Research Center for Arts and Culture Joins the National Center for Creative Aging

A new home and an expanded focus for a pioneering organization that has explored the work and life issues of professional artists

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Research Center for Arts and Culture (RCAC), which provides data and information in service of artists and the arts, has become part of the National Center for Creative Aging in Washington, D.C. RCAC Director Joan Jeffri brings the RCAC, founded in 1985, from its long-time base at Teachers College, Columbia University.

RCAC's studies have examined the situation of the living artist in America, including the complex challenges facing dancers as they transition out of their performance careers; the communities and support structures that sustain jazz musicians; and, increasingly in recent years, life and work issues for aging artists. RCAC also conducts research on a broad range of topics in the arts, from cultural policy to labor relations and the law, convening public events and providing curriculum development to educational institutions and leadership training to arts organizations and managers around the world.

"Teachers College has provided us with an ideal environment in which to establish ourselves as the premier organization dedicated to research issues that affect professional artists," said Jeffri. "However, we see our mission expanding to include a focus on artists internationally, and a more intensive focus on issues related to healthy aging, which is an exploding issue as the Baby Boomers retire. People are living longer, and they want to remain engaged in and fulfilled by life. And all our work shows that artists, who know about resilience, flexibility and multi-tasking, are a model in our society for healthy aging."

Dr. Gay Hanna, Executive Director of NCCA said, "RCAC brings NCCA an extraordinary opportunity to promote and expand cutting edge research in the arts, health and culture, addressing aging issues at a time of great need for solutions in our nation's capital."

Joan Jeffri designed Columbia University's first course on arts administration and directed its Master's Program for 22 years; she founded RCAC there in 1985. During the 1990s, she moved both to Teachers College.  She has written several seminal texts including the co-authored Respect for Art: Visual Arts Administration and Management in China and the United States, published in 2007; Arts Money: Raising It, Saving It and Earning It (1989)  and The Emerging Arts: Management, Survival and Growth (1980), as well as over 20 research reports from original and commissioned work, and articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Poetics, the International Journal of Cultural Policy, and the International Journal of Arts Management.

SOURCE National Center for Creative Aging