GIA’s Annual Research on Support for Arts and Culture

In an upcoming article for the GIA Reader, the latest edition of GIA’s funder snapshot will include Foundation Grants to Arts and Culture, 2022, based on the most recent completed year of Candid. data, and Public Funding for the Arts, 2023, prepared by the National Assembly of State Art Agencies (NASAA). How have things changed since the last GIA funder snapshots in February and October 2024, and what can we look forward to for 2025?

Join us on January 23 to hear from Steven Lawrence (Steven Lawrence Consulting), Nakyung Rhee (National Assembly of State Arts Agencies), Mohja Rhoads (National Assembly of State Arts Agencies), and Ryan Stubbs (National Assembly of State Arts Agencies). They will share a summary of key findings and insights into what these findings reveal about the current arts grantmaking environment, as well as an introduction to what we can expect for the new year.

A GIA Reader post summarizing their findings will be available in January 2024. We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, February 11 at 2pm EST/11am EST for this 60-minute presentation.

Live captioning will be available in English throughout the webinar. For additional accommodation requests, please contact GIA Program Manager Jaime Sharp, at least three (3) business days prior to the event.

Presenters

Steven Lawrence, Independent Consultant

Steven Lawrence partners with funders, philanthropy-serving organizations, nonprofits, and others to develop the knowledge they need to make well-informed, strategic decisions. An expert on trends in U.S. and global philanthropy, he offers deep experience in creating custom research and learning resources, including landscape analyses, surveys, interview studies, and more. Throughout his career, Steven has led ground-breaking research on philanthropic support for priorities such as human rights, social justice, health equity, education reform, peace and security, and mission investing.

Mohja Rhoads, PhD, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

Mohja has extensive experience in planning research and policy. Prior to joining NASAA, she worked as a researcher studying telework and big data applications for transportation in partnership with California State Dominguez Hills, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and the University of Southern California (USC). As the senior research associate for The South Bay Cities Council of Governments, Mohja developed a South Bay greenhouse gas emissions tool and climate action plan for the South Bay using 10 years of data from several large-scale electric vehicle programs and local surveys. She has an M.A. in urban planning from UCLA and a Ph.D. in planning, policy and development from USC. Mohja loves everything about the arts. She plays the ukulele, sings and writes.

Nakyung Rhee, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

Nakyung Rhee joined NASAA in 2020 as a part-time research fellow and became a research associate in 2021. She works as part of the research team to create compelling data visualizations, conduct surveys, manage and analyze data, and communicate findings relevant to state arts agency budgets, staffing, grants, and NASAA internal evaluations. Nakyung is a researcher and arts administrator, specializing in arts management and cultural policy analysis. Her core research interest is in the arts and health, aiming at improving communication in multidisciplinary collaborations in the arts and/for/in other areas. Within the broad domain, her theoretical work focuses on creative aging for lifelong arts engagement and learning across all ages, with an emphasis on the instrumental and instructional values of the arts. Nakyung has worked as an independent researcher assisting nonprofit arts organizations in research and data management. She previously served as a program associate/research specialist for Snow City Arts, a nonprofit organization that provides arts and educational programs to children in hospitals in Chicago. Nakyung majored in business administration and minored in art history at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea. She holds her M.A. and Ph.D. in arts administration, education and policy from the Ohio State University, with specialization in cultural policy and arts management, museum education and administration, and aging studies. 

Ryan Stubbs, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

Ryan Stubbs oversees NASAA’s data collection and research services. In this role, he directs NASAA’s tracking of public funding for the arts and its work as the national repository of state arts agency grantmaking data. Stubbs represents state arts agencies and NASAA at state, regional, and NASAA research forums and is NASAA’s primary research liaison to federal agencies, foundations, consultants, and scholars conducting research on public support for the arts. In his prior position, Stubbs served as director of research for the Western States Arts Federation, where he conducted analysis of arts-related economic data and implemented web-based research tools. He holds master’s degrees in public administration and urban and regional planning from the University of Colorado, Denver.