SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is particularly interested in comments which:

• Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;
• Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
• Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
• Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology,e.g., permitting electronic submissions of responses.

Agency: National Endowment for the Arts.

Title: HBCU Web Survey and Case Study Focus Group Data Collection.

OMB Number: New.

Type of Review: Regular.

Frequency: One-time web survey and focus group data collection.

Affected Public: Individuals and Households; Businesses and Organizations; State, Local or Tribal Government.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 311.

Estimated Annual Time per Respondent (Hours): 0.73.

Total Annual Burden Hours: 225.5.

Total Annualized Capital/Startup Costs: 0.

Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or purchasing services): The total one-time contracted cost to the Federal Government for survey and focus group guide development, cognitive testing of the survey, and data collection and analysis is $98,672.20.

Description: This is a request for clearance for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to conduct a web survey of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and focus groups across three HBCUs selected for case studies as part of a mixed-methods study on how HBCUs currently support the arts and arts education as preparatory to careers in the arts and in transdisciplinary fields. The planned data collection is a new information collection request, and the data to be collected are not available elsewhere unless obtained through this information collection. Both are one time data collections.

In 2021, the HBCU Interagency Working Group (IWG) published agency competitiveness plans in a Federal HBCU Competitiveness Strategy, based on a Federal HBCU Competitiveness Framework, thus creating a government-wide plan to improve conditions under which HBCUs compete for federal opportunities.

The NEA's HBCU Competitiveness Plan provides a vision for the NEA's work with HBCUs. Outreach to HBCUs is a distinct priority of the NEA. The agency's vision is that, over time, every HBCU successfully will apply for funding opportunities through the NEA. To facilitate HBCU engagement with federal and state grant opportunities in the arts, it is desirable to understand, within these institutions, the nature and extent of arts and cultural assets ( i.e., programs and facilities)—including arts and arts education (curricular and extra-curricular)—and of partnerships with national, state, and local arts organizations and funders. It is also desirable to know about the role of HBCUs' arts and cultural assets within the context of colleges and universities serving as anchor institutions, how HBCUs' arts and cultural training is preparing students to enter careers in the creative economy and in transdisciplinary fields, and what barriers and opportunities exist in HBCUs' pursuit of relationships with arts and cultural organizations and public and private funders. Accordingly, as part of its commitment to supporting HBCUs, and consistent with the IWG's ongoing work, the NEA ( printed page 45680) seeks to conduct this mixed-methods study.

89 FR 45679