Curating the Researcher-Practitioner Relationship

How Arts Funders Can Align Partnerships to Build Knowledge about Impact

Tuesday, October 18, 10:00am – 11:30am

Organized by Sunil Iyengar, Director, Office of Research & Analysis, National Endowment for the Arts.

Presented by Sunil Iyengar, Director, Office of Research & Analysis, National Endowment for the Arts; Bronwyn Mauldin, Director, Research & Evaluation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission; and Vivien Niblett, Senior Officer, Policy & Research, Arts Council England.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Arts Council England (ACE), and Los Angeles County Arts Commission are fostering cross-sector partnerships that bring empirical methods and data to questions of cultural practice. In doing so, the agencies use similar, but different, approaches. Through NEA Research Labs and grants, NEA stimulates researcher-practitioner collaborations in diverse fields to examine the arts’ benefits. ACE’s new research grants program requires cultural organizations to be lead applicants, recruiting researchers as partners. Meanwhile on a local level, LA County Arts Commission has used research to grapple with questions of capacity building and cultural equity and inclusion – thus creating dynamic relationships that make research available for decision making by practitioners. This session will discuss how academic/corporate researchers can become vital partners in advancing knowledge for cultural providers to engage more fully with other sectors and with other segments of society.