Culture & Community in a Time of Transformation: Focus on Massachusetts

Culture & Community in a Time of Transformation: Focus on MA aims to connect the cultural sector in Massachusetts with the experiences and needs of Massachusetts communities and audiences during the pandemic and beyond. In this report, we share highlights of the kinds of change and transformation that MA residents want to see in the arts & culture sector, building blocks for a more resilient and relevant sector, and the impacts of online and offline experiences in our cultural lives, among other themes.  This research has been generously supported by the Barr Foundation & it builds upon the national Culture & Community in a Time of Transformation study.In this report, we highlight how Massachusetts residents are similar and different in attitudes, behaviors, and hopes for the arts and culture sector compared to the country as a whole. This research has a robust methodology with more than 8,000 responses collected from MA residents and more than 75,000 responses nationally to this Culture & Community survey conducted in April, 2021

Centering the Picture: The role of race & ethnicity in cultural engagement in the U.S.

"Centering the Picture," released in December 2020, provides an analysis of response patterns by race and ethnicity in the first phase of Culture + Community in a Time of Crisis (CCTC), a national audience and community survey conducted in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic. The authors explore how and why Americans of all racial/ethnic groups connect to arts, culture, and creativity; what they need from the sector during times of challenge and change; how they've engaged digitally during the lockdowns; and how they want arts and culture organizations to change. The 56-page report includes an executive summary, introduction, findings, "snapshots" for each racial and ethnic group, a concluding discussion, and several appendices (see below), with a foreword by the distinguished museum educator Esther J. Washington of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.CCTC is a multi-phase research collaboration between Slover Linett and LaPlaca Cohen, with consulting partners Yancey Consulting and a number of expert advisors. Some findings from the study are disseminated as part of LaPlaca Cohen's ongoing Culture Track study; this report builds on the overall Key Findings shared with the field in July 2020 (http://culturetrack.com/research/reports). Generous support for Wave 1 was provided by the Wallace Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art, Art Bridges, FocusVision, and Microsoft Corporation. Upcoming phases will also be supported by the Barr Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and Institute for Museum and Library Services.The authors welcome questions and comments at [email protected]