Arts People is Good People, Says New NEA-Funded Study- Or At Least They Were in 2002

A new study, Impact of the Arts on Individual Contributions to U.S Civil Society, by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago suggests a link between engagement in the arts and community involvement, altruism, and tolerance. The study analyzed data collected way back in 2002 from 2765 people in the General Social Survey (GSS), a biennial study of attitudes and trends in American society conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, and was funded by the NEA’s Office of Research & Analysis.

The NEA’s website admits the study’s shortcomings, promising an arts-related supplement to the 2012 GSS that could confirm that the findings culled from the old data still hold today.