A new future for our data partner, the Cultural Data Project

Talia Gibas and Amanda Keil have written a wonderful overview of our national data partner, the Cultural Data Project, that was posted on Createquity.  CDP is becoming its own non-profit, separate from Pew Charitable Trusts, complete with a national board and new CEO, Beth Tuttle, at its helm. Highlighting CDP’s history and impact in the field from both a research and arts organization perspective, the post effectively demonstrates CDP’s “potential in establishing and tracking organizational success measures that can encourage stronger business operations, advocate for the arts, and guide grantmaking.”

In addition, one point of note was the need for an expansive data construction model that would more effectively gauge an arts organization’s impact.  This is where our national data partnership with the CDP, the NEA, the National Center for Charitable Statistics, and Theatre Communications Group aims to play a vital role by providing arts leaders with the ability to see how they compare to the highest performance standards in areas shown to be critical for organizational health. This information has the potential to be used in a myriad of ways to inform managerial decisions that ultimately effect an organization’s bottom line.

In order for any of this to work, we must engage in an ongoing conversation with you, our arts and culture colleagues.  With this in mind, we’d love to hear how you have engaged with data (CDP-based or otherwise).  What have you found most useful?  What completely missed the mark?

Inquiring data geeks want to know!