Gifts of the Muse
Reframing the Debate About the Benefits of the Arts
by: Kevin F. McCarthy, Elizabeth H. Ondaatje, Laura Zakaras, and Arthur Brooks
Preface:
Understanding the benefits of the arts is central to the discussion and design of policies affecting the arts.
This study addresses the widely perceived need to articulate the private and public benefits of involvement in the arts.
The findings are intended to engage the arts community and the public in a new dialogue about the value of the arts, to stimulate further research, and to help public and private policymakers reach informed decisions.
Recent policy debates about the arts—their role in society, how they should be funded, whether they are thriving or suffering—have been hampered by limitations in available data and the absence of a developed body of rigorous and independent research on the arts.
Over the last several years, the RAND Corporation has been building a body of research on the arts to help inform public policy.
In a series of reports on the performing arts, the media arts, and the visual arts, RAND researchers have been describing what is known—and not known—about the ecology of the arts, including recent trends in public involvement, numbers and types of arts organizations,
sources and levels of financial support, and numbers and employment circumstances of artists working in different fields.RAND researchers have also examined how to build participation in the arts and whether partnerships between arts
organizations and schools in California’s Los Angeles School District are working effectively.In addition, ongoing research is being conducted to analyze innovative practices that state arts agencies across the country have adopted to encourage greater local participation in the arts.
the full paper is available for download. (Adobe Acrobat PDF)
