Visualizing the Local Impact of the NEH

Map showing the impact of NEH fundingProject Team: Hannah Aizenman, Tahir Butt, Jojo Karlin, Patrick Smyth – all GC Digital Fellows.

Description: In 2017, and in light of President Trump’s budget announcement, the GC Digital Fellows, and Deputy Director Lisa Rhody, examined data from the NEH to get a sense of where and how funds had been invested since the endowment’s inception. At the heart of the project was the desire to demonstrate that the NEH isn’t just an important cultural institution favored by “elites”—it also has had a direct impact on local institutions that benefit their communities more broadly.

Their investigation included a mix of statistical and spatial visualizations and resulted in an interactive map, created by Hannah Aizenman, showing in greater detail the impact the NEH has had on a state-by-state and institution-by-institution level.

In addition, Patrick Smyth created a web app, the NEH Impact Index, that shows NEH-funded projects by geographic region and categories such as education, cultural preservation, and public programs. To try it out, enter a zip code and optionally choose a radius in which to search with the Distance button. You’ll see a list of projects and programs. The colors denote the type of program and thus the type of impact—use the View Summary button on the results page to see a breakdown of the projects and what the colors mean.

Learn more through the following posts:

Visualizing the Local Impact of the NEH, by Jojo Karlin

Visualizing NEH Open Data, by Jojo Karlin

Exploring the local impact of the NEH – NEH Impact Index, by Patrick Smyth