Research Lab

Get a quick snapshot of some of the research and evaluation work we’re doing. Scroll down or choose from one of these categories.

Report and Documentary Highlight Benefits of Artworks for Civic Engagement Four Projects in South LA Represent Shift Towards “Art As Infrastructure”
Artist Sandy Rodriguez was placed as an artist in residence at the Recuperative Care Center at the Martin Luther King Medical Campus in Willowbrook, CA, in 2016/17. This residency was part of a $1.6 million investment in Civic Art funded through the LA County Percent for Art policy. A final evaluation report on the residency is available now.
On Saturday, April 22, 2017, nearly 150 participants, speakers, volunteers, and observers assembled in downtown LA to spend the day exploring how data can be used to improve access to the arts for all ten million residents of Los Angeles County. This report tells the story of what we did, and provides a toolkit for others who want to do their own datathon.
This report outlines the Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative, an 18-month public process that led to the development of 13 recommendations to the LA County Board of Supervisors to ensure that everyone in LA County has equitable access to arts and culture, and to improve inclusion in the wider arts ecology for all residents in every community. 
Recent research has found that across the US, arts audiences are declining, while arts participation is on the rise. How can both be true at the same time? This review of the literature on Public Engagement in the Arts explores this question.
This literature review provides background information on how others have addressed how to improve diversity, cultural equity, and inclusion in the arts and culture sector, with a particular focus on boards of directors, the arts and culture workforce, audiences and programming, and culturally specific arts organizations.