BLOOMINGTON, IN. – The Arts, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation (AEI) Lab at the Center for Cultural Affairs (CCA) hosted a second round of its data visualization competition for Indiana University (IU) students using data from a guaranteed income program for artists led by Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY). The competition ran from February 12 through March 8, 2024.
The second round of the competition drew an incredible amount of creativity and innovation from across IU Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses resulting in four winners. The competition was an opportunity for IU students to showcase their talents as graphic designers, visual story-tellers, and data crunchers. Co-director of the AEI Lab, Professor Doug Noonan, described the CRNY collaboration with the Lab as "an exciting opportunity for our students to be creative and exercise their data skills for a project on the public sector.”
The team, Terra Trace Niwasi, received first place for their entry titled “Economic Empowerment Through Art: A Journey of 2400 Artists”. The team included Sandeep Kumar and Ravi Teja Rajavarapu from the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University. They created a data-driven story that details the distribution of resources and geographical diversity among artist.
The team, Vizionary Trio, received second place on their entry titled “Illuminating New York's Artistic Landscape: A Visual Expedition”. This team included Janish Shingala, Vaibhav Lodhiya, and Het Vashi from the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University. They crafted their submission utilizing AI-driven features in a data visualization software to present new insights about the artists who applied to CRNY's program including those on applicant demographics, enrollment patterns, and financial trends.
A team composed of graduate students Guari Chaudhari and Radhika Argarwal, received third place for their entry titled “A Visual Impact on New York’s Creative Pulse”. They created an innovative interactive dashboard that highlights the diverse backgrounds and stories of the CRNY artists, while also emphasizing the complex interactions between identity, inclusion, and artistic pursuits.
The undergraduate winner of the second round is Clara Blackwell with an entry titled “Who Are The Artists of New York?” The first dashboard, titled "Who are the artists of New York?,” analyzes demographics of applicants and enrollees in the program. The second dashboard is titled “And what do New York’s artists need?” and analyzes the financial, physical, and mental health of New York artists.
Creatives Rebuild New York is an initiative supported by the Mellon Foundation to restore New York State's art and cultural regions after the impact of COVID-19. CRNY operates the Guaranteed Income for Artists and Artist Employment programs, which support individual artists and challenge racial and financial inequalities to help build a more prosperous cultural ecosystem in the arts and cultural sectors with the goal of a more equitable future in New York State.
The AEI Lab, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab (NEA) program, is working with CRNY on two projects. The first project involves integrating the data collected from CRNY’s Guaranteed Income for Artists program into a publicly accessible website primarily for use by policy and government officials and practitioners working in the arts sector and the general public. The website is planned to launch this year. The second project is conducting a program evaluation of the Guaranteed Income for Artists program. Professor Joanna Woronkowicz, co-director of the AEI Lab, describes the collaboration between CRNY and the Lab as, “an illustration of the potential for informed policymaking when academics and policymakers work together.”
If you are interested in learning more about the data visualization competition or the collaboration with the CCA and CRNY, please visit our website.
