From Measuring the Past, To Unlocking the Future

New Possibilities in How Arts Approaches Data Collection

I really enjoyed reading Peter Linett's recent article on the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) 2022 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA). Linnett posed an interesting perspective that resonates with me:

“Perhaps the real question, then, isn’t just which genres of arts participation should be measured but also which purposes. How might the NEA work to broaden the range of intended impacts of arts experiences studied in the SPPA, just as it has broadened the range of arts forms, genres, and engagement pathways? How would that conceptual shift affect the kinds of questions asked in the survey? Could it help more Americans see themselves and their communities in the research? When I sat down to draft these reflections, I thought I would be writing about the SPPA’s “perimeter problem”: the question of where, exactly, we should draw a line around “the arts” for the purposes of this national study. What if it’s actually a lens problem, instead—a decision about how to look at arts engagement, how to view the engagers, and how to think about the broader human and social systems in which the arts operate?”

As Linett points out, expanding the lens on how Americans engage with creativity is no small feat, and the NEA’s efforts are laying important groundwork for the future.

I want to give well-earned kudos to the incredible NEA teams behind the SPPA. They are navigating deeply complex, bureaucratic systems to make strides in capturing a more inclusive and long-overdue view of arts and culture. It's demanding work, and there are thoughtful folks behind it who I deeply respect.

As we gather more inclusive data on arts participation, a bigger question emerges: WHY are we gathering this data, and how will we use it? Simply capturing more diverse participation is not enough. What are we really achieving if the information is mostly used to reinforce the status quo actions of public and nonprofit institutions—many of which struggle with declining relevance and outdated funding models?

With America’s ongoing triple transformations of environmental, cultural, and technological advancements—AI and applied quantum computing—reshaping entire industries, the arts and culture sector also has a rare opportunity to rethink how we define, support, and unlock America's human creative potential.

Heritage and preservation are and will always be important for public-sector arts and culture leaders and institutions. In 2025 and beyond, pushing into new forms of innovation, collaboration, and cultural evolution are equally important. We need better data on arts and culture. However, if we don’t apply richer data collection to reimagining the future— especially in a world where traditional creative avenues are under sustainability threats— then the inclusion we’re championing risks becoming a symbolic gesture rather than a driver of transformation.

It seems to me that the real challenge is using new capabilities in data collection to disrupt systems that no longer serve the full spectrum of creative expression. And, as much as we would like to think so, more research and policy papers alone will not get us there. Things are accelerating too fast.

The challenge ahead isn't just about gathering more data or creating new categories of participation; it’s about ensuring we’re not stuck in "innovation theatre." Too often, efforts like these risk stalling in bureaucratic systems, where well-intentioned innovations and data get absorbed into existing frameworks without driving real change.

What new opportunities might become visible if we shifted our focus from categories to cracking the “first mile” of decision making in all innovation—> getting the WILL to transform firmly on the table from the start?

Otherwise, all our data and innovation intentions will only reinforce structures already struggling to keep up. The real opportunity lies in using data to unlock human creative potential and reimagine how we leverage creativity through uncertainty.

The future of arts and culture requires not just gathering data but transforming the systems. While important, our current hyper-focus on “data categories " is another example of America’s siloed way of working, a vestige of an old industrial economy. Navigating siloes should not be “the work” — it will leave us with insufficient emotional resources to address the complexity of change.

At moments like this, the arts sector has a distinct leadership advantage: ARTISTS. What ways yet exist to engage their boldness differently? After all, artists have performed the greatest data visualization projects of the past century—Picasso's Guernica, the Holocaust Memorial, the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, informally known as the National Lynching Memorial. While these projects did not change reality, they provided the “cultural oxygen” needed for objectivity when navigating complexity.

The same thinking that moved us to where we are today is unlikely to serve us in the newly emerging challenges we face. Collaborative cognition and principled creativity are required for transformational innovation. Both demand unlearning the processes we use and privilege in working together.

DH Lawrence once described Walt Whitman as embodying the spirit accompanying those who endeavor to “pioneer into the wilderness of unopened life.” I believe this is a fitting clarion call for America to reclaim our sense of wonder. We are a nation built through acts of courageous imagination — from all kinds of people in all kinds of places.

A book posthumously published after John O'Donohue died, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings - put it this way...

"May I have the courage today, To live the life, that I would love, To postpone my dream no longer, But, do at last what I came here for, And waste my heart on fear no more.”

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Theo Edmonds, Culture Futurist® & Founder, Creativity America | Bridging Creative Industries and Brain Science with Future of Work & Wondervation™

©2024 Theo Edmonds | All Rights Reserved. Please credit the author when using any of this content. The views expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any organization with which the author is affiliated.