I/O provides independent and original research and analysis in cultural policy. We offer objective and unbiased analyses of broad-level issues in arts and culture that provide insight to decision-makers in organizations and government. We pride ourselves on delivering the highest quality research that will drive your organization to innovate and think beyond the boundaries of what is possible. I/O is the power switch that sparks the lightbulb over your head.

Our Principals each have decades of research and leadership experience in the arts and cultural sector, working with a variety of governmental, philanthropic, nonprofit, and for-profit organizations and decision-makers. Each one of us also works as an academic, teaching and researching arts and cultural policy and research methods. Our academic work centers on helping develop the academic field of cultural affairs in the U.S. and training the next generation of researchers and administrators in the field. We gracefully blend our leadership and academic experience with the needs of our clients to deliver the highest-quality research.

I/O is our project to be able to nimbly and flexibly engage with our colleagues and collaborators in the arts and cultural community. Our approach to research is always customized to the task at hand. We are able to merge different perspectives by customizing research teams for specific projects. We specialize in client-driven projects where we can apply our expertise in service of the community’s needs. Our value comes from our ability to break down silos of expertise and language, and reach diverse stakeholders, as well as strip away the overhead and bureaucracy that is typical to so many research organizations.

I/O is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit organization.


Founders
Doug Noonan, Carole Rosenstein, Joanna Woronkowicz


Board of Directors


Contact
Interested in knowing more, or working with us? Reach out.

Collaborators

Meet I/O

  • Founder

    Doug is a failed sketch artist and painter, but an accomplished scholar who specializes in quantitative analyses of fuzzy, esoteric things that resist quantification, like “quality of life” and “value of arts.” His research spans a range of topics important to community revitalization, sustainability and preservation, and economic growth and innovation. He co-edits the Journal of Cultural Economics. He is the co-founder and co-director of the Arts, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Lab—a national research lab in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. He also co-leads the Indiana University Center for Cultural Affairs, an academic research center dedicated to advancing our understanding of the roles of the arts and culture in public life. He received his PhD in Public Policy from the University of Chicago. He lives in Indianapolis, raising another generation of wannabe artists.

  • Founder

    Carole’s work is dedicated to helping to ensure that our cultural resources and institutions serve everyone, especially the working people and people of color who historically have been underserved by and marginalized from them. She has studied grassroots artist and arts organizations all over the U.S., from Santa Fe to Chicago, New Orleans to New York City, and Seattle to DC. She has led many large-scale research studies, including commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Carole is the author of Understanding Cultural Policy, the first comprehensive analysis of the relationship between government and the arts and culture in the U.S. Her PhD in Anthropology is from Brandeis University. Carole teaches at George Mason University and lives in a cozy, empty nest in the DMV, where, after more than 20 years, she might just be getting used to the idea that she is “from” here.

  • Founder

    Joanna is a once-figure-skating musical theater actor who has settled nicely into the thoughtful life of an academic. The things she thinks about include career-building for artists, arts facility building for cities, and clever ways to argue for just about anything. With Doug, she is the co-founder and co-director of the Arts, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Lab and Indiana University’s Center for Cultural Affairs. She has had various stints working at other places, including the National Endowment for the Arts as the Senior Research Officer and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, helping program music at the Pritzker Pavilion. Her early research days were spent at the Urban Institute and NORC at the University of Chicago. She received her PhD in Public Policy from the University of Chicago. She lives in Bloomington, Indiana, raising three bear cubs.

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