NEA Research: Art Works, FY2018 | 2018NEAORA

Opportunity Information: Apply for 2018NEAORA

NEA Research: Art Works (FY2018) is a discretionary grant opportunity from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), administered through the NEA Office of Research and Analysis, to support research projects that build credible, public-facing knowledge about the value and impact of the arts for individuals and communities. The grant is designed for studies that align with the NEA research agenda and that help explain how arts engagement and the broader arts ecosystem operate, what influences them, and what outcomes they produce. This opportunity sits within the Arts funding activity category (CFDA 45.024) and reflects the NEA's intent to strengthen evidence that can inform policy, practice, and future investment in arts and culture.

The period of performance is structured to accommodate research timelines. NEA-supported project activity may begin on May 1, 2018, or any time after that start date. Most awards can support up to two years of work, but projects that include primary data collection may request up to three years, recognizing the added time needed for designing instruments, recruiting participants, collecting data, and completing analysis. If a project lasts longer than one year, the grantee must submit an annual progress report, which reinforces ongoing accountability and allows the NEA to track milestones and interim findings. An important restriction is that an organization cannot receive more than one NEA grant for the same project during the same performance period, meaning applicants need to define project scopes clearly and avoid overlapping NEA-funded efforts.

The program framing draws from the NEA's research roadmap. The NEA first published a five-year research agenda in 2012 titled How Art Works, which introduced a system map and measurement model intended to guide rigorous study of how arts experiences and arts systems generate impacts. In December 2016, the research office updated that agenda for 2017-2021 with a sharper emphasis on two core topic areas: Arts Participation and Arts/Cultural Assets. This updated focus signals that the NEA is especially interested in research that either explains how people engage with the arts, or examines the conditions and infrastructure that make arts ecosystems function and thrive.

Within Arts Participation, the NEA defines participation broadly and includes multiple ways people engage with art and culture. That includes attending arts events, reading literature, creating or performing art, consuming art through electronic media, and learning in the arts. In other words, the NEA is not limiting research to ticketed attendance or traditional venues; it is explicitly open to studying active creation, informal engagement, and digitally mediated participation. Arts/Cultural Assets refers to the supply-side and infrastructure of the arts, such as artists and arts workers, venues and platforms where art is presented or distributed, and the organizations and industries that support arts production and access. Research under this umbrella can examine how these assets are developed, sustained, connected, and affected by policy, economics, demographics, technology, and community conditions.

The NEA highlights several kinds of research questions it wants to see addressed. One major line of inquiry is identifying factors that enhance or inhibit arts participation or arts and cultural assets. This could include barriers like cost, transportation, disability access, time constraints, geographic isolation, or uneven distribution of cultural infrastructure, as well as enablers such as education, community programming, social networks, technology platforms, or local investment. Another priority is producing more detailed descriptions of arts participation and arts/cultural assets and understanding how they relate to one another, for example how the presence of venues or arts organizations influences participation patterns, or how different modes of engagement cluster across populations and places.

The opportunity also emphasizes outcomes research at both the individual and societal levels. At the individual level, the NEA is interested in outcomes associated with social and emotional well-being, creativity, cognition and learning, and physiological processes tied to health and healing. This signals openness to studies spanning education, psychology, public health, and related fields, as long as the research is clearly tied to arts participation and produces meaningful, interpretable evidence. At the community or societal level, the NEA points to outcomes such as civic and corporate innovation, neighborhood and business attraction, and national or state-level economic growth. In practice, this can include research on how arts assets contribute to community vitality, talent attraction, business development, entrepreneurship, or broader economic indicators, again with the expectation that the work is methodologically sound and contributes new insight rather than simply asserting benefit.

In terms of who can apply, eligibility is broad and includes many types of public and nonprofit entities. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; and nonprofit organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education in that particular nonprofit category). The award ceiling listed for this opportunity is $100,000, positioning it as a targeted research grant that can support a defined study, pilot, or focused multi-year project rather than a large-scale research center. The original application closing date for this funding round was October 17, 2017, and the opportunity was created on August 4, 2017.

Overall, this grant opportunity is best understood as NEA support for research that clarifies what drives arts engagement, how arts ecosystems are structured, and what measurable outcomes can be linked to participation and cultural assets. It encourages projects that contribute to the national evidence base on arts and culture, with defined timelines (generally up to two years, or up to three with primary data collection), reporting expectations for longer projects, and clear limits on duplicative funding for the same project.

• The National Endowment for the Arts in the arts sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NEA Research: Art Works, FY2018" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 45.024.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-08-04.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-10-17. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $100,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for 2018NEAORA

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: