The Higher Education Arts Data Services (HEADS) Project is a joint effort of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST), and the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD). The HEADS Project is designed to provide comprehensive management data on the arts in higher education.
The HEADS Project, officially established in 1982, is a statistics system that collects, compiles, and reports data from member and non-member institutions. Participation in the Project is mandatory for accredited institutional members of NAST.
HEADS Data Surveys
The HEADS Data Survey form for degree-granting units requests statistical information addressing a number of areas such as enrollment, degrees offered, operational budgets, faculty salaries, ethnic breakdown of faculty and students, and the like.
At this time, the 2023-2024 NASAD HEADS Data Survey is open for data entry. Access to the HEADS Data Survey for music is provided below. The 2023-2024 NASAD HEADS Data Survey will remain open through November 30, 2024.
In an effort to return the HEADS project to its original timelines and deadlines, please note that it is anticipated that the 2024-2025 HEADS Data Survey for music will be available for data entry on November 1, 2024 and will close on January 31, 2025. This will create a crossover a one month between the two Surveys.
2023-2024 NASAD HEADS Data Survey
2024-2025 NASAD HEADS Data Survey (availability of Survey expected November 1, 2024)
HEADS Data Summaries
HEADS Data Summaries, the statistical summaries compiled from the Annual Reports (HEADS Data Surveys) of member institutions and other participating theatre units from 1982-1983 through 2020-2021, provide information on enrollment, faculty numbers and salaries, administrative processes, budgets, a series of comparative ratios, and other operational information. Most data is reported by size and type of institution.
Given the move to the new platform in 2021, which has facilitated the replacement of HEADS Data Summaries with navigable dashboards, HEADS Data Summaries for the academic years 1982-1983 through 2020-2021 for theatre as well as those for the disciplines of art and design, dance, and music now are available without charge. Access to the HEADS Data Summaries for theatre is provided below as are links to HEADS Data Summaries specific to the disciplines of art and design, dance, and music.
HEADS Data Summaries (Theatre)
HEADS Data Summaries for the disciplines of art and design, dance, and theatre may be found within the NASAD, NASD, and NASM websites respectively. Links are provided below.
HEADS Data Summaries (Art and Design)
HEADS Data Summaries (Dance)
HEADS Data Summaries (Music)
HEADS Data Navigational Dashboards
The new HEADS Data Navigational Dashboards provide access to data collected during the 2021-2022 data collection process and beyond. Access to the HEADS Data Navigational Dashboards is provided by discipline to participating accredited institutional members of NASAD, NASD, NASM, and NAST as a service. Non-accredited institutions and members of the general public may secure fee-paid access to the HEADS Navigational Dashboards.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to an apparent server breach, the third-party vendor hosting the HEADS Navigable Dashboards has taken down all servers supporting the HEADS Navigable Dashboards for an indefinite period of time. We apologize for this inconvenience and ask for your patience as we await the vendor’s successful attention to this issue.
New Platform
Although serving members faithfully for nearly forty years, it became evident that the platform on which the original HEADS Data System was built in 1982, was no longer sufficiently robust to support the advanced features and enhanced services desired. Therefore, in 2019, HEADS began the process of designing, building, and transitioning to a new platform. HEADS is pleased to announce that November 1, 2021 marked the release of the first aspects of the newly redesigned HEADS Data System.
As returning participants will observe, the new system maintains, in general, the HEADS Data Survey in its original form and function. The information requested and general layout remain the same; the HEADS Data Survey look and page navigation have been refreshed.
The HEADS Data Summaries and HEADS Special Reports, offered since 1982, have been retired (although HEADS Data Summaries for 2021-2022 and beyond and Special Reports may be replicated using navigable dashboards). Participating members have access to HEADS Data Summaries published between 1982-1983 and 2020-2021 through both the HEADS and NAST sites.
The new system, which includes an interactive interface, will provide to members the ability to sort, organize, and compare data points. This more flexible approach to working with and viewing data will be offered in the form of dashboards, which will replace the existing HEADS reporting functionality with custom reporting and data visualization tools that enable members to create customized report views in data tables and graph/chart formats. The option to export data graphs and tables into Excel, PowerPoint and .PDF formats will be offered.
In addition to the data collected during the 2021-2022 academic year, the database will be populated with HEADS Data Survey data collected through the HEADS Data System during the last five academic years (2016-2017 through 2020-2021), allowing members to create longitudinal views, comparisons, and reports. Access to all data through 2021-2022 will be made available at the conclusion of the implementation of the new platform.
Fees
(Effective January 2023)
Accredited institutional members of NASAD, NASD, NASM, and NAST are not charged a fee to 1) participate in their discipline-specific HEADS Data Survey, or 2) access the associated HEADS Navigable Dashboards. All features of the HEADS Project are provided by discipline of accreditation only to participating accredited institutional members of NASAD, NASD, NASM, and NAST as a service (i.e., an NAST accredited institutional member is provided access to only the NAST HEADS Navigable Dashboards). Accreditation in one discipline does not enable access to Navigable Dashboards in another or the other disciplines (i.e., an institution holding only NAST accreditation and interested in accessing Navigable Dashboards for art and design, dance, and/or music may purchase individual access to each as noted below).
Non-accredited degree-granting institutions offering post-secondary curricular programs may participate by discipline in the HEADS Data Survey. Although these institutions are not charged a fee to participate in the HEADS Data Survey, a fee to access discipline-specific HEADS Navigable Dashboards associated with the HEADS Data Survey submitted is assessed (i.e., a non-accredited institution participating in the NAST HEADS Data Survey may purchase access to only the NAST Navigable Dashboards). The fee for participating non-member institutions is $300.00 for 30 consecutive days of access to the HEADS Navigable Dashboards corresponding to the HEADS Data Survey submitted.
Non-accredited non-participating institutions and members of the general public may secure fee-paid access to the HEADS Navigable Dashboards. The fee for non-participating non-members, and the general public is $500.00 for 30 consecutive days of access to any one discipline-specific set of HEADS Navigable Dashboards.
Further Information
This website is intended to provide general assistance regarding the operation of the HEADS Project. Requests for further information may be directed to the National Office Staff.
For further information or to participate in the HEADS project, please click here.