Burnout and staff attrition are all too common across the nonprofit sector. But some organizations are charting a different path. A new study of BlackStar Projects (@blackstarfest ) examines a leadership model that centers care, staff artistry, and experimentation. Rather than separating creative practice from organizational work, leaders encourage staff—many of whom are artists—to bring their full selves into both.
Researcher Davinia Gregory-Kameka (@dr_davs ) finds that this approach not only supports well-being, but also fosters collaboration, innovation, and retention. Click the link in our bio to read more.
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What does it mean to revitalize a neighborhood without erasing the culture and history that already exist there?
A new research brief examines how Chicago’s @rebuild_foundation uses arts-making and placemaking together to support cultural preservation, community well-being, and Black creativity on the city’s South Side. Through archives, artist residencies, community gatherings, and restored cultural spaces, the organization demonstrates how the arts can help foster social cohesion, cultural resilience, and thoughtful economic development.
The study also highlights the importance of investing in artists and arts organizations as long-term drivers of community well-being and local growth. Click the link in our bio to read the brief and more research from our Advancing Well-Being in the Arts initiative.
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Arts organizations rooted in communities of color serve as vital cultural anchors, spaces of connection, and drivers of innovation in their communities. Yet, they often navigate persistent structural challenges—from histories of disinvestment and mistrust to limited funding and narrow definitions of artistic value.
A new report from the Social Science Research Council (@ssrc_org ) examines cross-cutting themes from studies of more than a dozen organizations participating in our Advancing Well-Being in the Arts initiative. Drawing on research conducted through the Arts Research for Communities of Color (ARCC) Fellowship, the report highlights the adaptive strategies these organizations use to sustain their work, strengthen community accountability, and contribute to long-term cultural vitality.
The findings also underscore the need for funding and research approaches that better recognize relationship-building, care, collaboration, and place-based work as essential components of organizational sustainability.
Click the link in our bio to download the full report for free.
Can tradition be a source of innovation? A new research brief explores the Ragamala Dance Company (@ragamala_dance ), a Minneapolis-based company rooted in Bharatanatyam, the classical dance of South India, and how it continues to evolve artistically while navigating limiting labels such as “traditional” or “ethnic.” The study highlights how deep cultural roots can fuel experimentation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and lasting audience impact.
Click the link in our bio to read the full report and find more reports from our Advancing Well-Being in the Arts initiative.
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The Social Science Research Council is excited to announce the LEGO Foundation Fellowship, a new fellowship opportunity developed by the SSRC in partnership with @thelegofoundation . This fellowship offers support over a three-year period for researchers whose work strengthens understanding of how children thrive across diverse contexts.
Applications will open June 1. Learn more at the link in bio and stay tuned for the full announcement.
Romi Morrison @elegantcollisions is an interdisciplinary artist, scholar, and writer. They are currently an assistant professor in the Design Media Arts program at UCLA and a 2024–2026 Just Tech Fellow. Using maps, data, sound, performance, and video, their installations center Black diasporic technologies that challenge the demands of an increasingly quantified world—reducing land to property, people to digits, and knowledge to data.
Applications are currently open for the 2027 Just Tech Fellowship, a one-year unrestricted award of up to $60,000 to support research, creative practice, or community-engaged work. Apply by June 28 at the link in our bio!
The Religion and the Public Sphere program calls for applications for Innovation in Religion and Spirituality Seed Grants, which offer research support over a period of up to 6 months, up to $10,000 per award. Applications due July 1.
Learn more at the link in bio.
Our April edition of Items & Issues newsletter is out now. This month's theme is the environment—one of the most urgent and consequential areas of social science inquiry and the site of profound human-driven change. Our readings this month highlight how social science research can illuminate the impact of new environmental realities on society.
Read featured pieces and sign up at the link in our bio.
SSRC’s Just Tech program invites applications from researchers, artists, and practitioners working at the intersection of technology and society for the 2027 Just Tech Fellowship.
The Just Tech Fellowship provides a one-year unrestricted award of up to $60,000 to support research, creative practice, or community-engaged work. The fellowship period runs from January 2027 through December 2027 and is designed to provide fellows with the resources and flexibility to advance ambitious projects at the intersection of technology and society. Applications are due June 28.
Learn more and apply at the link in bio.
The SSRC is pleased to announce the launch of the SSRC-JF Next Generation Japan Studies Development Program, a new initiative in partnership with and supported by the Japan Foundation @japanfoundation to facilitate cross-cultural scholarly engagement and collaboration.
This program marks an exciting new chapter in our work supporting social science research across national borders. At the core of the Next Gen Japan Program is the principle that scholarly engagement and collaboration by students and scholars across disciplines, the boundaries of the nation-state, and cultures are central to effectively addressing the pressing concerns facing societies today.
Learn more at the link in our bio.
Who gets to be influential and at what cost? Over the past two decades, public attention spans and approaches to “truth” have undergone significant transformation: from legacy media to short from video, credentialed expertise to projected authenticity and increasingly, from human influencers to AI generated ones.
In this research review, communications scholar Julia Jeonghyun Parke provides a detailed look into social media influencers as voices of authority in the public sphere—how success is shaped by algorithms and social hierarchies, and where new frameworks are needed to understand one of the biggest shifts in our contemporary media landscape.
On April 16th, SSRC’s Just Tech and NEW INC @newinc will host a public conversation exploring how artists engage artificial intelligence. Panelists include: Romi Morrison @elegantcollisions , Lauren Lee McCarthy @laurenleemack , Dorothy Santos @maestrasantos and X.A. Li, moderated by Mozilla Foundation President Nabiha Syed @nabihasyed .
