Creatives Rebuild New York is pleased to release two open-call research solicitations tied to our Artist Employment Program. The deadline to apply to both opportunities is Friday, May 19, 2023 at 5:00 PM Eastern.  

1. Request for Proposals: Participatory Action Research Study: Evaluating the Impact of Creatives Rebuild New York’s Artist Employment Program on Artists and Organizations (Download RFP)
2. Request for Expressions of Interest: Research Grant to Conduct a Comparative Assessment of Artist Employment Models (Download RFEI)

The first study will focus on understanding the impacts of the Artist Employment Program on participating artists and organizations. Funding up to $700,000 will be awarded as a research contract. The second study will focus on understanding and highlighting the range of employment experiences of artists in the Artist Employment Program. Funding up to $400,000 will be awarded as a research grant.  

Our Artist Employment Program is both testing and demonstrating what artist employment can look like. CRNY believes it is critical to understand and analyze what works (and doesn’t work) for participating artists and organizations in order to support artists as workers within the broader labor market. It is our hope that the findings will be central to supporting the lives and livelihoods of individual artists across New York State long after CRNY’s programs have ended.

These research efforts form a core part of CRNY’s impact and narrative change agenda. CRNY is committed to research that centers equity in its processes and methods—prioritizing the perspectives and knowledge of program participants and ensuring that they are the ones best positioned to use or benefit from the findings. As articulated by the Equitable Evaluation Initiative, we “embrace new concepts of objectivity, rigor, validity, and complexity” and commit not only to compensation of research participants but also care, trust, and respect for the beliefs, ideas, and expertise they bring to our learning processes.  

CRNY will host an informational webinar for the Participatory Action Research Study RFP on Thursday, May 4, 2023 from 4:00-5:30 PM Eastern, during which we will provide ample time to answer questions from potential respondents. Click here to register for the webinar. 

All other questions should be directed to Jamie Hand, Director of Strategic Impact and Narrative Change, at jamie@creativesrebuildny.org.

Header image: Avoidance Mapping Workshop, Perfect City, Tiffany Zorrilla, Jahmorei Snipes, Aaron Landsman. Photo by Troi Hall.