Research Resources
This curated collection is intended for faculty, staff, and students who want to research, document, write about, publish, or contextualize publicly engaged humanities and arts work. These resources can be useful when developing an AEPG project, assessing its impact, preparing a publication or conference presentation, documenting engaged scholarship for professional advancement, or situating a project within broader conversations about public humanities and arts practice.
Because public engagement takes different forms across the humanities and arts, the resources below include scholarship and policy related to public humanities, engaged scholarship, arts research, interdisciplinary collaboration, public art, community-engaged design, theatre and performance, dance, music and opera, assessment, and advocacy.
Public Engagement Frameworks
These resources provide useful starting points for defining publicly engaged work, identifying different forms of engagement, and situating an individual project within the larger fields of public humanities and engaged scholarship.
A Typology of the Publicly Engaged Humanities — Humanities for All
Identifies five overlapping forms of publicly engaged humanities work: outreach, engaged
public programming, engaged research, engaged teaching, and the infrastructure of
engagement. Particularly useful for describing what kind of engagement a project undertakes.
Goals of the Publicly Engaged Humanities — Humanities for All
Identifies recurring goals of publicly engaged humanities projects and provides language
for connecting individual projects to larger educational and public purposes.
Humanities for All
A searchable collection of more than 2,000 publicly engaged humanities initiatives
in higher education, including projects involving teaching, research, public programming,
cultural preservation, community partnerships, and infrastructure.
Humanities for All Resources
A collection of toolkits, reports, webinars, impact research, training materials,
and publications supporting publicly engaged humanities work.
National Humanities Alliance Resources
Research, advocacy tools, policy information, public-engagement materials, and resources
for communicating the value of humanities teaching, research, and programming.
Generous Thinking: A Radical Approach to Saving the University — Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Examines listening, collaboration, and the relationships universities build with the
communities and publics around them. Particularly useful for thinking about engagement
as an exchange rather than simply the dissemination of university expertise.
"Going Public: Rethinking Engagement and Access through Local Partnerships" — Jordan Windholz
Explores how public humanities work develops through institutional and community relationships
and challenges scholars to think carefully about how publics are constituted through
engagement.
Documenting & Assessing Impact
Engaged projects can generate forms of value that attendance figures alone cannot capture. These resources offer methods and frameworks for documenting participation, learning, relationships, artistic quality, community experience, and longer-term impact.
Documenting the Impact of the Public Humanities in Higher Education: A Toolkit — Humanities
for All
A practical guide to designing impact research, selecting methods, collecting evidence,
and using qualitative and quantitative data to understand publicly engaged humanities
work.
a2ru: Impacts
Research, tools, workshops, and reading lists for understanding and communicating
the impacts of arts integration within and beyond higher education.
a2ru Impacts Map
A research-based framework for considering impacts across teaching, research, engagement,
student experience, student futures, interdisciplinary work, and relationships beyond
the university.
Aesthetic Perspectives: Attributes of Excellence in Arts for Change
A framework for understanding and evaluating artistic excellence when creative work
intersects with civic engagement, community development, and social change. This is
particularly useful for arts projects seeking language that addresses artistic quality
and engaged impact together.
Arts Participation in 2022: A Technical Summary Report — National Endowment for the
Arts
National data on arts attendance, literary reading, digital arts participation, creating
and performing art, and arts learning. Useful for situating local projects within
larger patterns of arts participation.
Writing, Publishing & Professional Advancement
Publicly engaged work often produces collaborative processes, performances, exhibitions, digital projects, community partnerships, and other outcomes that do not fit neatly within conventional academic categories. These resources can help faculty describe, publish, document, and seek professional recognition for that work.
Guidelines for Evaluating Publicly Engaged Humanities Scholarship in Language and
Literature Programs [pdf] — Modern Language Association
Provides guidance for evaluating scope and impact, form and dissemination, project
development, collaboration, community relationships, and the ethical dimensions of
publicly engaged scholarship.
Scholarship in Public: Knowledge Creation and Tenure Policy in the Engaged University
— Julie Ellison and Timothy K. Eatman
A foundational resource for recognizing publicly engaged scholarly and creative work
within promotion and tenure, particularly in the arts, humanities, and design.
SJSU Scholarship of Engagement RTP Policy [pdf]
San José State’s Retention, Tenure, and Promotion policy formally recognizes Scholarship
of Engagement within Scholarly/Artistic/Professional Achievement. Faculty documenting
AEPG or other engaged work for professional advancement should consult the University
policy directly.
a2ru: Tenure and Promotion Policy
Research, policy resources, tools, and reading lists addressing institutional recognition
of arts research, interdisciplinary practice, and nontraditional scholarly and creative
work.
Arts Research: An Explainer — a2ru
A useful starting point for faculty and academic leaders seeking language to understand
and describe creative practice as research.
Situating Creative Practice as Research — a2ru
Resources for thinking through when, why, and how artists and designers might frame
creative practice as research.
HuMetricsHSS Values Framework
A framework for connecting scholarly evaluation with values such as equity, openness,
collegiality, quality, and community. Useful when considering how publicly engaged
work might be evaluated beyond conventional productivity measures.
Arts Research & Interdisciplinary Practice
These resources address arts research, interdisciplinary collaboration, arts integration, creative placemaking, and the institutional structures that allow artistic practice to participate in research and public life.
a2ru Research — Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities
A major research portal organized around arts integration, impacts, interdisciplinary
collaboration, best practices, and tenure and promotion.
a2ru: Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Research, tools, workshops, and reading lists for initiating and sustaining collaboration
across disciplines.
a2ru Creative Placemaking Resource Hub
A large collection of research, reports, case studies, and practical tools. The collection
can be explored by areas including Dance, Design, Film/Media, Music, Theater, Visual
Arts, Higher Education, Measurement and Evaluation, Equity, Partnerships, and Cross-Sector
Collaboration.
Supporting Artists on STEMM Research Teams: Why and How — a2ru
Examines what artists contribute to interdisciplinary research teams and the institutional
and collaborative conditions that allow that work to succeed.
Creative Placemaking — National Endowment for the Arts
Research and resources on the integration of arts, culture, design, and community
development.
Creative Placemaking Resources — National Endowment for the Arts
Publications, case studies, evaluation resources, and practical guidance on arts-
and culture-based community development and place-based work.
Visual Art, Design & Public Art
These resources are particularly useful for faculty working with exhibitions, public art, social practice, community-engaged design, creative placemaking, installation, and other work situated in public space.
CAA Guidelines for Public Art Works — College Art Association
Professional guidance addressing public-art commissioning, artist selection, contracts,
budgeting, community processes, equity, social practice, and interdisciplinary public-art
education.
Public Art Resources — National Endowment for the Arts
Research and guidance related to public-art policies, processes, planning, commissioning,
and implementation.
Public Art Archive Resources
Practical resources for documenting public art, including cataloging, metadata, photography,
budgets, contracts, policies, preservation, and field standards.
Forecast Public Art: Arts-Based Community Engagement
Resources and examples involving artist-led facilitation, cultural asset mapping,
civic memory, public-space planning, community participation, and co-creation.
Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide
A community-centered design framework emphasizing history, power, equity, humility,
and co-creation.
Public Interest Design Institute
Training and resources in participatory and community-based design using the Social
Economic Environmental Design framework to consider social, economic, and environmental
impact.
Public Interest Design Publications
Publications and case studies addressing public-interest design methodology, professional
practice, community engagement, evaluation, and capacity building.
Theatre, Dance & Performance
Performance-based engagement has developed its own body of research and practice around civic relationships, place, dialogue, collaboration, participation, and community-defined priorities.
Center for Performance and Civic Practice
A national organization focused on the ways artists, culture makers, designers, and
community partners can work together around community-defined questions, challenges,
and aspirations.
Center for Performance and Civic Practice: Resources
Field notes, project documentation, methods, and other materials exploring performance-based
civic and community practice.
Civic Practice, Theatre, and Arts-Based, Community-Led Transformation — HowlRound
A collection of essays examining theatre, civic practice, aesthetics, dialogue, community
collaboration, and arts-based approaches to public life.
Beyond the Building: Performing Arts & Transforming Place — National Endowment for
the Arts
Examines how performing artists and organizations engage communities, build relationships,
participate in creative placemaking, and contribute to understandings of place.
Dance/USA Resources
Professional resources covering audience engagement, advocacy, archiving, equity,
research, contracting, funding, preservation, and other areas of dance practice.
Dance/USA Research
National research and field data supporting analysis of professional dance, organizational
practice, audiences, artists, and sustainability.
Music, Choral & Opera
These resources address education, participation, community engagement, civic practice, audiences, and public value within music organizations and ensembles.
Education and Community Engagement — League of American Orchestras
Research, tools, advocacy materials, and field resources focused on orchestra education,
community engagement, partnerships, and public value.
Orchestras Building Community Through Education and Engagement — League of American OrchestrasResearch examining how youth and adult orchestras approach education, participation, partnerships, and community-responsive engagement.
Chorus America Research & Reports
Research on choral participation, organizational practice, audiences, and the individual
and community dimensions of singing.
The Chorus Impact Study: Singing for a Lifetime — Chorus America
Research examining participation in choral singing and its relationship to individual
and community experience.
An Introduction to Civic Practice — OPERA America
Resources on relationship-building, co-creation, community context, public priorities,
and civic practice within opera. Particularly useful for distinguishing civic practice
from conventional outreach or audience development.
Public Value & Advocacy
Faculty writing about engaged projects may also need research that situates individual programs within broader arguments about the public, social, educational, and economic value of humanities and arts activity.
National Humanities Alliance Resources
Research, advocacy tools, policy materials, public humanities resources, and guidance
for communicating the public value of humanities education and research.
Humanities for All
The project database and accompanying research provide comparative evidence about
publicly engaged humanities work across higher education.
Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 — Americans for the Arts
National research on the economic and social impact of nonprofit arts and cultural
activity, including national and local findings.
Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 Tools & Resources
Materials designed to help organizations interpret, communicate, and use arts-impact
findings in advocacy and public communication.
Arts Participation in 2022 — National Endowment for the Arts
National evidence about how adults attend, create, perform, read, learn about, and
participate in the arts.
Journals & Publication Venues
Faculty who want to publish about an AEPG project or other engaged work may find these venues particularly relevant.
Public Humanities — Cambridge University Press
An open-access, peer-reviewed journal focused on relationships between humanities
scholarship and public life. Its scope extends across humanities disciplines and includes
performing and visual arts.
Public Humanities: Author Instructions
Information about submission formats, article types, and expectations for authors
interested in publishing in the journal.
Public: A Journal of Imagining America
A peer-reviewed multimedia journal focused on humanities, arts, and design in public
life, including community-engaged teaching, research, creative practice, documentation,
and assessment.
Imagining America
A national consortium concerned with publicly engaged scholarship, arts, humanities,
and design. Its publications and programs provide useful context for engaged faculty
work.
Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship
A peer-reviewed journal focused on community-engaged research, teaching, partnerships,
methods, and scholarship.
Using These Resources
No single framework will fit every AEPG or public-engagement project. A performance, exhibition, public-art installation, film, community collaboration, workshop, interdisciplinary project, or public humanities initiative may require different scholarly conversations and different forms of evidence.
Faculty may find it useful to begin by identifying what aspect of a project they want to examine: its form of public engagement, student learning, artistic or scholarly process, collaboration, community relationships, interdisciplinary practice, participant experience, public value, or longer-term impact. The resources on this page can then provide concepts, methods, comparative research, and disciplinary vocabulary for developing that analysis.
When writing about publicly engaged work, consider documenting the project’s process as well as its outcomes.
- How did the project develop?
- Who contributed to it?
- How did collaboration affect the work?
- What did students or participants experience? What evidence was collected?
- What continued after the public event?
- These questions can help turn the experience of producing a project into evidence for scholarship, creative research, professional advancement, future grant applications, and further public work.
