NEA Research Grant: Exploring How Art Works, FY 2015

Official applicant organizations must be nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3), U.S. organizations; units of state or local government; or federally recognized tribal communities or tribes. This may include, but is not limited to, colleges and universities.
See "How to Prepare and Submit an Application" for the documentation that is required to demonstrate eligibility. Ineligible applications will not be reviewed.
For projects that involve multiple organizations, one organization that meets the eligibility requirements below must act as the official applicant, submit the application, and assume full responsibility for the grant. Partnering organizations are not required to meet the same eligibility requirements as the official applicant organization.
To be eligible, the official applicant organization must:
• Meet the Arts Endowment’s "Legal Requirements," including nonprofit, tax-exempt status at the time of application.
• Have three consecutive years of operating history prior to the application deadline.
• Have submitted acceptable Final Report packages by the due date(s) for all Arts Endowment award(s) previously received.

In September 2012, the NEA’s Office of Research & Analysis published its five-year research agenda, supported by a system map and measurement model. Titled How Art Works, the report offers a framework for studying research topics critical to a broader public understanding of the arts’ value and/or impact for individuals and communities.
The How Art Works map (see below) presents several different research areas, each ripe for fresh inquiry. To obtain an accurate understanding of each area of the map, researchers can collect and analyze data on a host of variables. Research areas include the system’s core components of Arts Participation and Arts Creation; the system’s inputs (Arts Infrastructure and Education & Training); and the system’s main outcomes, e.g., cognitive or emotional benefits to individuals, or civic or economic benefits to communities.
The map is not prescriptive. It is intended primarily to communicate to potential applicants a cluster of topics and relationships that the NEA aims to explore.