Maryland Cultural Data Project

The Maryland Cultural Data Project (MDCDP) is a required part of Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) Grants for Organizations (GFO) Track I and Track II applications, and Community Arts Development (CAD) applications.

MSAC played a leadership role in bringing the MDCDP to Maryland. The Cultural Data Project is a standardized system of gathering financial and other data from arts and cultural organizations once per year and will provide the cultural community with consistent, reliable, comprehensive data on arts and culture in Maryland.

MSAC is a primary partner in the project, which is administered through the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance in conjunction with the Pew Charitable Trust. MSAC and funding partners made this commitment on behalf of the state’s cultural community.

The Cultural Data Project was developed in Pennsylvania with funding from the Pew Charitable Trust. Maryland is only the second state in the country to offer this program, which was launched in June 2007. This project will benefit the arts and culture community and each grantee organization by providing enhanced management tools for reporting and advocacy.

Applicants for MSAC grants and grants from other partner funding agencies will complete the MDCDP each year and will be able to submit it as part of their grant proposals to the participating funders. This powerful tool will enable organizations to benchmark their progress and strengthen the arts and culture sector by improving each organization’s ability to track trends over time. The MDCDP is a required part of MSAC GFO and CAD grant applications.

MDCDP is a collaborative effort of the Project Task Force and the following funders: Alex. Brown & Sons Charitable Foundation, Baltimore Community Foundation, Cooper Family Fund at BCF, Harry L. Gladding Foundation, Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, Maryland Historical Trust, Maryland State Arts Council, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, T. Rowe Price Associates Fund at BCF, and the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund.

Go to the MDCDP website - www.mdculturaldata.org for details.