NYC ARTS Organizations & Artists Called To Participate In A Key Survey: “COVID-19 Response Policies And NYC Arts: Access And Impacts”

The UMass Amherst School of Public Policy is currently conducting a crucial survey of New York City-based arts organizations and artists to document their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The confidential survey titled "COVID-19 Response Policies and NYC Arts: Access and Impacts" is part of a research project that assesses whether federal relief programs are helping the arts sector and what the sector needs to reopen in the post-pandemic environment. The deadline has recently been extended to

January 19, 2021. Survey: https://bit.ly/NYCArtsSurvey

Professor Brenda Bushouse and Tamara Keshecki, who received her Master of Public Policy from SPP this year, are conducting the research through a fellowship from the Howard J. Samuels State and City Policy Center at Baruch College's Marxe School of Public and International Affairs.

"Most arts organizations in New York City have been shuttered by government mandate since March, with no plans in sight for reopening due to the latest surge," Keshecki said. "This has left many crippled and on the verge of closing. This study will examine if government relief programs were sufficient for the scope and duration of this public health crisis. With arts organizations functioning as economic drivers and community anchors, their existence will play a key role in the city's well-being and recovery. This study gives voice to arts organizations small and large to convey their collective experience and inform future arts policy."

The researchers are seeking artists and nonprofits arts organizations from across the city to complete a confidential survey that asks about their experiences since the outbreak, in order to develop an understanding of how the pandemic is affecting the New York arts community as a whole. The survey asks detailed questions about how pandemic-related shutdowns have affected organizations' operations, including its effects on programming, staffing levels, revenue, and endowments or reserve funds. It also asks about what, if any, pandemic-relief programs the organizations have accessed - such as the federal Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and local grants - and what their experiences with these programs have been like.

The study findings, Bushouse said, "will be utilized to identify which government programs were helpful, where they fell short, and how governments can support the arts and culture sector recover from the pandemic."

The deadline to respond to the survey has been extended to January 19, 2021. Bushouse and Keshecki hope to gather responses from a broad range of arts organizations, of all sizes and disciplines, across the five boroughs. Their findings will be published in the summer of 2021.

Take the survey at https://bit.ly/NYCArtsSurvey.

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