Deadline: 25-Mar-24
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is currently accepting applications for the Research Grants in the Arts.
Research Grants in the Arts support research studies that investigate the value and/or impact of the arts, either as individual components of the U.S. arts ecosystem or as they interact with each other and/or with other domains of American life.
Priority Topics
- The NEA welcomes research proposals that align with at least one of the priority topics and possible questions within the agency’s FY 2022-2026 research agenda. The priority topics, in brief, are listed below:
- What are measurable impacts of the arts on the following outcome areas: health and wellness for individuals; cognition and learning; and U.S. economic growth and innovation? Under what conditions do such impacts occur, through what mechanisms, and for which populations and/or sectors?
- In what ways do the arts contribute to the healing and revitalization of communities? What factors mediate these contributions, and for the benefit of which populations? What are common elements of such programs or practices, and what are appropriate measures of success?
- What is the state of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the arts? What progress has been made in achieving these outcomes for arts administration, employment, learning, and participation? What are some promising practices and/or replicable strategies in these domains, and what are appropriate measures of success?
- How is the U.S. arts ecosystem (e.g., arts organizations and venues, artists and arts workers, and participants and learners) adapting and responding to social, economic, and technological changes and challenges to the sector, including trends accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic? What are promising practices and/or replicable strategies for responding to such forces, for different segments of the arts ecosystem?
Funding Information
- They anticipate awarding 10 to 20 grants, based on the availability of funding.
- Grants will range from $20,000 to $100,000.
- For projects that will involve minimal or no primary data collection as part of the project budget, they anticipate making awards in the $20,000-$50,000 range. Projects that include primary data collection as a robust component of the project are eligible for awards between $20,000 and $100,000.
- For requests between $50,000 and $100,000, priority will be given to projects that present theory-driven and evidence-based research questions and methodologies.
- They will award very few grants at or above the $50,000 level; they anticipate these projects to be capable of significant scale and impact.
Period of Performance
- The support of a project may start on or after January 1, 2025. Grants generally may cover a period of performance of up to three years.
Projects and Research Methods
- They welcome applications from diverse research fields (e.g., economics; psychology; education; sociology; medicine, health, and therapy; communications; business administration; urban and regional planning). They expect the funded projects will be diverse in terms of geographical distribution, the artistic and research fields or disciplines involved, and the research topics proposed. They also expect the projects to reflect an array of study designs.
- Accordingly, applicants may propose research projects drawing from a range of study designs. In recent years, the NEA has supported a growing cohort of studies that hypothesize a cause-effect relationship between the arts and key outcomes of interest (e.g., in health, education, or the economy). For projects seeking to explore causal claims about the arts, experimental approaches (e.g., randomized controlled trials) are generally preferred. Where experimental approaches are not feasible, then high-quality, quasi-experimental study designs offer an attractive alternative for impact studies about the arts.
- In many cases, however, other or different study designs will be preferable. These designs may include, but are not limited to, case studies, complex surveys, mixed methods, and meta-analyses. In particular, they encourage community-based participatory research approaches, where warranted by the research objective. Program evaluations also are eligible for funding.
- The NEA research agenda states that, through these awards, the agency will “incentivize the creation of practitioner tools grounded in research.” In keeping with this aim, they especially welcome translational research that moves scientific evidence toward the development, testing, and standardization of new arts-related programs, practices, models, or tools that can be used easily by other practitioners and researchers.
Eligibility Criteria
- The lead applicant organization must be a:
- Nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3), U.S. organization;
- Unit of state or local government; or
- Federally recognized tribal communities or tribe.
- Colleges and universities that fall under one of these three categories may serve as the lead applicant organization.
- 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 eligibility requirements below.
- To be eligible as the lead applicant, the organization must:
- Meet the NEA’s “Legal Requirements,” including nonprofit, tax-exempt status at the time of application. (All organizations must apply directly on their own behalf. Applications through a fiscal sponsor/agent are not allowed. See more information on fiscal sponsors/agents.)
- Have completed a three-year history of operations prior to the application deadline.
- All applicants must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), be registered with the System for Award Management, and maintain an active SAM.gov registration from the time of application throughout the life of the award, should a grant be made.
Ineligible
- The following are not eligible to apply as the lead applicant organization:
- The designated 50 state and six jurisdictional arts agencies (SAAs) and their regional arts organizations (RAOs). SAAs and RAOs may serve as partners in projects. However, they may not receive NEA funds (except as provided through their designated grant programs), and SAA/RAO costs may not be included as part of the required cost share/match. SAAs and RAOs are eligible to apply for NEA funds through the Partnership Agreements guidelines.
- An organization whose primary purpose is to channel resources (financial, human, or other) to an affiliated organization if the affiliated organization also submits its own application. This prohibition applies even if each organization has its own 501(c)(3) status. For example, the “Friends of ABC Museum” may not apply if the ABC Museum applies.
For more information, visit NEA.