Prepared by Gonzalo Casals
BUILD PERMANENT RESEARCH, EVALUATION, AND DATA CAPACITY WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS (DCLA) TO ENSURE CULTURAL POLICY IS EQUITABLE, EFFICIENT, AND RESPONSIVE TO THE LIVED REALITIES OF NEW YORK CITY’S CULTURAL WORKERS, ORGANIZATIONS, AND COMMUNITIES, WHILE STRENGTHENING COLLABORATION ACROSS CITY AGENCIES AND WITH CIVIL SOCIETY.
This capacity would enable DCLA to identify who is served and underserved, direct public investment more equitably, adapt programs in real time, and collaborate more effectively with City agencies and civil society. Operating as an evidence-driven policy agency—with the ability to share and analyze data across municipal systems—would replace reliance on anecdotes and lagging proxies, strengthen policy precision and budget credibility, and align cultural policy with standards applied in other core public sectors.
IMPACT
A substantial research and data function would improve how culture and arts investments are designed, targeted, and evaluated by revealing disparities across organizations, workers, neighborhoods, and disciplines. Grounding decisions in evidence would support fairer resource allocation and more effective integration of culture and arts into housing, workforce, public health, and neighborhood investment strategies, positioning them as measurable contributors to economic vitality, social cohesion, and community well-being.
IMPLEMENTATION
The City would establish a permanent research and data division within DCLA with four core functions: (1) interagency data sharing and governance; (2) continuous sector-wide monitoring of organizations, workers, space, and funding flows; (3) applied policy research directly tied to program design and budget formulation; and (4) public-facing transparency through regularly updated data products. This unit would be staffed with dedicated expertise in research, data governance, and policy analysis, supported by interoperable systems and formal data-sharing agreements with relevant agencies. The division would operate as governance infrastructure, ensuring that cross-sector cultural policy is executable, accountable, and durable.