Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council to Receive $10,000 Research Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
Pittsburgh – January 10, 2023 — The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council is pleased to announce it has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to receive a Research Grant in the Arts award of $10,000. This grant will support the Arts Council’s second round of racial equity and arts funding research as an update to its 2018 report, “Racial Equity and Arts Funding in Greater Pittsburgh.” The 2018 report’s conclusion was that the overall picture is one of continuing disparities in arts funding by race.
The Southwest Pennsylvania arts funding community has undergone many changes over the past five years, and this project would 1) explore how and in what ways the Southwest Pennsylvania philanthropic community has addressed racial inequity in funding outcomes, 2) measure the impact of their efforts, and 3) shed light on examples of successful tactics that could be reproduced elsewhere in the field. To guide this work, the Arts Council once again plans to engage a majority BIPOC Learning and Leadership Committee representing a diversity of roles, experiences, and identities from the arts, culture, and funding communities.
"We're extremely pleased to receive this NEA research grant,” said Arts Council CEO Mitch Swain. “The Arts Council has made a long-term commitment to the importance of research and using data to make decisions and recommend policies. We competed against some of the best research institutions across the United States, and it reaffirms our 2018 commitment to research how funding is awarded, uncover inequities, recommend equitable practices, and understand how things operate five years later. I'm very proud of our team for winning this award."
In total, the NEA will award 20 Research Grants in the Arts for a total of $1.075 million in funding to support a broad range of arts-related studies, many of which strive to understand how factors related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility can improve the efficacy of arts management and cultural policies.
“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support this project from Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, part of the NEA’s investment in studies that explore the value and impact of the arts,” said Director of Research & Analysis Sunil Iyengar. “Research studies such as this one are key to our agency’s goal of understanding the factors, conditions, and characteristics of our country’s arts ecosystem and the many ways the arts can impact other areas of American life.”
For more information on other projects included in the NEA’s grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news. Visit arts.gov/impact/research to explore more of the NEA’s work in research and analysis, including the agency’s five-year research agenda; in-depth reports and analyses of research topics in the arts; collections of statistics, graphics, and summary results from data-mining about the arts; and more.
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