Since announcing Createquity’s sunset a little over two months ago, we’ve received an outpouring of support and well wishes from readers the world over. We’re tremendously grateful for the interest you’ve shown in our work, all along the way.
We promised to “us[e] these final months to make connections across the threads of different investigations we’ve done and articles we’ve written over the years, tie up loose ends, and, as much as we can, tease out what it all means for practice.” Here’s how we delivered on that promise:
- We published four issue briefs summarizing our research, lessons learned, and open questions on arts participation, cultural equity, arts careers, and the benefits of the arts.
- We offered a final, holistic set of recommendations for arts philanthropists and advice to arts researchers, building on all of our work to date.
- As a special bonus, we did a roundup of the Top 10 Arts Stories of the Decade since we’ve been covering the field.
- We’ve updated our Higher Education Resource Guide with these and other materials published since it was originally released last summer. We’ve also made it easier to access – no need to fill out a form before you get a link to the PDF.
- We just updated our research process page and included links to some of the training materials we’ve used to get our editorial team and contributing associates up to speed on capsule review writing, rapid research screening, and more. And if you’re interested in getting even deeper under the hood, just ask.
In addition, you might find the following of interest:
- The estimable Barry Hessenius interviewed me for his blog shortly after the news of our sunset went live. In it, I go into greater detail on the reasoning behind the decision and what I think it means for our sector.
- The forthcoming winter issue of the Grantmakers in the Arts Reader has an article by yours truly about why arts research is broken and what we can do to fix it. No direct link yet, but it will be available here by early March.
- For those of you missing our monthly Newsroom roundups, we offer a whole page that has links to the primary sources we drew from to generate that piece every month. But if you’re pressed for time, here is what I suggest: subscribe to ArtsJournal, GIA News, and (if your work involves arts research in any capacity) the Cultural Research Network. If you can check off those three you’ll be doing pretty well in the staying informed department.
Although Createquity’s journey has come to a close, I’m far from done writing, and I have several interesting projects in the hopper that will involve exploring the challenges and opportunities of effective strategy, learning, and decision-making across the social sector (not limited to the arts). The materials and tools I’m developing as part of that exploration will be relevant to anyone trying to make a difference in the world, whether you’re an individual donor, foundation, government agency, or investor. If you’d like to keep posted on this work, feel free to sign up here and I will make sure you are added to any forthcoming email lists.
Before I sign off, I’d like to take this opportunity to express my deepest thanks to everyone who has helped make this possible, from that scary moment when I sent an email to my contacts telling them to look out for the launch of a new website (for which I had yet to write any content) on October 26, 2007. Thank you to Nancy Livingston, who as my second-year advisor in business school encouraged me to get over my anxieties about starting a blog and suggested the commitment device that led to me getting Createquity off the ground. Thank you to Jonathan Koppell, who let me use original blog posts for Createquity as graded assignments for the independent study we did on arts policy at the Yale School of Management, greatly enhancing the richness of the content offered there. Thank you to Thomas Cott and Doug McLennan, who each provided syndication support that was instrumental in Createquity’s audience growth in the early years – and a special extra thank you to Doug for providing such an invaluable resource in ArtsJournal all these years and for donating classified advertising to our cause. Thank you to Tommer Peterson, who invited me to be the first-ever official conference blogger for Grantmakers in the Arts after encountering my writing at Createquity, first exposing both me and my writing to that community in a relationship that would continue to blossom over the decade to follow. Thank you to Adam Huttler, who has followed along from the very beginning and, after inviting me to join the team at Fractured Atlas, gave me the autonomy I needed to pursue my vision for Createquity without interference from my day job. Thank you to Rob Weinert-Kendt for giving us the best pull quote ever, which we still use to this day (“so amazingly good it’s almost in its own category of resource”). Thank you to Barry Hessenius and Nina Simon for using your own considerable bully pulpits in support of Createquity at crucial moments. Thank you to Sunil Iyengar at the National Endowment for the Arts for inviting Createquity to be the first entity to formally respond to drafted plans for the agency’s new 5-year research agenda in 2016. Thank you to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, Fractured Atlas, the Howard Gilman Foundation, CultureLab/Alan Brown, Mailchimp, and everyone who donated to our crowdfunding campaign or subsequent appeals for providing crucial financial support. Finally, thank you to everyone who was part of the sausage-making process: our current and former editorial team members, particularly Talia Gibas and Daniel Reid who were the first to take the plunge with me and my thought partners in designing the new Createquity some four years ago, along with John Carnwath, Katy Coy, Jack Crager, Michael Feldman, Louise Geraghty, Katherine Gressel, Jackie Hasa, Katie Ingersoll, Shawn Lent, Carlyn Madden, Ruth Mercado-Zizzo, Fari Nzinga, Rebecca Ratzkin, Clara Inés Schuhmacher, Devon Smith, Salem Tsegaye, Lauren Warnecke, and Benzamin Yi; our advisory council members, Norman Bradburn, Harris Cooper, Marian Godfrey, Maria Rosario Jackson, Carlos Manjarrez, John Paxson, and Angelique Power; our contributing associates and other volunteers, Andrew Anzel, Daniel Arnow, Caitlin Butler, Ben Coy, Ally Duffy, Sarah Frankland, Shelly Hsieh, Teresa Koberstein, Miguelina Nuñez, Ron Ragin, Michael Rushton, Michael Spicher, Michael Wilkerson, Stephanie Wykstra, Sacha Wynne, and Guy Yedwab; and our Createquity Fellows, Alicia Akins, Aaron Anderson, Lindsey Cosgrove, Kelly Dylla, Crystal Wallis Graves, Tegan Kehoe, Jennifer Kessler, Jena Lee, Hayley Roberts, Jacquelyn Strycker, and Dan Thompson (in addition to Jackie, Katherine, and Talia mentioned above). Whew! Apologies if I left anyone out. Most of all, thank you – yes, you, on the other end of that screen – not only for welcoming us into your life, but for staying with us to the end.
With that, it really is time to say goodbye, with best wishes for a productive, fulfilling, and safe 2018 to all. It has truly been a pleasure and a privilege.