader types of creativity such as problem-solving, entrepreneurship, and social networking. Furthermore, researchers will conduct a mixed-methods study of Nashville artists to understand how their activities and proclivities intersect with other domains of creativity.

Other Key Personnel

  • Norman Bradburn, PhD

Working paper #1: Literature review in preparation for a nationally representative survey about creativity and the arts

Working paper #2: Investigating artists--domains of creativity and business practices

Working paper #3: Initial findings from a national survey of self-perceptions of creativity

 


 

Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
Principal Investigator: Miriam Lense, PhD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

Vanderbilt University Medical Center will conduct studies in partnership with Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Opera, and VSA Tennessee, the state organization on the arts and disability. One set of studies include a randomized-waitlist control trial of a community-based music program (named SeRenade) designed to foster active engagement of parents and children with autism through shared musical experiences; follow up studies aim to test whether child and parent outcomes vary by treatment type: individual parent-child music training only, SeRenade only, and combining individual training with the SeRenade program. A separate research focus will highlight the impacts of psychoeducational songwriting for the well-being of parents with children who have developmental disabilities. Lab activities are likely to include designing a publicly available, manualized music-based curriculum for children with developmental disabilities and their parents.

Other Key Personnel

  • Pablo Juárez, MEd
  • Mark Wallace, PhD
  • Elizabeth May Dykens, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA
Principal Investigator: Benjamin Knapp, PhD

* The Arts, Economic Growth, and Innovation

In partnership with Leonardo (an international network of transdisciplinary scholars, artists, scientists, technologists, and thinkers), researchers at the Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology (ICAT) will address three questions: a) what is the link between artists (including designers) and broad societal innovation, particularly with regard to economic and job growth?; b) in which industries, sectors, or geographies is arts-driven innovation visible and measurable?; and c) what individual, organizational, or regional characteristics can positively affect the arts' relationship to entrepreneurship and innovation?

The lab will use a mixed-methods research approach to collect evidence of historical and current arts-integrated entrepreneurship and innovation activities. This effort will entail three separate phases of inquiry: a systematic literature review, interviews with businesses nationwide that are incorporating arts-integrated practices; and convenings of leading thinkers and practitioners of arts-based innovation within industries. Data gleaned from these methods will be used to create and evaluate a pilot program that will embed creative professionals within various industries to promote cross-disciplinary collaborations.

Planned lab products will include evidence-based publications and best practices for arts-integrated innovation and a compilation of scholarly articles. Additional partners will include Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (A2RU), the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for Study of Invention and Innovation, and corporate entities.

Other Key Personnel

  • Thomas Martin, PhD
  • Lisa McNair, PhD
  • Diana Ayton-Shenker, LLM
  • Termeh Rassi, MA

  For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.

 


 

West Chester University of Pennsylvania, West Chester, PA
Principal Investigator: Eleanor Brown, PhD

* The Arts, Health, and Well-Being

West Chester University of Pennsylvania, in partnership with research firm WolfBrown, will establish the Research on Equity via the Arts in Childhood (REACH) Lab to advance scientific understanding of how arts experiences may foster positive self-regulation outcomes (both physiological and self-reported outcomes) as well as promote equity for young children facing the effects of poverty, racism, and related forms of adversity. Researchers will examine outcomes of arts participation as related to three different contexts: 1) interactions with caregivers in toddlerhood, 2) pre-school classrooms, and 3) out-of-school instruction following school entry. Research methods to address these questions include correlational, quasi-experimental, and experimental designs featuring a blend of observational systems, laboratory assessments, and neurophysiological measures. The REACH Lab will develop a website, post quarterly blog posts, host a biennial convening, produce research reports, create applied tools with accompanying toolkits, as well as train undergraduate students in rigorous methods for studying the health benefits of arts engagement from a behavioral neuroscience approach. Partnering arts organizations include Settlement Music School, Carnegie Hall, and Play on Philly. Research findings will guide refinement of these partnering organizations' program offerings.

Other Key Personnel

  • Dennie Palmer Wolf, PhD
  • Stephen Holochwost, PhD

For more information and updates on this Lab, see their Research Lab webpage.