Checking your Gut

Using data to assess equity

Tuesday, October 23, 10:00am – 11:30am

Organized by Anne Mulgrave, manager of Grants and Accessibility, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council; and Ryan Stubbs, senior director of Research, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

Moderated by Anne Mulgrave, manager of Grants and Accessibility, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. Presented by Ken May, executive director, South Carolina Arts Commission; Ryan Stubbs, senior director of Research, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies; Mitch Swain, CEO, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council; and Amanda Neatrour, WLMP manager, Robert Morris University.

This session will present different tools grantmakers can use to assess equity in their grantmaking. The presenters will share tools to examine equity in grantmaking and how to use data to assess movement toward more equitable distribution in the future. Ryan Stubbs (NASAA) will provide an overview of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies’ work in using data visualizations to better understand how state arts agencies serve diverse populations along with national level findings from this work. Ken May (SCAC) will discuss why this is specifically important to the South Carolina Arts Commission and what they have learned. Next, Mitch Swain and Anne Mulgrave from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council will discuss findings from the report Racial Equity and Arts Funding in Greater Pittsburgh. Anne Mulgrave (GPAC) and members of the ALAANA committee that guided the research will discuss recommendations on ways to gather demographic and cultural data on applicants and how to apply that data in the review process. With these perspectives and tools in mind, presenters will facilitate a conversation on the challenges and benefits of data collection in understanding and improving equity in the arts.