Good Afternoon,

Guidelines are now available for two funding programs offered through the National Endowment for the Arts' Office of Research & Analysis: Research Grants in the Arts and NEA Research Labs. More information and links can be found in the synopsis below:

National Endowment for the Arts Research Awards

Informational Webinar: February 6, 2023 at 2:00PM

FAS/OSP Deadline: March 20, 2023

Sponsor Deadline: March 27, 2023

Award Amount: $20,000-$100,000 for Research Grants; $100,000-$150,000 for NEA Research Labs. Grants cannot exceed 50% of the total cost of the project. All grants require a nonfederal cost share/match of at least 1 to 1.

The National Endowment for the Arts invites applicants to engage with the agency’s five-year research agenda through two funding opportunities for research projects:

Research Grants in the Arts fund research studies that investigate the value and/or impact of the arts, either as individual components of the U.S. arts ecology or as they interact with each other and/or with other domains of American life. The NEA welcomes research proposals that address priority topics described 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?
  
  

NEA Research Labs fund transdisciplinary research teams grounded in the social and behavioral sciences, yielding empirical insights about the arts for the benefit of arts and non-arts sectors alike. Through this program, NEA is cultivating transdisciplinary research partnerships that are producing research findings and evidence-based tools of value not only to arts practitioners, but also to non-arts sectors such as healthcare, education, and business or management. The NEA Research Labs program offers grant funding for longer-term research agendas. These agendas will include multiple research studies and activities that build and inform the field throughout the life of an NEA Research Lab. 

Each NEA Research Lab will design a transdisciplinary research agenda, conduct project activities to execute that agenda, and prepare and disseminate reports and other products or services that will contribute substantively to a wider understanding of one of the following research areas of special interest to the NEA:

• Measuring the Impacts of the Arts:
• On U.S. Economic Growth, and/or Innovation
• On Cognition and Learning
• On Health and Wellness for Individuals
• Monitoring and Improving Systems:
• Community Health and/or Revitalization
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Arts
• Other Aspects of the Arts Ecology
  
  

Informational Webinar: The NEA will conduct a live webinar on February 6, at 2:00PM Eastern Time (ET) featuring an overview presentation followed by a Q&A session. Register for the webinar; an archived recording will be added to the Applicant Resources page.

Questions about this announcement may be directed to Erin Hale (erin_hale@fas.harvard.edu) or Susan Gomes (sgomes@fas.harvard.edu).