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Available through DataArts, the Arts Vibrancy Index (AVI) contains data and findings of the role that arts and culture play in a city's livability and social cohesion. The National Center for Arts Research (NCAR) studies such connections between arts and cultural organizations and their communities. They combine data from nonprofit arts and cultural organizations with data for the communities in which they reside. In linking the data courses, NCAR identifies factors that affect the health and sustainability of arts organizations. NCAR realizes that each of the factors from the ecosystem included in the Arts Vibrancy Index report has an influence on a variety of financial, operating, and attendance outcomes for arts and cultural organizations. The findings are shared regarding the operating and community characteristics that drive performance - and how they affect performance - in the NCAR reports.

The data that NCAR integrates for AVI report typically come from numerous sources. Organizational data that forms the basis of the Arts Dollar measures are from the Internal Revenue Service, DataArts' Cultural Data Profile, and Theatre Communications Group. Community data that forms the basis of the Arts Provider measures are from the Internal Revenue Service and the Census Bureau, which is reported by county, zip code, and census tract. State funding data is from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and Federal funding data is from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The AVI reports are used by arts leaders, businesses, government agencies, funders, and engaged citizens to better understand the overall intensity and capacity of the community's arts and culture sector. Communities use the AVI and related data to benchmark themselves against an aspirational set of communities and understand what sets them apart by examining the underlying dimensions of demand, supply, and public support for arts and culture.

The State-Level Estimates of Arts Participation Patterns (2012-2015) highlights selected arts-participation rates for all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. These summary statistics were derived from the following studies: ANNUAL ARTS BASIC SURVEY, 2015 [UNITED STATES]; ANNUAL ARTS BASIC SURVEY, 2014 [UNITED STATES]; and SURVEY OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN THE ARTS (SPPA), 2012 [UNITED STATES].

The following tables are provided:

• Tables 1 and 1a-1d - Events Attended: Reports AABS 2015 data on attendance at visual and performing arts events.

  Includes - attending a live music, theater, or dance performance; attending a live book reading, poetry, or storytelling event; going to see an art exhibit; going to a movie; and touring/visiting buildings, neighborhoods, parks, or monuments for their historical, architectural, or design value.

• Table 2 - Literature Read: Shows AABS 2015 data on literary-reading rates.

  Includes - reading novels, short stories, poems, or plays.

• Table 3 - Performed or Created Artworks: Shows AABS 2014 data on personal performance and creation of artworks.

  Includes - making pottery, ceramics or jewelry; making leatherwork, metalwork, or woodwork; making weaving, crocheting, or other textile art; playing a musical instrument; acting; performing or practicing dance; doing social dancing; performing or practicing singing; creating films or videos; taking photographs for artistic purposes; creating other visual arts (e.g., paintings, sculpture, or graphic design; and doing creative writing.

• Table 4 - Arts Consumed via Electronic Media: Features SPPA 2012 data on arts consumption via electronic media.

  Includes - Use TV, Radio, and/or the Internet to watch, listen to, and/or download any: jazz; Latin, Spanish, or salsa music; classical music; opera; rock, pop, country, folk, rap, or hip-hop; musicals or stage plays; ballet, modern, or contemporary dance; other dance programs or shows; programs about visual arts such as painting, sculpture, graphic design, or photography; programs or information about books or writers, or other books, short stories, or poetry read out loud.

The Community Indicators project is a research-based initiative that is part of the Knight Foundation's ongoing effort to learn more about the 26 communities it serves through its grant-making. To document changes in the quality of life in its communities, the foundation tracks a few key indicators over time. The project focuses on aspects of community life related to the six grant-making areas that are the priority of the Knight Community Partners Program. The Knight Community Partners Program prefers to make grants in the following six priority areas: education; the well-being of children and families; housing and community development; economic development; civic engagement and positive human relations; and the vitality of cultural life. The foundation expected to update both the community surveys and the community profiles approximately every three years.

Local area surveys were conducted in each of the 26 communities in both 1999 and 2002. In 2002, a number of the local area surveys were supplemented with regional surveys or surveys of a neighboring city. The 26 local areas surveyed in 1999 were: Milledgeville, GA; Long Beach, CA; Gary, IN; Boca Raton (Palm Beach County), FL; Boulder, CO; Philadelphia, PA; Akron, OH; Macon, GA; Columbus, GA; Aberdeen, SD; Grand Forks, ND; Wichita, KS; Charlotte, NC; Columbia, SC; Myrtle Beach, SC; Tallahassee, FL; Duluth, MN; St. Paul, MN; State College, PA; Fort Wayne, IN; Biloxi, MS; Detroit, MI; Lexington, KY; San Jose, CA; Bradenton, FL; Miami, FL. For 2002, the 11 regional and neighboring city areas also surveyed were: Charlotte, NC - Regional; Columbus, SC - Second City; Detroit, MI - Regional; Duluth, MN - Second City; Gary, IN - Regional; Grand Forks, SD - Second City; Lexington, KY - Regional; Philadelphia, PA - Regional; Philadelphia, PA - Second City, and Miami - Dade, FL and Miami - Broward, FL in place of Miami, FL. National surveys were also conducted in order to provide comparative benchmark measures. The surveys measured citizens' civic engagement and attitudes concerning seven topic areas: education, arts and culture, children and social welfare, community development, homelessness, literacy, and citizenship. Questions relating specifically to arts and culture include frequency of attendance at arts events or museums and satisfaction with arts and cultural opportunities.

The study was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates and funded by the Knight Foundation. In 1999, 17,417 telephone interviews were conducted from February 10 through December 1. In 2002, 21,722 telephone interviews were conducted from January 2 through October 3.

Conducted by the Urban Institute, the Cultural Participation Survey 1998 was the first in a series of surveys evaluating the Community Partnerships for Cultural Participation (CPCP) initiative. In the CPCP initiative, a total of ten community foundations around the country received grants from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund to induce more people to attend arts and cultural events, encourage people who attend to contribute their time and money as well, and attract people who do not usually attend. The Urban Institute was commissioned to evaluate the initiative through surveys of households and organizations in five of these communities.

The Cultural Participation Survey 1998 measured leisure time activities, organizational involvement attendance at arts and culture events, and personal participation in arts and cultural activities by individuals in five geographic areas: the Kansas City metropolitan area; Humboldt County, California; Mayfair (San Jose), California; Milpitas, California; and Gilroy, California. From November 10, 1998 through December 12, 1998, a total of 2,406 computer-aided telephone interviews were conducted across all five geographic areas.

A Survey of the Arts in Everyday Life 2002 examined the involvement of Chicago-area individuals in "informal" arts activities, such as acting in community theater, singing in a church choir, writing poetry at the local library, or painting portraits in a home studio. This survey was a significant component in the larger study "Informal Arts: Finding Cohesion, Capacity and Other Cultural Benefits in Unexpected Places," which was a two and a half year study of the informal arts in Chicago undertaken by Columbia College Chicago's Center for Arts Policy. The research was undertaken by Principal Investigator Alaka Wali Ph.D., ethnographers Rebecca Severson M.A. and Mario Longoni M.A., the survey statistician Kevin Karpiak, and dedicated interns and professional volunteers. Elena Marcheschi J.D. took on the overall responsibilities of Project Director. This survey is used frequently to reinforce and expand on ethnographic findings drawn from a series of case studies and at large fieldwork. The University of Illinois Survey Lab assisted in the survey design. As part of the strategy to triangulate the data sources, the survey instrument was designed to test researchers' findings and to gather additional data on areas such as participants' depth of involvement in civic life. The questionnaire contained 67 questions divided into broad topical areas such as organizational dynamics, networks, resources and barriers, and visibility of arts, in addition to demographics. The sampling goal was to get a census of all the participants at each case study location at a given moment in time. Most of the questionnaires were mailed to participants. Other questionnaires were either hand-delivered or emailed. During August 2001, 165 of the 310 recipients completed and returned the survey. Partial funding for this study was provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Urban Institute/Arts and Culture Indicators in Community Building Project (ACIP), and Columbia College Chicago.

The Creative Community Index, a research initiative produced by Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley, measured cultural participation and creativity in the Silicon Valley in 2002 and 2005. The first wave of the study, in 2002, consisted of two surveys: one survey measured the breadth and frequency of cultural participation by residents of Santa Clara County, and another survey gathered a range of data about the current health and vitality of nonprofit arts and culture organizations in the region. The second wave, in 2005, surveyed Silicon Valley residents, nonprofit cultural organizations, local area leaders, and local artists.

The Survey of Silicon Valley Residents [2002] surveyed 361 adult residents of Santa Clara County, California in January and February 2002, and the Survey of Silicon Valley Residents [2005] surveyed 1,007 adult residents of Santa Clara County, California in April 2005. Respondents for both years were asked about their behavior and beliefs regarding arts and culture in their community. The Survey of Cultural Organizations [2002] collected data from 135 organizations in 2001. The organizations were asked a series of questions about their artistic products and programs, organizational capacity, and funding sources in an effort to gather a range of data about the current health and vitality of nonprofit arts groups in the region. The Survey of Silicon Valley Leaders [2005] surveyed adult residents of Santa Clara County between March and April 2005. The survey asked former and current members of American Leadership Forum-Silicon Valley about their organization's ability to attract and retain creative workers to Silicon Valley, as well as their participation, as an individual and with children, in arts and related activities.