Giving Compass' Take:

• Arts Fund breaks down how the arts have produced social impact for King County communities in Washington state.  

• How can funders best support local artist and art communities? 

• Learn about incubating art for social impact. 

In the backdrop of a booming economy and growing prosperity, King County has been grappling in recent decades with issues such as income inequality, educational opportunity, affordable housing and homelessness, healthy aging, and 21st Century workforce development. These multifaceted issues continue to draw investment, intervention, and vocal concern but seem to defy existing approaches and solutions.

This study of the social impact of the arts injects insights into the regional conversation about how the arts can play a unique, powerful role in addressing these complex community needs. It is part of a growing movement of arts leaders partnering with civic and community leaders to understand and articulate the impact of arts on society, and it starts with a question:

Can arts change our communities in the ways they change our lives and economies?

To ground our inquiry, we sought to establish where arts stand in people’s minds as a tool for social change. Our survey of King County residents reveals that most community members associate art experiences with personal joy and inspiring imagination, and they are likely to feel art connects people and helps bridge cultures. Yet only 28% of King County residents think arts and culture promote social change at a community-level.

This finding does not align with a growing body of national and international research and data on arts impact, or with the inventory of examples of arts advancing social change in King County. Our study team identified and reviewed data from over 150 studies of arts’ positive impacts on three selected study themes: Youth Development and Education, Health and Wellness, and Neighborhood Vitality. Evidence for arts’ positive social impact stems from education, health, and placemaking researchers, economists and social scientists, in addition to arts researchers. Our team also documented ten local case examples (from over 100 nominees) of arts programs with regional social impact.

We found cases of arts experiences associated with formerly homelessness individuals staying housed, justiceinvolved youth going on to find work and not re-offending, and people with Parkinson’s accessing movement and expression they had thought long ago lost to the disease. The stories of impact ripple beyond direct participants to contribute to thriving neighborhoods and community spaces, health-promoting social fabric, and stronger shared understanding of complex issues like homelessness.

Why, then, does the average resident not see the full potential of arts for social impact? And why are arts voices not at the table for crafting solutions to community priorities?

To dig into the disconnect and to chart a path forward, we had to ask not just whether arts advance the selected community priorities, but how, and for whom, this happens, and why these impacts are not more well known. Through the case studies we discovered that arts impact comes from how it integrates with other interventions, complementing and reinforcing them, rather than replacing them. Art has a unique ability to connect to emotions, an essential component of holistic, effective solutions. Integrating art with other social interventions can promote equity in powerful ways, reaching across differences such as race, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, and language. For example, when education is paired with arts, research shows the strongest benefits accruing to low-income students, lessening the opportunity gap. The cases also illuminated many barriers to expanding arts’ reach and impact to greater depth and scale. These barriers are common across organizations, no matter the size of the program or what social needs they address.