Given the increased focus on assessment and accountability in education since the 1990s, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) identified the need to capture the current status of arts assessment. As such, the NEA commissioned WestEd to examine current trends, promising techniques, and successful practices being used to assess student learning in the arts throughout the country, as well as identify potential areas in which arts assessment could be improved.

Compares government arts expenditures in the U.S. with the spending levels of Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom.

The executive summary of the report on key results from two investigative efforts–an online, national survey of outdoor arts festivals and seven case studies–to examine the range and variety of arts festivals in the U.S., the artists they employ, the communities they serve, and the roles they play in our cities, towns, and neighborhoods.  The survey collected, for the first time, comprehensive data on a large cross-section of U.S. arts festivals, including information about audiences, arts programming, budgets, and operating structure. October 2010.

This report combines key results from two investigative efforts—an online, national survey of outdoor arts festivals and seven case studies—to examine the range and variety of arts festivals in the U.S., the artists they employ, the communities they serve, and the roles they play in our cities, towns, and neighborhoods. The survey collected, for the first time, comprehensive data on a large cross-section of U.S. arts festivals, including information about audiences, arts programming, budgets, and operating structure.

This report is based on seven case studies that complement data from an online, national survey of outdoor arts festivals. The case studies offer a rich perspective on seven distinctive festivals, their sponsoring organizations, and their artists, volunteers, and audiences.

Volume 1. Summary report — Volume 2. Seven case studies — [Volume 3]. Executive summary

“Research in this report was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. Publication was made possible by a grant from the Texaco Foundation.”