Research

This project analyzes relationships between investments in arts infrastructure at higher education institutions and various student, school, and community-level outcomes.

One of the papers in this study will strengthen our understanding of the link between higher education and arts consumption and production by evaluating the impact of a Midwestern university’s recent investment in programmatic arts infrastructure. Preliminary results from this study will be presented at the CCA's 2019 Research Workshop.

Another paper exploits the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) as an exogenous shock to university finances, which infused billions of dollars into public institutions of higher education systems across the United States in 2009, to explore the impact of investment in arts infrastructure on university outcomes.

Another paper will assess the impact of colleges and universities’ investment in physical arts infrastructure on community-level outcomes, such as employment among arts-and-culture professionals and high-tech and creative firm start-ups.  This analysis uses quasi-experimental designs (difference-in-differences and propensity-score-matching) to identify the effects on various community-level outcome measures.

The project is supported through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

This project examines the role of artists in public sector innovation. We run a series of experiments with artists and public sector workers to discover the relationship between artist skillsets’ and public sector innovation using problem solving exercises in public affairs.

This study is supported through a cooperative agreement with the National Endowment for the Arts.

This project examines labor market behavior among artists.

• In one paper, we look at the self-employment behavior of artists, in particular, the determinants of transitions from paid employment to self-employment in the arts. Read "Who Goes Freelance? The Determinants of Self-Employment for Artists." 
• In another paper, we examine the use of flexible labor by nonprofit arts organizations, relying on panel data to account for changes in organizational size fluctuations over time. This paper was recently presented at the National Academies in Washington, D.C. as part of the Public Administration Review Symposium on Entrepreneurship in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors.
• In another paper, we look at the impact of the Affordable Care Act on the rate at which artists have health insurance.

This project critically examines the state of research in the arts and puts forward proposals for advancing the field of arts research through improvements in methodology.

The first paper advocates for conducting more experiments in the arts that analyze cause and effect relationships. See Joanna Woronkowicz give a talk on this topic at the Ministry of Economics in Berlin, Germany. This paper will be presented at the American Association of Geographer's Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. in April 2019.

This project looks at the outcomes of creative placemaking.

In one paper, we conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis of creative placemaking programs in the U.S. and the UK.

This project revisits the debate of whether "all art is political" and how, if at all, arts presenters ought to address issues of contemporary political concern. It focuses on a specific, tumultuous period, namely the 1930s, and diverse thinkers including T.S. Eliot, R.H. Tawney, R.G. Collingwood, George Orwell, Michael Oakeshott, and Raymond Williams, to find parallels and insights for our current time.

In this project, we examine what constitutes fairness when governments spend money in support of the arts.

In one paper, we ask whether there is a moral justification for public funding of the arts in terms of the claims that individuals might have that a specific artistic practice, which would be unable to survive as a culture in an unsubsidized marketplace, is vital to their capability of living a fully meaningful life. In this framework, it is the very fact that an art form only has meaning to a very small segment of the general population that is the justification, and not a critique, of public support.

The second paper draws upon the same framework as the first to consider the basis in equity for "creative placemaking", and facilitating meaningful cultural lives for those whose ties to their local community are fundamental to their identity and quality of life. 

The project examines how entrepreneurs in arts and culture are using online platforms, such as crowdfunding markets like Kickstarter, to bring new opportunities for creators in the cultural sector to finance their ventures and new opportunities for researchers to observe the breadth and diversity of arts-related projects.

The first paper analyzes a prominent crowdfunding platform to identify the drivers of entrepreneurial success in arts- and design-intensive projects relative to other projects. Of particular interest is whether the ‘playing field is level,’ or whether certain types of arts or media appear advantaged on these platforms. 

A second paper digs deeper into the notion of “success” and examines how ceding some creative control to the supporters can affect financial backing and ultimately critical acclaim for the product. The results indicate some advantages and challenges associated with pandering to the crowd, and how creators can learn to better manage these tensions.

Another paper takes a more global perspective to understand policy questions surrounding crowdfunding and its potential to strengthen the cultural sector.  By contrasting the EU and USA experiences, we describe critical design features for policy and identify how efficiency and equity might be affected by policy in these areas.

This project is supported through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

This project looks at the distribution of crowdfunding projects in the arts and the impact of these projects on regional innovation.

The first paper examines the geographic distribution of crowdfunding projects and financing, noting that it is far more evenly dispersed across North America than other venture capital is. But is also far more geographically clustered than a digital “world is flat” hypothesis would suggest.  Crowdfunding success is even more geographically clustered than attempts.  Crowdfunding tends to accrue where crowds are (i.e., bigger cities), but that clustering is even more exaggerated for digital media projects. Those projects geographically concentrate even more than underlying economic activity does. Conversely, projects more locally grounded (e.g., restaurants, theaters) tend to be more dispersed than underlying economic activity. This is consistent both with “superstar cities” forces that attract talent in certain sectors and with crowdfunding platforms’ promise to help smaller-scale ventures overcome transaction cost barriers. This paper will be presented at the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting in April 2019.

Another paper examines where and how the digital media sector is growing and driving growth and innovation in the U.S. The results will inform where firm and employment growth occurs in digital media sectors and the extent to which that growth drives (or follows) broader societal innovation and economic growth.

This project is supported through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and is part of a project supported by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council in Canada.

This project explores the impact of arts growth on neighborhoods in the US national context. 

One of the papers where and how artists lead neighborhood revitalization. This paper will be at the CCA Research Workshop in May 2019.

This project concerns historic preservation policies and addresses some of the complex implications of heritage conservation in urban settings.

The first paper concerns the role of bigger, better data in historic preservation policy.

Read the paper

Another paper begins an analysis of heritage preservation policies in Japan, the first of its kind in the English language. A comparative analysis of the US and Japanese approaches to historic preservation, and how the housing markets react to these preservation policies, suggests possibilities for reform and new approaches.

Other ongoing papers analyze the impact of heritage preservation and building age on housing prices. One paper explores the inequities in the price impact, suggesting the although historic preservation regulation’s effects on property prices vary widely they do not appear to particularly burden homeowners in lower-income neighborhoods. Another paper further elaborates on the variation in housing markets capitalize historic districting in different neighborhoods. 

Finally, our “This Old House” study identifies the market premium for historic homes, and how housing markets discount older homes differently depending on their age relative to their neighboring homes.

This project is partially supported through a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science International Research Fellowship (Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University).