Our Research Services
Addressing Sector-Wide Challenges Through Collaboration
SMU DataArts partners with agencies, funders, service organizations, and advocates to produce research that drives strategic action and strengthens the arts and culture sector. Our team brings deep expertise in equity-focused research, sector-wide analysis, and actionable insights that support more inclusive and transparent decision-making. If you’re seeking a research partner with deep knowledge of the arts and culture sector, we invite you to get in touch.
Our Approach
We take a collaborative approach to research design, co-designing with partners to answer their pressing questions and meet their project needs. Drawing on our expertise in survey design, data analysis, statistical and computational methods, qualitative research, and stakeholder engagement, we produce data-driven insights grounded in the experiences of practitioners. We seek projects with learning implications for the sector broadly and activate findings through data visualization, public programming, and customized dissemination strategies.
Methodological Rigor
We apply high academic standards across all projects, using research methods refined through peer-reviewed scholarship and real-world application.
Integrated Dataset
We combine Cultural Data Profile responses with other sources to build a detailed data model of the sector and ground findings in national trends.
Equity and Accessibility
We center equity and transparency in both our research and operations, and design accessible outputs to maximize the reach of our work.
Activation and Field Learning
We help partners activate findings through engagement, programming, and communications to support learning and action beyond the report.
Research Clients
We work with a wide range of organizations. Here are some of our clients.
Foundations
We partner with leading foundations to design and execute research projects that inform strategy, deepen understanding of grantee ecosystems, and measure impact. These collaborations often include customized data collection, analysis, and public-facing reports.
We analyzed data on Bay Area performing arts organizations to help the Foundation understand how its grantees are navigating a post-pandemic environment.
We surveyed women visual artists and analyzed the findings to inform a landmark report on the experiences of women in the field.
We examined how Massachusetts’ arts and cultural landscape has been shaped by nonprofit activity, public funding, and socioeconomic factors—producing a statewide report and an interactive vibrancy map.
Public Agencies
We work with city and state agencies to analyze regional trends in arts funding, participation, and workforce demographics. Our research supports local advocacy efforts and helps agencies make informed decisions about resource allocation and policy development.
We regularly analyze grant applicant data to uncover financial trends among Chicago’s arts organizations.
We conduct recurring analyses of arts workforce demographics across the county using our Workforce Demographics Survey.
We examined financial and operational trends among Massachusetts arts organizations to support sector planning and policy development.
We assessed post-pandemic trends and regional comparisons for arts organizations across Rhode Island.
Service and Consulting Organizations
We collaborate with service organizations and consulting firms to deliver custom research that supports advocacy, strategic insight, and field-wide knowledge. These projects range from regional impact and advocacy studies to investigations of pressing national issues in arts and culture.
We conducted several studies on the distribution and impact of federal COVID-19 relief funding to the arts and culture sector.
We produced an Arts and Community Livability report to strengthen ArtsFund’s advocacy work in Washington state.
We collected and analyzed data from New York City theatre organizations to inform ART/NY’s *Health and Wealth* report.
Sarah Williams
Arts Program Officer, Kenneth Rainin Foundation
“The SMU DataArts team not only analyzed the data, but helped us translate complex findings into clear, actionable insights, which we then shared with our grantee and philanthropic community with an engaging webinar. Their expertise and partnership made for a collaborative and rewarding process.”