{"id":1796,"date":"2015-01-13T16:38:14","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T00:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=1796"},"modified":"2015-01-13T16:38:14","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T00:38:14","slug":"new-research-from-the-nea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2015\/01\/new-research-from-the-nea\/","title":{"rendered":"New research from the NEA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/whirlwind-computer.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1233\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/whirlwind-computer-300x185.jpg\" alt=\"what are the data telling us?\" width=\"300\" height=\"185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/whirlwind-computer-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/whirlwind-computer.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>New research on arts participation and economics <a href=\"http:\/\/arts.gov\/news\/2015\/surprising-findings-three-new-nea-reports-arts#sthash.bTAbv525.dpf\">has been released<\/a> by the National Endowment for the Arts. I won&#8217;t try to summarize everything there, just a few comments:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Two of the reports are on participation: one asks about <a href=\"http:\/\/arts.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2012-sppa-jan2015-rev.pdf\">who participates in what<\/a>, the other asks people about <a href=\"http:\/\/arts.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/when-going-gets-tough.pdf\">why they participated<\/a>. The data will be interesting for researchers willing to dig: what relationships are buried in those survey numbers beyond what is on the surface? I see each of these reports as a spark to future studies. For example, although the participation data is broken down into four-or-five state regions, it would be really interesting to compare by city or metro, and ask &#8216;all things equal, how does participation vary with assorted urban environments?&#8217;<\/li>\n<li>I have more confidence in the &#8216;who participates&#8217; data than the &#8216;why participate&#8217; data. The former asks a question with a straightforward answer &#8211; &#8216;did you go to a live performance last year or not?&#8217; &#8211; there will be <em>some<\/em> error in the data, people are forgetful after all, but it should be fairly accurate. But the latter asks about motives, whether &#8216;why did you go to the museum?&#8217;, or, in a more complex set of questions, for those who said they were &#8216;interested&#8217; in some exhibition or performance but in the end did not attend, &#8216;why not?&#8217;. Here the reported results need to be recognized for what they are, with people able to give answers that they think &#8216;sound right&#8217;, but are not based upon <em>actions<\/em> that either happened or didn&#8217;t. Intuitively I trust the result that the interested-but-did-not-attend people were more turned off by not having the time rather than not having the money (a simple look at relative prices, valuing the time cost at the person&#8217;s wage rate, would confirm that for the majority of people interested in the arts the time cost is likely to exceed the ticket cost). But I don&#8217;t want to say the survey is accurate just because it confirms my prior beliefs!<\/li>\n<li>The third study is an interesting partnership with the Bureau of Economic Analysis, looking at the <a href=\"http:\/\/arts.gov\/artistic-fields\/research-analysis\/arts-data-profiles\/arts-data-profile-6\/arts-data-profile-6\">arts contribution to the economy as a whole<\/a>. Note that the &#8216;arts&#8217; here is more broadly defined &#8211; broadcasting, movies, advertising, publishing and retail trade are all included, with broadcasting and film being much larger than traditional arts. Still, good to begin to consider the arts sector along side all the others, for comparisons on growth rates over time.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/arts.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/ADP6-6_Impact_New_Demand_Arts.pdf\">Et tu, NEA<\/a>? &#8216;Economic impact&#8217; and &#8216;multipliers&#8217;? Argh. Here&#8217;s the thing: the numbers on the arts as % of GDP, employment, and capital investments have a logic to them &#8211; we know what the terms mean (even if we disagree about who ought to count as an &#8217;employee&#8217; in the arts and cultural sector, we understand what an &#8217;employee&#8217; is). But when the report claims &#8216;<em>every $1 increase in the demand for arts and culture generates $1.69 in total output; for every job created from new demand for the arts, an additional 1.62 positions are also created<\/em>&#8216;, I don&#8217;t know what that means. Where does the initial &#8216;increase in the demand for arts and culture&#8217; come from? A reduction in demand for other goods and services? What happened in those sectors as a consequence? An increase in government funding for the arts? Where did the government funds come from? Who paid the taxes, and how did it affect them? &#8216;Economic impact&#8217; numbers move us from generally accepted, clearly defined economic variables into a fog. The new work with the BEA is a great new thing; next time, let&#8217;s skip the multipliers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New research on arts participation and economics has been released by the National Endowment for the Arts. I won&#8217;t try to summarize everything there, just a few comments: Two of the reports are on participation: one asks about who participates in what, the other asks people about why they participated. The data will be interesting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-issues","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/whirlwind-computer.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-sY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1119,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/03\/a-cautionary-note-on-the-social-and-economic-value-of-the-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1796,"position":0},"title":"A Cautionary Note on the Social and Economic Value of the Arts","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Arts Council England has released a new report on The Value of Arts and Culture to People and Society: An Evidence Review. What to make of it? From the foreword by the Chair of the Council, Sir Peter Bazalgette: Of course the inherent value of arts and culture is, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"think of the grandchildren","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/keynes4-300x290.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1516,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/09\/wellbeing-and-how-to-fund-the-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1796,"position":1},"title":"Wellbeing and how to fund the arts","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"September 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Via The Stage, what arts funding should have priority? The (UK) All-Party Parliamentary Group on Wellbeing Economics has released a report recommending that changes in the wellbeing of individuals ought to be the central concern of policy, beyond calculations of narrower economic measures such as are at the core of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Aye, that's wellbeing!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/jimmy-shand.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/jimmy-shand.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/jimmy-shand.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3626,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2024\/11\/a-dialogue-on-the-nature-of-arts-participation\/","url_meta":{"origin":1796,"position":2},"title":"A dialogue on the nature of arts participation","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"November 10, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was a child we had some really old Peanuts paperbacks, now long lost, and for reasons unknown - some spirit knew I would end up in cultural policy? - this one stuck in my head, practically verbatim. Anyway, from April 6, 1958, thank you Mr. Schulz.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG_5196.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG_5196.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG_5196.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1025,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/02\/nea-funding-and-the-ecological-fallacy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1796,"position":3},"title":"NEA funding and the ecological fallacy","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The SMU study has a serious problem","rel":"","context":"In &quot;issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"rich town poor town doesn't matter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/openingnight.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2234,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2017\/11\/about-that-arts-council-england-economic-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":1796,"position":4},"title":"About that Arts Council England economic report","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"November 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been away from the blog for a while, but I just can't keep myself away from economic impact studies of the arts. The latest is from Arts Council England - you can read the report here. Three things: First, the goals of the study are not clear. Britain's Office\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"now multiply by 2.77 precisely","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/abacus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/abacus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/abacus.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2861,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2023\/03\/artists-guaranteed-income-and-how-to-do-arts-policy-analysis\/","url_meta":{"origin":1796,"position":5},"title":"Artists&#8217; guaranteed income, and how to do arts policy analysis","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times reports on how the Irish experiment in giving some randomly selected artists a small guaranteed income (while also observing a control group of artists not included in the program) is going: Lydia Mulvey, 47, a screenwriter, said that she quit her job in a telecommunications firm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1796"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1799,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1796\/revisions\/1799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}