Read our report on the 2016-17 Research and Evaluation Plan: what we did and why, and some key lessons we learned along the way.

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.

The LA County Arts Education Profile survey was administered to all 2,277 public schools in LA County to learn about the quantity, quality and equity of arts education. We found that nearly every school offers at least some arts instruction, and most schools offer at least two disciplines. At the same time, we found troubling inequities that reflect disparities in the wider society. 

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. 

This study analyzes the demographics of the arts and cultural workforce in Los Angeles County—specifically, staff members, board, volunteers, and independent contractors associated with 386 cultural nonprofits, most of which receive funding from Arts and Culture, and/or seven other municipal funders in the County. The findings presented in this report are based on 3,307 unique responses to the DataArts Workforce Demographics survey, conducted from May 2016 - July 2016. Among the key findings:

This series of reports analyzes data reported by arts nonprofits in LA County to DataArts (formerly the Cultural Data Project). They explore how much is being paid on salaries and benefits, how many hours of time is volunteered, and they provide recommendations to how arts nonprofits can improve in these areas.

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. 

In 2012, 35,076 volunteers worked nearly six million hours at 386 nonprofit arts organizations in LA County. This report explores the role of volunteers in arts nonprofits. 

In 2015, Arts and Culture analyzed data from 2014 reports written and submitted by grantees of the Organizational Grant Program, to identify trends in the field and to improve the program.

In 2013, 198,110 people in LA County were employed in 79 creative occupations. Half of those jobs did not require a bachelor’s degree. What kinds of careers are available, how well do they pay, and what training is required? 

In 2013, the Arts Ed Collective + Arts and Culture administered a survey to arts organizations and teaching artists across the County, to find out who provided arts education services to LA County's 2,198 public schools.

This study found that arts nonprofits in LA County may be more likely than employers in other sectors to provide health benefits to their employees.

Analyzing data from the Cultural Data Project, Arts and Culture found that nonprofit arts organizations in Los Angeles County paid some $266.6 million in salaries to the equivalent of 4,650 full time employees in 2011.