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Performing Arts

RAND research on the arts includes explorations of national, state, and local arts policies; the impact of such policies on the availability of and accessibility to performing arts such as music, dance, and drama; and the use of arts education to help cultivate an audience for performing arts organizations.

Journal Article
Veteran Journeys: Creating an Opera Based on Research, Clinical, and Personal Experiences
RAND researcher Kenneth Wells shares his story in the form of an opera, Veteran Journeys, to encourage others to find a path to integrating clinical, personal, and creative experiences, to share meaningful stories of how people survive and thrive.
Oct 4, 2023
Journal Article
Integration of Arts and Health Sciences in Developing an Opera on Veteran Resilience and Recovery
This case study illustrates how research data informed an opera on Veteran recovery. To engage a broad audience and address stigma, accessible composition techniques (melody, harmony) were used.
Oct 4, 2023
Journal Article
Impact of Veteran Journeys Opera on Audience Member Attitudes Related to Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress or Unstable Housing
This study evaluated a streaming opera?s effects on measures of audience engagement important to Veterans? recovery from posttraumatic stress and unstable housing.
Oct 4, 2023
Blog
Veteran Journeys: Where Mental Health Research Meets Opera
Kenneth Wells, a psychiatrist, librettist, and composer, has written a documentary disguised as an opera. He drew on Partners in Care, a 10-year RAND-UCLA study that was one of the first to use a multisite collaborative primary care approach to treat veterans and others experiencing depression.
Jul 6, 2021
Periodical
RAND Review: July-August 2021
One feature highlights how researchers apply an equity lens to projects on environmental racism, incarcerated parents, and the lives of Black service members; a second describes interventions to address disparities in infant mortality rates.
Jul 1, 2021
Report
Arts-based approaches to public engagement with research: Lessons from a rapid review
This report shares findings from a rapid review of the evidence on the use and effectiveness of arts-based approaches for public engagement with research.
Jan 11, 2021
Report
Cultural and Historical Resources Recovery Planning in Puerto Rico: Natural and Cultural Resources Sector Report, Volume II
Many of Puerto Rico's cultural resources were devastated in Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The authors discuss their importance, the damage they endured immediately after the storms, and detail recovery actions in Puerto Rico's recovery plan.
Sep 30, 2020
Blog
RAND's Got Talent
Two RAND singers, Allison Elder and Jennifer Prim, performed with the Angel City Chorale on America's Got Talent. The choir earned a standing ovation and a “golden buzzer” from the judges on its way to the semifinals.
Oct 26, 2018
Dissertation
Vibrant Symphony Orchestras: A Policy Analytic Perspective
Addresses American symphony orchestras and the unusual economic challenges they face, which are shared by many performing arts organizations.
Dec 12, 2016
Dissertation
Considering Cultural Integration in the United States: Empirical Essays on Immigrants' Arts Participation
Explores arts participation as a means of broader civic and social engagement facilitating immigrants' integration into the United States.
Sep 21, 2016
Report
Findings From the School-Based Theatrical Performance Walk in Our Shoes
California's Prevention and Early Intervention initiative, aimed at stigma and discrimination reduction, developed and presented theatre performances to educate students about mental illness. Researchers evaluated the effectiveness of one of these performances, Walk in Our Shoes.
May 27, 2014
Commentary
Putting the Spring in the Arab Spring
Qatar has a salsa scene. Dubai hosted the big international Fujairah Latin Festival. The Oman Salsa Festival took place in March. Jordan and Cairo both have a salsa scene. What makes this so conversation-worthy is that it is indicative of a growing cultural openness in parts of the Middle East.
Jun 17, 2013
Report
Artists and the Arab Uprisings
Artists can play a positive role in shaping public debate and supporting democratic transition in the Middle East. This report explores challenges to artists after the Arab uprisings and how governments and nongovernmental actors can support them.
May 28, 2013
Commentary
In Iraq, a Different Kind of Drama Stages a Message of Reconciliation
While female suicide bombers in Iraq have been getting all the headlines, a very different cadre of women has emerged on the scene with the opposite goal of forging peace and paving over the sectarian differences. Above all, these activists want to take back the streets and neighborhoods of their country, write Edward O'Connell and Cheryl Benard.
Dec 18, 2008
Research Brief
Emerging Trends in State Arts Policy
This research brief describes an effort carried out to describe and understand the strategies being used by innovative state arts agencies to deal with today's financial and political realities.
Nov 12, 2008
Report
Trends and Future Prospects for the Arts Predict Changing Role for State Agencies
State arts agencies — key players within the U.S. system of public support for the arts — face a wide varitey of challenges to their typical roles as grantmakers. The author concludes that future state arts policy is likely to focus more on efforts to develop the creative economy and to grow the audience for the arts.
Oct 29, 2008
News Release
Improving Arts Education Is Key to Stemming Audience Decline
Policymakers have underestimated the critical role of arts learning in supporting a vibrant nonprofit cultural sector. Despite decades of effort to make high-quality works of art available to Americans, demand for the arts has failed to keep pace with supply.
Sep 9, 2008
Research Brief
How to Cultivate Demand for the Arts
This research brief summarizes a study about what it means to cultivate demand for the arts, why it is important to do so, the role of arts learning in this effort, and arts and education policy changes needed to build future arts audiences.
May 20, 2008
News Release
Arts Policy Should Focus on Building Individual Appreciation of the Arts
The broad range of benefits that the arts provide to individuals can be sustained and enhanced by strengthening public appreciation of the arts.
Feb 15, 2005
News Release
RAND Report Says State Arts Agencies Need to Reach Out to Broader Public in Order to Avoid Cycle of Budget Woes
State arts agencies need to change the way they do business if they wish to avoid a continued cycle of budget woes.
Jun 4, 2004

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RAND Topic:
Performing Arts

Topic Synonyms:
Dance;
Theatre Arts

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