Research - Past RFPs

Application for Faculty Research Proposals (Due March 31, 2004)

Application for $5000 Graduate Research Assistants (Due June 30, 2004)

Research Projects Currently Available to GRAs

In the absence of sound research findings, policymaking in the cultural sector can only be a matter of conjecture. To help establish this sector on stronger footing, the Center promotes research projects that bring together humanists and empirically trained social scientists to examine the complex workings of culture in our lives.

Application for Faculty Research Proposals:
Faculty Projects Needing Graduate Research Assistants (GRA)

ABOUT THE GRA PROGRAM: In 2003-2004, the Cultural Policy Center provided 13, $5000 awards to graduate students to work on faculty initiated project or student initiated research project mentored by a faculty member. GRAs are masters and Ph.D. level students. GRAs work approximately 7 hours per week on research project and 3 hours a week with CPC. GRAs are paid directly by CPC. (Proposals for graduate student initiated projects will be posted in April with a May deadline.)

The Cultural Policy Center (CPC) is currently accepting proposals from University of Chicago faculty interested in recruiting Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs) for cultural policy related projects scheduled to be underway during the next academic year.

DEADLINE: The deadline for faculty proposals is March 31, 2004.

Interested faculty should submit a proposal with the following materials:

  1. A cover sheet with name, address, phone number, email, title of project, your school/department.
  2. A current c.v.
  3. A research project outline (3 pages maximum) that includes
    1. Research questions to be addressed
    2. Data collection activities to be undertaken (if any)
    3. Copy of IRB approval (if required)
    4. Detailed description of project objectives, methods and anticipated date of completion
    5. Job description for graduate students. Describe necessary skills, number of hours, and number of graduate students needed. Include names of recommended students for the project if any.
    6. Time table

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Diane Grams 773-702-4407
Proposals may be submitted via email to: dmgrams@uchicago.edu

Proposals may be submitted via campus or snail mail to:

Diane Grams
Associate Director
Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago
Harris School of Public Policy Studies
1155 East 60th Street, Room 157
Chicago, IL 60637

Application for $5000 Graduate Research Assistants

APPLICATIONS: GRA applications for 2004-2005 will be available May 28, 2004

DEADLINE: June 30, 2004 for fall 2004 awards

2003-04 Application:

Graduate Research Assistantships at the Cultural Policy Center in

The Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies

ABOUT THE CULTURAL POLICY CENTER: The Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago is an interdisciplinary initiative of the Division of the Humanities and The Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies dedicated to fostering research and public dialogue about the practical workings of culture in our lives. By serving as an incubator for new ways of thinking about, measuring, assessing, and evaluating what arts do and how they may be affected by public policies, the Center helps policymakers and arts professionals better understand how to foster cultural creativity, increase participation in cultural activities, and preserve cultural heritage.

PURPOSE OF ASSISTANTSHIPS: For the 2003-2004 academic year, the Center is offering up to ten $5000 Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA) to graduate students in public policy, social sciences, law, business or humanities. Assistantships are awarded to work/study and non-work/study students. The purpose of these fellowships is:

  • To provide academic and financial support to graduate students interested in cultural policy
  • To facilitate graduate student involvement in Center-sponsored research and outreach activities
  • To provide research and financial support to faculty interested in pursuing cultural policy questions
  • To foster a community of faculty, graduate students, and arts practioners interested in addressing cultural policy issues
  • To foster long-term interest and expertise in researching culture to inform policy

RESEARCH UNDERTAKEN: Graduate students receiving assistantships will gain experience in collaborative research strategies and in disseminating research findings to the public. Center activities are designed to help students develop a foundation for future research, including thesis or dissertation research, and to help students make connections with both scholars and real-world policymakers in the cultural sector.

Graduate research assistants may participate in Center activities in several capacities, such as:

  • assisting in faculty-designed research projects funded under Center auspices;
  • pursuing self-designed research;
  • working with the Directors and the Associate Director to develop collaborative university-community research projects;
  • organizing Center seminars and conferences;
  • producing documentation of the Center’s activities for public dissemination in the form of working papers, websites, or books.
  • Assistantships may also focus on:

  • basic research into the structure, functioning, and politics of the arts and humanities
  • development of measurement tools such as survey instruments that would improve policymaking in the cultural sector
  • assessment/evaluation of programs offered by agencies, foundations, or cultural institutions
  • development of programs or events in coordination with non-university partners

Attached is a list of seven research projects currently underway.

AWARD AND DUTIES OF GRA’s: Students receiving assistantships will receive an academic-year stipend of $5,000 to cover 10 hrs/wk (with time roughly divided 7 hours/wk research assistance on a CPC project or independent student-designed research project and 3 hrs/wk administrative assistance to CPC). GRAs are expected to attend at least two meetings and events per month such as workshops, seminars, briefing series, and/or brownbag lunches. GRAs will organize and participate in a year-end event in which they present a paper or a poster presentation on the work completed during the fellowship.

APPLICATION PROCESS: Students interested in applying for a GRA are required to attend an introductory meeting on October 6, 2003 at 12 Noon at the Harris School, 1155 East 60th Street, RM 157. Center staff will discuss current and pending center-sponsored projects for which students may apply. Students are encouraged to speak with project sponsors listed on next page in the development of their project outline.

To apply for a fellowship, students will submit three copies of the following materials (using 11or 12 pt type):

  1. A cover sheet with name, address, phone number, email, CPC project you are interested in applying for, school/department enrolled, anticipated graduation date, work/study status (yes/no)
  2. A statement of career interests (1/2 page)
  3. A description of any past involvement in the area of cultural policy (1/2 page)
  4. A c.v. or resume (1 page)
  5. A research project outline (3 pages maximum) that includes
    1. Research questions to be addressed
    2. Data collection activities to be undertaken
    3. A description of product resulting from the assistantship (student authored paper, collaborative paper with several students or with sponsoring faculty, or some other product.)
    4. Chart with schedule for monthly accomplishments

DEADLINE, ADDRESS AND COPIES: The deadline for applications is October 10, 2003. No email or fax applications will be accepted. Deliver three copies of the application by 5 p.m. to:

Cultural Policy Center
Diane Grams, Associate Director, RM 157
Re: Graduate Research Assistantships
1155 East 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637

Inquiries should be directed to Associate Director Diane Grams (dmgrams@uchicago.edu; 773-702-4407). Although we cannot fund all applications received, we will work as much as possible with all students to identify potential community partners and possible support for collaborative projects.

2003-04 Research Projects Available to GRAs

Arts Workforce Project

Principle Investigator: Don Coursey, Harris School Faculty.

The purpose of this project is to study the relationship between the size of the workforce in the arts and culture sector and regional economic performance. Students have begun building a “cultural industries database” using Board of Labor statistics, census data and regional cultural indicators. The Cultural Policy Center has developed this multi-year research project in part to assist the City of Chicago’s Advancing Chicago’s Civic Agenda through the Arts Project and its Creative Industries Task Force. The research will analyze 100 years of labor and economic statistics across 350 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in order to identify the characteristics of a city that contribute to real growth in the art and culture sector and how the arts and culture sector affects economic growth. (2 Graduate Research Assistants)

Cultural Amenities Project

Principle Investigator: Terry N. Clark, Sociology Faculty. Co-investigator: Lawrence Rothfield, Humanities Faculty and Cultural Policy Center Director.

This two-year project extends the Arts Workforce Project to study cultural amenities in the 350 MSAs. Students will work with faculty to identify indicators of “cultural scenes” and add these to the “cultural industries database.” Among the categories to be studied are: public art and architecture, community-based arts, night-life arts, literary amenities, high arts, sports and natural amenities. This multi-year research project will seek to inform policy-makers on how to support economic and cultural development on neighborhood level. (3 Graduate Research Assistants, preference given to students to be enrolled through 2005)

Economic Impact Analysis Conference

Principle Investigator: Don Coursey, Harris School Faculty. CPC Sponsor: Carroll Joynes, Cultural Policy Center Executive Director.

In spring 2004, the Center will hold a convening of 15 international economists and 15 arts policy practioners at the Pocantico Conference Center (Rockefeller Brothers Fund) in Terrytown, New York to discuss the design and use of economic impact studies as a tool to inform cultural policy. GRA will do a literature review of all available economic impact studies, create an annotated bibliography of the studies and co-author a paper analyzing them. In addition student will work with CPC staff to organize conference and assemble participants. (1 Graduate Research Assistant)

The Future of Public Television Conference

Sponsors: Carroll Joynes, Cultural Policy Center Executive Director and John Callaway, Harris School Board Member and former host of WTTW’s news program, Chicago Tonight.

This October 2004 conference will examine the changing dynamics of public television as it negotiates a place in an increasingly competitive media market, finds a structure for its outdated financial structure and seeks to maintain its public interest mission. The student will research issues, organizations and players and assist CPC staff in organizing the conference. (1 Graduate Research Assistant, preference given to student to be enrolled through fall 2004.)

Mapping Cultural Participation: A Study of African American and Hispanic Participation in ChicagoCultural Institutions

Principle Investigators: Robert LaLonde, Harris School Faculty and Colm O’Muircheartaigh, Harris School Faculty and NORC Vice President. CPC Sponsor: Carroll Joynes, Cultural Policy Center Executive Director,).

The purpose of this study is to establish baseline measures of African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian participation in major Chicago cultural institutions. This study will include socio-economic mapping of the Chicago metropolitan area using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software, census tract data from the U.S. Census, and participation lists provided by the institutions. It will also involve interviews and focus groups, to investigate “willingness” to participate in major cultural institutions. In 2003-2004, a student will complete literature review and initiate relationships with cultural institutions. Throughout the study, which will be completed in spring 2005, the student will work with CPC staff to gather data, meet with institutional participants, assist mapping technicians and assist with interviews and transcriptions. (1 GRA 2003-2004, with a possible additional GRA in summer/fall 2004. Preference given to student to be enrolled through 2005.)

Community Arts Program Evaluation

Principle Investigator: Robert LaLonde, Harris School Faculty. CPC Sponsor: Diane Grams, Associate Director of the Cultural Policy Center.

The purpose of this project is two-fold: first, revisit CPC’s survey of local organizations to identify new partnerships with local area arts organizations. Among the types of needs we hope to fill include program evaluation, research internships and organizational internships. Secondly, this project will involve working with Professor LaLonde and Center staff to develop a program evaluation strategy with a locally-based arts organizations. (1 graduate research assistant).

Organizational Planning, Management and Assessment

Principle Investigator: Sean Gailmard, Harris School Faculty. CPC Sponsor: Diane Grams, Associate Director of the Cultural Policy Center.

The purpose of this project is to engage a student interested in nonprofit management, organizational studies, research centers or philanthropy in the Cultural Policy Center for a comparative study of CPC operations and programs to other similar entities. The student will choose one area of the Center for an in-depth investigation – grantwriting, evaluation, organizational structure, programs, funding, publishing, marketing – and will complete a comparative analysis while participating in the center activities. In 2003-4 the GRA did a comparative study of Research Centers involved in cultural policy. (1 graduate research assistant, best suited for a student with career interests in nonprofit administration, organizations, museum studies, or humanities.)