Boise State University will receive a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab award of $125,000. This grant will support the Place, Arts and Cultural Systems Lab.
This grant is one of four new research labs the National Endowment for the Arts is supporting that 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.
The Place, Arts and Cultural Systems Lab investigates how arts and cultural districts support communities using a national survey and case studies in the Intermountain West and Industrial Midwest. Arts and cultural districts are widespread: the lab seeks to understand barriers to and best practices for making those districts accessible and drivers of economic and social innovation
“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support this Research Lab from Boise State University, part of the NEA’s investment in exploring the value and impact of the arts,” National Endowment for the Arts Director of Research and Analysis Sunil Iyengar said. “The NEA’s Research Labs are an important component of our agency’s goal of understanding the factors, conditions and characteristics of our country’s arts ecosystem and the many ways the arts can impact other areas of American life.”
The lab will both learn from and serve district organizations and neighbors by creating a typology and national public database of arts and cultural districts characteristics; identifying good practices for different district types, geographies and capacities; and developing and sharing a flexible arts and cultural district toolkit for communities with a range of resources and needs.
“We’re thrilled to receive this highly competitive award to accelerate our research in the School of Public Service and the School of the Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences,” Director of the School of Arts and principal investigator Amanda Ashley said. “We’re particularly excited to have an excellent set of research and community partners at the local, regional and national level.”
Boise State University is partnering with Cleveland State University, University of Arizona and Wayne State University on this research collaboration.
“Our NEA Lab is an outgrowth of a multi-year, interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration catalyzed by Boise State’s Division of Research and Economic Development,” Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and co-principal investigator Leslie Durham said. “I’m grateful for that past support and absolutely delighted and honored that the NEA is funding the new work of the lab.”