Reports & research
Research on North Carolina’s arts.
We study the arts in North Carolina the way a research institute would: from public records and our own yearly survey, with every source named and every method published. That includes what the arts are worth to the state: the jobs, the visitors and the money they bring to each community. Here is what we are preparing, and how we work.
The arts as an economy
Economic impact of the arts in North Carolina
The arts are more than a night out. They are work for musicians, painters, actors and makers, and for the sound crews, framers, printers, restaurants and hotels around them. This yearly report will measure what the arts bring to North Carolina, and to each place in it.
Why it matters
- Jobs. How many people earn some or all of their living from the arts, and where.
- Visitors. How many people travel for a show, a festival or a gallery, and what they spend while they are here.
- Money in local economies. What flows through venues, studios and the businesses around them, in a county, a town or a region.
- Making a living. What artists and arts businesses actually earn, so they, and the people who back them, can plan with real numbers.
What it will cover
- Statewide, with the full picture for North Carolina.
- By place: county, town and region, where there is enough data to say something reliable.
- By art form: the same eight art forms as the directory, from music to museums.
How it will be made
- An end-of-year survey. Each year we will ask the artists, venues and arts-related businesses listed in the directory about their work, audiences, jobs and income. Answers are kept private and reported only in totals.
- Public data. Survey results are combined with published public data, and every source is named.
- Reviewed with university researchers. We plan to work with university researchers to review the survey and the method before any figure is released.
Annual report
State of the Arts in North Carolina 2026
A yearly look at the health of the arts across North Carolina, art form by art form: where the arts happen, who keeps them going, and where there is room to grow.
What each chapter will look at
- Where it happens. Places for the art form, by region and town.
- How often. Events, seasons and series through the year.
- Who supports it. Arts organizations and presenters, from their public filings.
- Public support. Local arts funding, read from adopted town and county budgets.
- Heritage and learning. Historic places, schools and teaching.
- What’s missing. Gaps in the record, named plainly, so they can be filled.
How it will be made
From the NC Arts Directory’s public records and from published public data. Every figure will name its source, the method will be published with the report, and nothing will be released until the method has been reviewed.
Eight chapters
One chapter for every art form
The report follows the directory’s eight art forms. Each chapter is in preparation. Until then, each section of the directory shows what is there today.
- Chapter 1
Music
Venues of every size, how often live music happens, festivals, and the groups behind them.
Music today - Chapter 2
Theater & Performance
Playhouses and companies, seasons, and community theater across the state.
Theater today - Chapter 3
Dance
Companies, studios and schools, and the stages where dance is performed.
Dance today - Chapter 4
Visual Arts
Galleries, art centers, studios and public art.
Visual arts today - Chapter 5
Craft & Traditional Arts
Guilds, studios, craft schools and traditional makers.
Craft today - Chapter 6
Literary Arts
Bookstores, reading series, literary festivals and writers’ groups.
Literary arts today - Chapter 7
Film & Media
Cinemas, film festivals and the people who make film and media here.
Film and media today - Chapter 8
Museums & Heritage
Museums, historic sites and the people who keep local history.
Museums today
More research
Other work under way
- Planned · in preparation
Economic impact of the arts
Jobs, visitors and money in local economies, statewide and by county, town, region and art form. Built from our end-of-year survey and public data.
About the report - Pilot
Ray Arts Index
A clear, evidence-based picture of each town’s cultural life, starting with music. The method is summarized below.
How the Index works - Pilot · not yet published
Community check-ups
Plain-language reports for community leaders, built from the Index: a town’s strengths and its room to grow. Drafts exist for a first group of towns.
Certified communities receive one
Methodology
How the Ray Arts Index works
The Index measures the cultural life of a town. It starts with music; visual arts, performing arts and heritage will follow. It looks at six areas.
Point values and scores- Live music venuesActive venues of every size, from outdoor stages and clubs to coffeehouses.
- Regular live musicWeekly shows, series and residencies.
- Festivals and major eventsAnnual music festivals and large cultural events.
- Supporting organizationsArts councils, music nonprofits and presenters.
- Local government supportArts funding, an arts district or a cultural liaison.
- Heritage and educationHistoric sites and school music programs.
The rules it follows
- Towns are rated; businesses and artists are not. Venues and organizations are classified by objective facts, such as size, never graded. Artists are listed, never rated.
- Missing information is never counted as zero. Where the evidence is thin, the town is marked incomplete in that area.
- Every number traces to evidence. When we correct a fact, we record the recalculation instead of silently changing past results.
- Communities can help. Towns can correct their data and add missing venues, festivals and organizations.
- Certification is separate. It recognizes commitment and never changes a town’s score.
The Index is a pilot. Results are labeled provisional while the method is tested for fairness across large and small, urban and rural towns.
Our research standards
Research you can check
We want our reports to be cited, so we hold them to the standards of academic research.
- Sources named. Every figure says where it came from and links to it.
- Methods published. Definitions and methods are published with each report, so anyone can check the work.
- Reviewed before release. No figure is published until the method has been reviewed.
- Each figure in context. Different studies measure different things. We say what each one measures, and we never add them together.
- Missing is not zero. Where data are missing, we say so.
- Corrections recorded. When we correct something, we note the change.
Free for venues, groups and artists
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