WASHINGTON, D.C.: Do the arts work, and for whom? Those are the basic questions shaping the National Endowment for the Arts's new federal inter-agency task force, designed to elicit and advance research on the impact of the arts on people of all ages and abilities. Grouped under the rubric "human development" and enlisting the cooperation of various departments (such as Health and Human Services and Education), the new task force will fill in gaps in research and coordinate information about funding opportunities for both arts researchers and arts providers. "It is my job to support artists and arts organizations in their prime mission: making art," says NEA chair Rocco Landesman. "But we also have a responsibility to look beyond ourselves to see the ways in which our work connects with our fellow citizens and the world at large." Go to www.nea.gov.