From the Field

New NEA Research on Arts Participation and Attendance

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) recently released two reports describing how Americans participate in the arts. First, 50 States of Arts Participation: 2022 is a geographical analysis of the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts with state level findings. The release includes a full report, statistical tables and an interactive map with data describing attendance at live events, reading, arts creation, and consumption of digital art or arts programming. The data shows variations and highlights how people in different states participate in the arts. For example, Vermonters read at the greatest rates when compared to every other state, Utahans attend live performing arts at the greatest rate, Kansans attend movies at the greatest rate, and Wisconsinites create and perform art at the greatest rate.

Additionally, new research from the NEA examines more recent patterns of arts engagement and its relationship to social connectedness. The findings come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey from April to July 2024. Arts Attendance, Art-Making, and Social Connectedness: Spring/Summer 2024 provides a snapshot of arts participation using Census data along with demographic trends to measure the relationship between engagement with arts and feeling socially connected. For example, those who attended live arts events were less likely than non-arts attendees to report feeling more acute levels of loneliness. Future research will analyze the disaggregated data further to identify any potential differences in the impact of arts participation among subgroups.

Consumers Guide to Grants Management Systems

Tech Impact, in partnership with Grantbook, PEAK Grantmaking and Technology Association of Grantmakers, has published its 2024 Consumers Guide to Grants Management Systems. The report details platforms that serve public and private grant-making foundations. It highlights common features in grants management systems software, analyzes the current state of the marketplace and evaluates different systems based on a redeveloped ratings rubric. This most recent edition also standardizes essential “must have” software features, including cloud based systems with a demonstrated client base in the private and family foundation sector.

The Latest Annual National Snapshot of U.S. Museums

The American Alliance of Museums, partnering with Wilkening Consulting, recently released its 2024 Annual National Snapshot of United States Museums survey report. The survey tracks several trends in the museum sector, including developments related to finance, programming, governance and attendance. This year’s survey reflects over 400 responses from museum directors, representing a broad cross-section of the field in geography, size and discipline. Insights from the survey indicate that while the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is improving, the museum sector still needs significant support to address challenges the arts face more broadly.

For instance, half of museums have recovered to 100% or more of their prepandemic attendance levels, an improvement from 2023 when only one-third of museums had fully recovered. However, financial recovery from the damage of the pandemic has been inconsistent, with 19% of museums seeing decreases in net operating performance compared to 2019, 57% experiencing increases, and 24% seeing no change. Moreover, while charitable donations are up, 61% of the respondents report the number of individual donors to their museum has stayed the same or decreased in the past five years. This year’s survey also represents a more robust participation rate, allowing the data to be disaggregated by geographic region, museum discipline, operating expenses and governance type.

2024 D.C. Area Music Census Report

Sound City Music, in conjunction with the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, recently published the DC Music Census report, which details the results of the 2024 survey of the Greater Washington, D.C. area music community and industry. D.C. is one of the inaugural 15 cities and regions partnering with Sound City Music to launch a census. An update to the first DC Music Census in 2019, the census provides a baseline of demographic and economic data in the area to help inform policy that can strengthen and support the music scene.

Echoing both national data and data from other large metropolitan areas, the DC Music Census indicates the music industry significantly contributes to the economy of the D.C. area, generating $63 million annually. Eighty-eight percent of respondents, however, rely on their external jobs for primary income, highlighting the economic challenges in the music industry. More in-depth data and graphics can be found at the census dashboard, including data related to venues, workforce development and music policies.