Arts Education Data Project Seeks Strategic Partner for Longterm Stewardship
–The project currently provides 94% of publicly accessible state arts education data nationwide–
(July 30, 2026, Warren NJ) We have some important news to share with all of you regarding the future of the Arts Education Data Project (AEDP), and the nation’s leading source of publicly accessible arts education data.
As many of you know, our field has been hit with significant funding challenges over the last 18 months. The AEDP is no exception. As we shared with our state partners today at the AEDP quarterly meeting, we have initiated a formal search for a strategic partner organization to assume long-term leadership and operational stewardship of the initiative. This would be accomplished through an asset transfer of everything AEDP-related to a new entity.
This transition comes amid significant shifts in the federal and state funding landscape. Recent reductions in public funding streams – cuts to Title IV-A support, cancellation of previously approved National Endowment for the Arts grants, and broader cost shifts from federal to state government – have created uncertainty for programs historically supported through shared public investment. These disruptions have directly impacted the ability of state education agencies, state arts councils, and partners to sustain consistent financial support for AEDP.
Quadrant Research, in coordination with our key funders, is seeking an institutional partner to acquire the AEDP assets with the capacity to expand AEDP’s national infrastructure, deepen cross-state analysis, and implement a more diversified and durable funding model. Leadership is actively exploring philanthropic, institutional, and hybrid approaches to reduce reliance on annual state contributions and ensure long-term stability.
In the near term, AEDP remains fully operational through August as we continue to complete the onboarding of state data for the 2024/2025 school year. On September 1, we will pause any new data ingestion into the system. In the event that a strategic partner is not identified, AEDP would initiate an orderly wind-down process in compliance with state data-sharing requirements to be concluded by July 31, 2027.
Our priority is to protect the progress the project has made to date and we remain committed to ensuring that arts education data remains accessible, credible, and actionable nationwide.
This project would not have achieved all the successes we have over the past two decades without our collaboration with the State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education (SEADAE). The SEADAE leadership and individual members have been the key to the success of this effort and will remain a critical cornerstone of this project as it moves forward.
If you are aware of any organizations or individuals interested in exploring a strategic partnership with the Arts Education Data Project, please encourage them to contact Bob Morrison at bobm@artsedresearch.org.
About the Arts Education Data Project
The Arts Education Data Project is a more than 20-year joint project between State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education (SEADAE) – whose membership includes persons at state departments of education whose responsibility is education in the arts – and its longtime partner, Quadrant Research, the pioneer of state-level arts education data reporting. The AEDP implements the architecture necessary to host data on arts education access and participation that comes directly from the states, enabling reporting of these powerful findings. More than 120 state agencies, arts councils, advocacy organizations, funders, and professional arts education associations are involved in this collective impact work. Significant national funding for the project has been provided by the CMA Foundation, The Music Man Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council.
