The Cultural Data Project

Submitted by Janet on July 14, 2009

I recently spent time meeting, learning and sharing information with arts grantmakers in Boston, Philadelphia and Washington DC. It was one of those plane, train, train, train, and plane trips. Weather was glorious, evidently the only week it didn’t rain in June on the east coast. I met with the Delaware Valley Grantmakers at the William Penn Foundation in Philadelphia, Boston grantmakers at the Boston Foundation and with National Endowment for the Arts and foundation representatives in Washington DC. I'm writing more about these visits in the near future (especially the NEA/foundation gathering).

I started this trip in Philadelphia with the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Cultural Data Project. Having heard so much about the CDP and having filled it out as a grantee, I wanted to check it out for myself. At headquarters, I met with Greg Rowe, Neville Vakharia and Jessica Hupp. Neville ran us through a demo of the CDP, its history, current capabilities and its potential as a national data collection system for the arts. I am a new convert!

We discussed ways in which less populated states from the west and Middle America could become involved. We discussed how this data functions as an advocacy tool for arts. This was brought home by the work done by Peggy Amsterdam and the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. Since Pennsylvania has collected the most years of data, their information is deep and broad. Used wisely, as Peggy has done, it becomes the foundation for arguments to strengthen our industry that provides cultural services to their community alive and strong.

I also found that Neville and his team have a great “service” attitude towards this work. This is not a product that one purchases and then CDP walks away. The CDP team is dedicated to making this work, to helping users with analysis of the data and even helping funders understand what data is most useful to them. From the grantees viewpoint, their help desk personnel all have arts backgrounds and I found them to be just what one would want from a technical assistance provider: caring, proud of their work and their constituents and dedicated to providing quality service to all kinds of organizations from the smallest to the largest.

The Cultural Data Project already provides tremendous information for those states that have implemented it. If every state in the nation were using CDP, this data could be a tool for advocacy and growth in the arts like we have not seen before. It is the cost of the system that keeps many states from implementing it now. Ironically, it is NOW that we need this data the most. Congratulations to Marian Godfry, Greg, Neville, Jessica and the great help desk team who keep this engine stoked and running. Now it’s up to the rest of funders, both private and public, to get on board.

Janet