NEA Research Labs, FY2020

An organization may submit only one proposal under this program solicitation.

This Cooperative Agreement will begin no earlier than March 1, 2020, and extend for up to 24 months and no fewer than 12 months.

Program Description

NEA Research Labs are intended to serve as “hubs” or centers of excellence in the domain of interest. Each NEA Research Lab will develop a pipeline of projects or products, even while conducting at least one major study. In addition, NEA Research Labs will be positioned to fulfill ad hoc analyses or information requests concerning the research agenda being pursued, as may be required during the project period of performance. Such requests will not involve new data collection.

Priority will be given to applications that show capacity to design and implement a series of studies based on theory-driven research questions and methodologies that will yield important information about the impact of the arts within the selected topic area. Research methodologies may include such approaches as quasi-experimental or experimental designs, or analyses that use primary and/or secondary data. Competitive applications will take into account any extant research that serves as a basis for a theoretical framework and helps to motivate the proposed studies. We also welcome novel and promising research approaches, such as rigorous analyses of organizational or social networks, and/or social media data, and statistically driven meta-analyses. In addition, we are interested in translational research that moves scientific evidence toward the development, testing, and standardization of new arts-related projects, models, tools, or techniques that can be used easily by other practitioners and researchers.