This is the sixth and final publication of the National Arts Index, Americans for the Arts’ annual report on the health and vitality of arts and culture in the United States. The 2016 National Arts Index is a highly-distilled
measure of the health and vitality of arts in the U.S. It is composed of 81 equally-weighted, national-level indicators of arts and culture activity during the 12-year span of 2002 to 2013. The 2013 National Arts Index
score is 99.8 compared to a baseline of 2003=100. This is an increase over the 2011 and 2012 scores. Indicators are ubiquitous in our society, providing regular updates on areas of broad interest like the stock
market or the overall economy—well-known measures that provide a common language and understanding. For example, if someone says that the “Dow” is going up or down or that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is rising or falling, we understand these to be broad measures of stock market performance or overall economic strength. Indicators typically compress large amounts of data into a single number. They are calculated the same way (e.g., daily for the Dow, or quarterly for GDP), making it easy to compare past and present—and anticipate the future.

This is the sixth and final publication of the National Arts Index, Americans for the Arts’ annual report on the health and vitality of arts and culture in the United States. The 2016 National Arts Index is a highly-distilled
measure of the health and vitality of arts in the U.S.