The partnership between the Arts Council of Indianapolis and Next Generation Consulting started in 2005 when the two partnered on ground-breaking research to determine why 20-40 year olds do - or don't - attend the arts and what the Indianapolis arts community can do to develop under-40 year old audiences. 

This research was funded by the Lilly Endowment and has been shared with limited forums at the 2006 Americans for the Arts conference, the 2007 Arts Presenters conference, and the 2008 Grantmakers in the Arts conference.

The 2009 Next Audiences Summit was funded by grants from the Lilly Endowment and the National Endowment for the Arts .