Supporting Statement A - 2022 GSS Arts Supplement-FINAL 11.23.21

Supporting Statement A:
Arts Supplement to the 2022 General Social Survey
Introduction
This request is for emergency/expedited clearance of an arts-related supplement to the General
Social Survey (GSS) to be conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) in 2022. The
GSS, first conducted in 1972, is a nationally representative survey of adults in the United States.
More broadly, the GSS data collection of contemporary American society serves as a statistical
barometer of social change and trends, and it helps explain the country’s opinions, attitudes, and
behaviors.
The NEA seeks expedited/emergency clearance so that the agency can better monitor and report
to the public the extent to which arts participation in the United States has been affected uniquely
by the COVID-19 pandemic. Arts participation is widely recognized as a positive indicator of social
and civic well-being. Historical data on arts participation rates through the Survey for Public
Participation in the Arts (OMB Control Number 3135-0136), and the Arts Basic Survey (OMB
Control Number 3135-0131)—as collected by the NEA in partnership with the U.S. Census
Bureau—have been included in the OMB “Social Indicators” that appear under “Performance and
Management” in the President’s annual budget submission. Studies in the U.S. and abroad have
established strong positive relationships between arts participation and health and well-being in
individuals.
Designed by the NEA, the 2022 General Social Survey’s Arts Supplement affords the only current
vehicle for reporting how U.S. arts participation has changed as a direct result of the pandemic,
and for identifying which population subgroups have not resumed these activities, and which may
be underserved, having limited access. The NEA will use these data to fulfill its mission of providing
all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation, whether in-person or virtually.
By tracking changes in arts participation during the pandemic, moreover, the NEA will gain a
better understanding of how consumption patterns have affected economic recovery of the
nation’s arts sector. In 2019, arts and cultural industries contributed $919.7 billion, or 4.3 percent,
of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and accounted for 5.2 million salaried workers, earning
total compensation of $446 billion. From 2017 to 2019, arts and cultural production increased at
a 3 percent clip, slightly higher than the growth rate for the economy as a whole. A year before
COVID-19 hit the U.S., consumers spent $28.5 billion on admissions to performing arts events.
Over the last year, academic, government, and industry reports have shown that arts and cultural
employers and businesses are among the hardest hit by the pandemic, and likely will be the
slowest to recover. In a January 2021 white paper produced for FEMA’s Recovery Support
Function Leadership Group, Argonne National Laboratory analysts concluded from multiple data
sources that “[a]cross the spectrum of artistic and creative endeavors, restrictions on gatherings,
changes in consumer behavior (voluntary or otherwise), and severe unemployment have taken a
devastating toll on the sector.” Recognizing both the outsized economic contributions of the arts
and the disproportionate effects from the pandemic, Congress passed two successive relief
packages (the CARES Act of 2020 and the American Rescue Plan of 2021) that included stimulus
funding for arts jobs and arts and cultural venues and facilities.

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Under both pieces of legislation, the NEA received special funds for the purpose of grantmaking
to help the sector in its recovery. The 2022 General Social Survey’s Arts Supplement is a critical
instrument for assessing the pace of that recovery, allowing the NEA to learn—by combining the
survey results with other data sources—whether social and economic conditions for the arts have
improved, as a result of the stimulus funding and other measures, and for which industries and
subpopulations.
The data will be provided to the public for free through the GSS website as well as through NEA
platforms and affiliated platforms, such as the NEA’s data archive: National Archive of Data on
Arts & Culture (NADAC). The data also will provide the basis for a range of NEA reports and
independent research publications.
A. Justification
A.1. Necessity of Information Collection
The NEA, pursuant to its mandate “to support projects and productions that will encourage public
knowledge, education, understanding and appreciation of the arts” (USC2O, Section 954 (5)) and
“to develop and implement a practical system of national information and data collection and
public dissemination on the arts and their audiences, including trends in audience participation”
(USC 20, Section 954 (q)), has entered into an interagency agreement with the National Science
Foundation to fund an arts supplement GSS.
The GSS is a nationally representative survey of non-institutionalized adults in the United
States, conducted through a randomized mode of administration—half of the respondents will be
interviewed face-to-face, while the other half will take the survey via the internet. The survey has
been conducted since 1972, and is a leading source of data about societal changes and trends.
The 2022 General Social Survey’s Arts Supplement affords the only current vehicle for reporting
how U.S. arts participation has changed as a direct result of the pandemic, and for identifying
which population subgroups have not resumed these activities, and which may be underserved,
having limited access. The NEA will use these data to fulfill its mission of providing all Americans
with diverse opportunities for arts participation, whether in-person or virtually.
By tracking changes in arts participation during the pandemic, moreover, the NEA will gain a
better understanding of how consumption patterns have affected economic recovery of the
nation’s arts sector particularly as it relates to the pandemic; academic, government, and industry
reports have shown over the past year that arts and cultural employers and businesses are among
the hardest hit by the pandemic, and likely will be the slowest to recover.
The NEA intends to support the GSS in future iterations of the arts and cultural supplement, in
order to examine trends over time.
A.2. Needs and Uses of the Data
Need for the data

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Since 1982, the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) has been the nation’s largest and
most representative survey of arts participation patterns in adulthood. It includes questions about
arts attendance and reading, personal creation and performance of art, arts participation via
electronic media, and arts learning. Yet with each successive wave of the SPPA, a core data
element has been lacking. The survey is designed to ask U.S. adults about their arts participation
within the last twelve months. The arts supplement for the 2022 GSS will include a subset of
survey items that reflect on a similar twelve-month reference period between summer 2021 to
summer 2022, but importantly, will also include a subset of survey items specifically asking
respondents to report on changes in the rate of arts participation between the last twelve months
versus the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which occurred between March 2020 and March
2021. This later type of information has been sought repeatedly by arts and cultural researchers,
not to mention arts policy-makers and program managers.
The GSS was a strategic choice for this data collection. It is a nationally representative survey of
non-institutionalized adults in the United States The survey has been conducted since 1972, and
is a leading source of data about societal changes and trends. It has consistently comparatively
high response rates (above 70%), and in addition, a major advantage of the including a
supplement to the GSS is the large amount of other information as part of the survey, including
demographic information on all respondents. The data from the GSS is available free to the public
on their website. 1 The GSS has been conducted since 1972 and, according to NORC, is the only
full-probability, personal-interview survey designed to monitor changes in both social
characteristics and attitudes currently being conducted in the United States.2 In addition, the GSS
has included arts supplements sponsored by the NEA in the past, which may allow for
stakeholders to examine trends in arts participation over the last decade.
Uses of the Data
The NEA remains the primary Federal source for national data and analyses about the U.S. arts
sector, and has identified the collection of this data as one of its research priorities. In addition to
providing this timely and sought-after data to arts and cultural researchers as well as the broader
public, the Agency will use the information to understand trends directly related to its goal of
“provid[ing] opportunities for the American people to engage with the Arts.” 3 This data can be
used to document why people make choices with respect to arts activities, and ultimately, to
make more informed decisions about how to effectively target arts programming. The findings
will not only shed light on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on arts participation, including the
use of technology to stream arts programming and the willingness of U.S. adults to return to inperson arts events, but also whether these behaviors are correlated with demographic and other
factors. While the SPPA provides a wealth of information on behavior (e.g., frequency of
attendance) and demographics of respondents, the SPPA as well as the Current Population Survey
(for which the SPPA is a supplement) does not include other constructs, such as opinions,
attitudes, and additional behaviors. The data collected from the GSS arts supplement will
complement the SPPA data. In addition to providing new information, the questions about arts
participation on the GSS may be used as an independent source of comparison to the SPPA
https://gssdataexplorer.norc.org/
https://gss.norc.org/About-The-GSS
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Identified as “Goal 2.1” in the NEA’s FY 2018 – 2022 Strategic Plan:
https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/NEA-FY2018-2022-StrategicPlan-2.16.18.pdf
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estimates. The analyses will also benefit from the timing of the surveys – the data from the 2022
SPPA are expected to be available in April 2023 while the data from the 2022 GSS arts supplement
are expected to be available in May 2023. Further, the collection of the Arts Basic Survey (ABS)
provides additional estimates on arts participation (but again, do not capture the data that is
unique to the GSS). 4 The NEA intends to support future arts supplements to the GSS, in order to
examine trends over time. Reports and analyses from these data will be made available to the
public on the NEA’s website and associated platforms, such as NADAC, in addition to the GSS
website housed with NORC.
A.3. Use of Information Technology
The supplemental questions are designed to obtain the required information while keeping
respondent burden to a minimum. For the 2022 GSS, half of the respondents will be interviewed
face-to-face, with the use of computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), while the other half
will respond to questions via the internet.
A.4. Efforts to Identify Duplication
There are a few surveys with some questions regarding participation in the arts. The Survey of
Public Participation in the Arts captures information about a range of participation, creation, and
learning activities; however, data is lacking on a longer reference period as it relates to the first
year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The General Social Survey has included periodic modules on arts
and culture, and the 2022 wave is the first time the GSS will be able to capture in more detail the
COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on arts participation, including the use of technology to stream arts
programming and the willingness of U.S. adults to return to in-person arts events.
A.5. Minimizing Burden in Small Businesses or Small Entities
Not applicable. The collection of public participation in the arts information does not involve small
businesses or other small entities.
A.6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection
This data will fill an existing research gap about COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on arts participation,
including the use of technology to stream arts programming and the willingness of U.S. adults to
return to in-person arts events. This data will make it possible to further inform policy decisions
and assist researchers to answer questions related to access to and participation in the arts,
among other issues, including rates of change in access and participation as it relates to global
pandemics or other major events.

Like the SPPA, the ABS is conducted as a supplement to the Current Population Survey. The ABS is an
abbreviated version of the SPPA, and is conducted in years the SPPA is not. (The SPPA is conducted
approximately every five years.) The most recent 2020 ABS has two components—the first contained
questions related to attendance, while the other contained questions about personal performance and
creation of art. The data from the ABS, among other uses, is also reported as part of the Agency’s
performance measures.

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A.7. Special Circumstances
There are no special circumstances that apply to the 2022 GSS.
A.8. Public Comment and Consultations Outside the Agency
A 60-day Federal Register was published on October 25, 2021, to solicit comments on the 2022
GSS prior to submission of this OMB clearance request. A copy of this request is included in
Attachment A. When that notice expires, and at the guidance of OMB, the NEA will publish a fiveday Federal Register notice to solicit comments for emergency approval. The 2022 GSS Arts
Supplement will be fielded sometime between April and November 2022. Therefore, if
expedited/emergency request is granted, the NEA will submit a normal PRA clearance package,
to cover any period beyond six months.
The NEA’s Office of Research & Analysis developed and proposed questions to NSF for inclusion
in the 2022 GSS arts supplement that will enable the NEA to better gauge the impact of the COVID19 pandemic on U.S. arts participation, including participation through web streaming of live
events and the use of technology to create and share art. The NEA reviewed feedback and
comments from the expert review and cognitive testing conducted by NORC to finalize the
survey’s language.
A copy of the proposed 2022 GSS arts-related supplement is included in Attachment B.
A.9. Paying Respondents
There are no payments to respondents specifically for participation in this supplement; however,
NORC may provide payments to individuals participating in the GSS as part of its overall survey
administration procedures.
A.10. Assurance of Confidentiality
The GSS geographic identification code files are made available only to researchers under special
contract with NORC. Under contract, the GSS will provide data on State, Primary sampling unit,
County, & Census tract, but in no circumstances will individually identifying information (name,
address, etc.) be provided. 5
NORC operates its own Institutional Review Board (IRB), which is responsible for ensuring
compliance with federal, state and other applicable regulations. NORC’s IRB has the responsibility
for monitoring survey procedures to ensure the confidentiality of persons and establishments
participating in a study. NORC’s IRB has obtained a Federal Wide Assurance (FWA) and is
registered with the Federal Office for Human Research Protections. The FWA demonstrates that
the NORC IRB complies with the strict U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulations.
NORC’s IRB requires that research protocols, both for projects in the U.S. and internationally,
provide sufficient detail to ensure that (1) the selection of subjects is equitable, subjects’ privacy
is protected, and data confidentiality is maintained; (2) informed consent is written in language
that study participants can understand and is obtained without coercion or undue influence; and
5 More details can be found at: https://gss.norc.org/Documents/other/ObtainingGSSSensitiveDataFiles.pdf

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(3) appropriate safeguards protect the rights and welfare of vulnerable subjects.
A.11. Questions of a Sensitive Nature
The arts supplement will ask no questions of a sensitive nature.
A.12. Estimate of Hour Burden
The estimated respondent burden is 172 hours. This is based on an average 8.99-minute
interview for 1,150 respondents. This estimate was based on pretesting conducted in the summer
of 2021 by NORC.
A.13. Estimate of Cost Burden
There are no costs to respondents other than that of their time to respond.
A.14. Cost to Federal Government
The estimated cost to the government of the supplement is $300,000, which will be borne by the
NEA.
A. 15. Reasons for Program Changes
The arts-related supplement to the 2022 GSS is a new data collection, based on previous GSS arts
supplement collections, that will provide data for comparison with prior GSS surveys, but also will
include new data points on the level of arts participation during the COVID-19 pandemic and
changes in arts participation across multiple years of the pandemic.
A.16. Project Schedule
Data collection for the 2022 GSS will be conducted between April and November 2022. The arts
supplement may be in any of these months. NORC expects to deliver the public-use file and
documentation draft to NEA in April 2023, with a final data file delivery in May of 2023. A summary
report from NEA will be available in the fall of 2023.
A.17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date
We do not wish to display the assigned expiration date of the information collection. There are
no printed questionnaires for the GSS. The survey is conducted by face-to-face interviews, and in
very limited cases, by telephone.
A.18. Exceptions to the Certification
There are no exceptions to the certification.

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