New Research from Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council Finds Racial Inequities in Arts Funding
The distribution of arts and culture funding in Greater Pittsburgh is racially inequitable, according to a newly released research report from The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council.
A Second Look: Racial Equity and Arts Funding in Greater Pittsburgh, supported in part by a National Endowments for the Arts’ research grant, is a 5-year follow-up to the Arts Council’s 2018 Racial Equity and Arts Funding in Greater Pittsburgh report and explores if, how, and in what ways arts grantmaking in Greater Pittsburgh has progressed toward distributive justice.
While there have been marginal improvements compared to the findings in 2018, A Second Look: Racial Equity and Arts Funding in Greater Pittsburgh shows significant gaps remain.
"The findings from this research report are striking, but the data simply echo realities felt and expressed by Global Majority arts leaders for years,” according to Project Director Morgan Kasprowicz, Director of Research and Cultural Policy at the Arts Council. “When we’ve transformed the role of data in this issue to seek and harness it for self-accountability, rather than require it as a burden of proof, that will signal real appetite for change."
Jazzspace Consulting, a Black-owned, woman-led Pittsburgh-based nonprofit consulting firm, served as the project’s research consultant. The research was also guided by the Learning and Leadership Committee, an advisory committee of Global Majority arts leaders, artists, culture bearers, and creative entrepreneurs who were selected after a public nomination process and votes from returning 2018 Learning and Leadership Committee members.
In total, the research team analyzed over 11,000 grants made to almost 500 local organizations by nearly 200 local and national funding organizations between fiscal years 2018 and 2023. Internal policy and practice data was also collected from 17 local and state funding organizations.
“The Arts Council honors the labor and intellect that was contributed by the community members who helped shape this initiative,” says Arts Council CEO Patrick Fisher. “As a grantmaking organization, we included ourselves in the analysis and we are taking seriously what the data says about our grantmaking programs. I encourage all funders who contributed their data to this initiative to do similarly.”
In addition to publishing an extensive summary of findings, including a visual breakdown of highlighted data in easy-to-read figures and charts, A Second Look: Racial Equity and Arts Funding in Greater Pittsburgh also includes recommendations for how philanthropic leaders, staff, and researchers can pursue and enact racial equity in grantmaking outcomes.
“The data released through our 2024 report again tells a narrative that a resolution to this systemic issue has evaded our community,” adds Fisher. “The Greater Pittsburgh region has a strong history of philanthropy, and I believe we have the knowledge, resources, tools, and talent to employ this data to help rectify funding inequities.”
To view the report, visit pittsburghartscouncil.org/research.
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