National Endowment For The Arts Forming Interagency Research Taskforce On The Arts And Human Development
WASHINGTON — The National Endowment for the Arts is forming a task force of 13 federal agencies to foster more research on how the arts affect human development at all stages of life.
The task force being announced Wednesday includes the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and others.
The arts endowment says there are major gaps in federally sponsored research on the arts, including how the arts affect the young and old and people with illnesses, injuries or disabilities.
The task force will identify joint research funding across the agencies and coordinate information about funding for researchers of the arts, health and education.
The NEA is announcing the task force Wednesday morning during a webinar. To follow along, visit the NEA website at 10 a.m. EST, and check back here for updates.
Webinar is closed until the next session. Let us know what you thought in the comments -- does this sound promising or ineffective?
Question: We all agree that art is important in all aspects of life and healthy living. But there is a fundamental difference between arts and arts as therapy. Is there an awareness of this and how it will factor into research?
Iyengar: That's a very interesting question that I don't necessarily have the answer to. The researchers are trying to recognize this distinction, that there are different outcomes for different arts practices. That's something we need to be thinking about.
Question: To what degree will the taskforce will be interested in partnering researchers with arts practitioners?
Iyengar: That is a real goal of our group, because there's a need among researchers for access to these groups. It sounds clinical, I know, but there's an appetite for it, so we hope to build it and strengthen it.
Question: How will artists be involved?
Iyengar: We're hopeful we'll have artists participating in webinars. We really hope this is a self-perpetuating model that is relatively low burden, and we're happy to do as much as we can to get the word out.
Question: How much does arts exposure has to do with efficacy?
Iyengar: It's not just arts we're interested in, but what kinds of arts programs, what kinds of dosage, what kinds of interventions, what qualities about an arts program would be most effective in certain settings.
And we're back!
Question: How will this work on the individual level vs. community level?
Iyengar: We're heavily focused on the individual as the unit of measurement. That said, Promise Neighborhoods is taking part, and other community-based institutions are involved at the local level with other factors other than human development like economic factors.
Essentially, they're happy to factor these into their research.
How will this influence the public school systems?
Iyengar: WE're hoping to take steps to drive the conversation at the public school level. One specific area where this is...
Looks like there are some technical difficulties folks as the webinar just went mute. Stay tuned...
After a few speakers, Iyengar is back to field questions from the audience. First up:
How strong/definitive does evidence from arts-based research have to be?
Iyengar: There's been a heightened emphasis on randomized control model. That model is the gold standard in the health care community. There's growing recoginition in the social impact sector that we need to explore other models. Reason being, in this domain, the arts, we appreciate that we have to be creative in how we gather evidence, and the unique impacts of the arts. Randomized trials, observational research, they're all subject for conversation. First, we need to build capacity in this field generally so we have the experts in place to speak to what the ideal models are.
To receive updates, you can email fedtaskforce@arts.gov. And the white paper with all information regarding this taskforce will live at http://arts.gov/research/convenings.html
There will also be a quarterly series of spotlight webinars with the public to share opportunities for funding that do exist, and to share research and best practices for arts/human development that do exist. Some of the relevant funding opportunities include:
So what are the next steps?
All parties agree that there needs to be an independent assessment on the literature on arts/human development. Three NIH institutes have pledged their support:
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine | Institute on Health | National Office Of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
Based on these three problems, three recommendations were made:
First -- establish a taskforce. Done! Second -- convene a series of technical workshops.Third - bring the arts to national/international conversations and introducing the idea of subjective well-being.
- The low visibility of research findings.
During this time, the NEA met with people from Pandora Radio, university researchers, the NIH and other governmental agencies to discuss how the arts affect cognitive ability in three key stages of life: early childhood, teenagers and young adults, and older adult populations.
Study after study has shown that In early childhood, the arts have been linked to school-readiness, improved cognitive and motor ability. Learning should also not be confined to formal, academic environments, but should continue through adulthood, increasinginly with use of technology.
But how can this be harnessed effectively in policymaking?
Iyengar gives us a simple chart to explain the three steps that got us to this taskforce today:
All this info is compiled in a white paper, which you can find at http://arts.gov/research/convenings.html.
Landesman keeps it simple -- "In other words, art works." What we need is an "arts intervention." He emphasizes that this is just laying the groundwork, and much more needs to be done. Next up to explain is Sunil Iyengar, who directs the Office of Research & Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts.
Rocco Landesman, chairman of the NEA, takes the mic first, and explains how this came to bear, when he first met with Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, on how the arts affect a complex variety of health factors. They compiled some of the most compelling evidence showing how the arts affect cognitive gains in early childhood, language acquisition, physical health and social well-being.
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AP/The Huffington Post First Posted: 11/30/11 07:42 AM ET Updated: 11/30/11 10:25 AM ET