With lead funding from The Wallace Foundation and Barr Foundation, and additional support from Art Bridges and The Terra Foundation for American Art, Slover Linett Audience Research and LaPlaca Cohen have collaborated on a national research and strategy initiative to support the cultural sector and help strengthen communities around the U.S. during and after this COVID-19 crisis. In association with NORC at the University of Chicago, Advisory Board for the Arts, Wilkening Consulting, FocusVision, Microsoft and a range of advisors, funders, and stakeholders, our aim was to quickly answer a range of urgent, complex questions about the place of the arts and culture in the hearts, minds, families, and social and emotional lives of Americans during these painful times — and, crucially, help make strategic sense of those answers via forward-looking, inclusive dialogue that leads to adaptation, resilience, and relevance.

By conducting survey research and qualitative research among both arts audiences and the wider U.S. public, this study is designed to deepen our understanding of how arts and culture organizations can help their communities during these times…and how communities can support their arts and cultural organizations. Organizations of all sizes and disciplines across the country sent survey invitations to their audiences, resulting in over 120,000 survey responses from all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and two Canadian Provinces.