National Endowment for the Arts

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS PRESENTS LIVE WEBCAST OF ITS CULTURAL WORKFORCE FORUM ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009

The public is invited to watch a discussion of how art works as part of the real economy

On Friday, November 20, 2009, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will present a live webcast on www.arts.gov of a forum about America’s artists and other cultural workers who are part of this country’s real economy. Academics, foundation professionals, and service organization representatives will come together to discuss improving the collection and reporting of statistics about arts and cultural workers, and to develop future research agendas and approaches

9:00 a.m   Opening Remarks and introductions

Joan Shigekawa, NEA Senior Deputy Chairman and Sunil Iyengar, NEA Director of Research & Analysis

9:30 a.m.   Panel One: What We Know About Artists and How We Know It

NEA Research on Artists in the Workforce

Tom Bradshaw, NEA Research Officer

Artist Labor Markets

Greg Wassall, associate professor, Department of Economics, Northeastern University

Artist Careers

Joan Jeffri, director, Research Center for Arts and Culture, Teachers College, Columbia University

Artist Research: Union Perspectives

David Cohen, executive director, Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO

11:00 a.m.   Panel Two: Putting the Research to Work

Cultural Vitality: Investing in Creativity

Maria Rosario Jackson, senior research associate, The Urban Institute

Artists and the Economic Recession

Judilee Reed, executive director, Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC)

Teaching Artists Research Project

Nick Rabkin, Teaching Artists Research Project, National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago

Strategic National Arts Alumni Project

Steven Tepper, associate director, the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy, Vanderbilt University

1:20 p.m.     Panel Three: Widening the Lens to Capture Other Cultural Workers

Artists in the Greater Cultural Economy

Ann Markusen, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota

Creative Class: Who’s in, Who’s out?

Tom Bradshaw, NEA Research Officer

American Community Survey: An Emerging Data Set

Jennifer Day, assistant division chief, Employment Characteristics of the Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, United States Census Bureau

2:20 p.m.   Comments and questions from panel participants

3:00 p.m.   Discussion: Summary and Recommendations for Future Research

Moderated by Sunil Iyengar and Tom Bradshaw
Lead discussants: Holly Sidford, president, Helicon Collaborative and Paul DiMaggio, professor, Department of Sociology, Princeton University

4:30 p.m.   Adjournment

N.B. There will be 15-minute breaks at 10:45 a.m. and 2:50 p.m.; and an hour break for lunch at 12:15 p.m.

In addition to the above presenters, the following respondents will participate in the NEA Cultural Workforce Forum:

Randy Cohen, vice president of local arts advancement, Americans for the Arts
Deirdre Gaquin, consultant
Angela Han, director of research, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
Ruby Lerner, president, Creative Capital Foundation
Judilee Reed, executive director, Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC)
Carrie Sandahl, associate professor, Department of Disability and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago
Mary Jo Waits, director, Social, Economic & Workforce Programs Division, National Governors Association

An archive of the event will be available on www.arts.gov the week following the forum.

CONTACT: For media queries, contact Sally Gifford at 202- 682-5606 or giffords@arts.gov.

About the National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the largest annual national funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.

For more than 30 years, the NEA Office of Research & Analysis has produced reliable and nationally representative research on significant topics affecting artists and arts organizations. The NEA is the only federal agency to conduct long-term and detailed analyses of arts participation.

Visit the NEA website for more information.