The Exploring Engagement Fund was established with the belief that arts provide a distinct, powerful public benefit that helps create a vibrant, inclusive, and compassionate society. From 2012 to 2018, the Exploring Engagement Fund supported new approaches that these nonprofit arts organizations used to actively engage more diverse participants.…

From 2012 to 2018, the Exploring Engagement Fund of The James Irvine Foundation provided risk capital for more than 100 engagement projects conducted by California arts nonprofits. These organizations had innovative ideas and a readiness to take bold steps to engage groups often underrepresented among mainstream arts participants--specifically…

The arts have played powerful utilitarian roles for individuals and for the societies in which they live for millennia. For the last 250 years, though, "art for art's sake" -- the notion that commercial, utilitarian, moral, or didactic functions are distractions from art's ineffable, intrinsic value as an expression of the artists'…

The cultural sector in America is grappling with how to remain relevant to the rapidly changing society from which it draws its audiences and support. This is a demanding task -- adapting to rapid demographic and technological change is no less challenging for the cultural sector than for journalism, the music industry, publishing, or the taxi cab…

This is the summary for the full report, "Building the Field of Arts Engagement: Prospects and Challenges." America's cultural sector is grappling with how to remain viable in a rapidly changing society, defined in part by new demographics, new technologies, and shifting preferences and norms. Engaging the populations from which it draws…

This is the companion piece for the report, "Building the Field of Arts Engagement: Prospects and Challenges." The literature featured in this semi-annotated bibliography was published between 2000 and 2014 and concerns audience development and audience engagement. Some 38 methodologically robust studies were found. All were published in…

To stay relevant to changing communities, many arts organizations have been developing engagement programs--that is, programming designed to reach more and different people and involve them more actively in how art is made and experienced. While engagement efforts are often episodic or separate from an art organization's core programming, in late…

While engagement programs are often episodic or separate from an art organization's core programming, in late 2013 a group of 10 arts nonprofits across California set out to make engagement central to their work. They aimed to transform their programmatic, organizational, and business models in ways that would improve and sustain their reach and…

Between 2009 and 2014, The James Irvine Foundation invested $13.4 million through the Arts Regional Initiative to build the capacity of a group of nonprofit arts organizations in California locales outside of major arts centers. The aim was two-fold: to increase cultural participation and improve financial sustainability. The following lessons,…

Many California arts organizations want their participants and artists to reflect the socioeconomic diversity of the state's population. The Exploring Engagement Fund supports new approaches that these nonprofit organizations are using to reach more diverse participants. Through project experiments, Irvine and its grantees are learning valuable…

The Exploring Engagement Fund provides risk capital for arts nonprofits to experiment with innovative ideas about how to engage diverse Californians. In order to understand the variety of Californians engaged in arts experiences, this guide is intended to support current and future Fund grantees in collecting participant information. Exploring…

This report distills lessons from the early implementation of Exploring Engagement Fund projects. The first phase of the Fund featured five rounds of grantmaking. It is based on information from three of these rounds; it covers the first year in a series of two-year grants. It is drawn from analysis of grantee reports and interviews, and offers…

A three-year study tracking outcomes for approximately 3,000 students across California shows that career-focused dual enrollment programs can provide important benefits for those who are underachieving and underrepresented in higher education. Dual enrollment, which allows high school students to take college courses and earn college credit, was…

A three-year study tracking outcomes for approximately 3,000 students across California shows that career-focused dual enrollment programs can provide important benefits for those who are underachieving and underrepresented in higher education. Dual enrollment, which allows high school students to take college courses and earn college credit, was…

In 2008, The James Irvine Foundation launched the Concurrent Courses initiative to make dual enrollment programs--which allow high school students to take college courses and earn college credit--available to low-income youth who struggle academically or who are from populations historically underrepresented in higher education. This work advances…