Webinar: The National Endowment for the Arts Announces Research Grant Funding Opportunity

As the federal agency of record on arts research, the National Endowment for the Arts is doing its part to invest in new arts research with the latest Research: Art Works grant funding opportunity. This program supports research for projects that investigate the value and impact of the arts on individuals and communities. Prospective applicants can learn about the grant process at an upcoming NEA grant guidelines webinar on September 9, 2015 at 3:00 PM ET. Register in advance. An archive of the webinar will be available on the NEA's website in the webinar section shortly after the event. The deadline for submitting an application is October 20, 2015.

Research: Art Works funding opportunity

The NEA is interested in research which will measure or clarify one or more factors, characteristics, and conditions of the U.S. arts ecosystem, as well as research which will investigate the direct and indirect benefits of arts participation on health and well-being, cognitive capacity, learning, creativity, community livability, or economic prosperity. Previous NEA funded research papers can be found at arts.gov.

Some of the most compelling research on the value and the impact of the arts comes from other fields, such cognitive neuroscience research on the arts’ role in brain function, or urban planning research on the links between the arts and community vitality. In this spirit, the NEA Research: Art Works grant program encourages applications from diverse research fields, such as, sociology, economics, psychology, medicine and health, education, and urban and regional planning) and research partnerships between arts practitioners and researchers in addition to projects that address topics on the value and/or impact of the arts.

Projects may include, but are not limited to:

• Primary and/or secondary data analyses;
• Psychological studies that take place in clinical or non-clinical settings;
• Third-party evaluations of an arts program's effectiveness and impact;
• Statistically-driven meta-analyses of existing research so as to provide a fresh understanding of the value and/or impact of the arts;
• Studies that address economic impact;
• 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.

The NEA anticipates awarding up to 20 grants in the range of $10,000 to $30,000. The deadline for application submission is October 20, 2015 for projects that can begin as early as May 1, 2016. Eligible organizations are U.S-based organizations that are nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3); units of state or local government; or federally recognized tribal communities or tribes. This may include, but is not limited to, colleges and universities. More NEA Research: Art Works grant application information and guidelines can be found at http://arts.gov/grants-organizations/research-art-works. For technical assistance on NEA Research: Art Works grants, contact nearesearchgrants@arts.gov.