Will Arts Play a Part in the Economic Recovery?

Arts leaders in the U.S. are urging Obama not to overlook the role the arts should play in the economic recovery. With the departure of Dana Gioia, Bush's chairman of the NEA, Obama has yet to name a successor. Funds for the N.E.A. have declined to $145 million in FY09 from $176 million in '92. Read the full NYTimes article here.

NEA Announces Report on Nonprofit Theaters

Washington, D.C. -- Nonprofit theaters in the United States have seen unprecedented expansion across the United States, according to new research from the National Endowment for the Arts. All America's a Stage examines developments in the growth, distribution, and finances of America's nonprofit theater system since 1990. While the research indicates broad growth and generally positive fiscal health, it also reveals decreasing attendance rates and vulnerability during economic downturns.

"America has created a magnificent national network of nonprofit theaters," said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. "Our challenge now is to use them ambitiously to bring the power of theater to our citizens, students, and communities."

Nearly 2,000 nonprofit theaters were analyzed for the study, which draws from several data sources such as the Internal Revenue Service, Theater Communications Group member survey data, the U.S. Census Bureau's Economic Census Data, and data from the NEA's Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. The investigation revealed that NEA funding is a likely catalyst in drawing sizeable contributions from other sources. Each dollar in NEA grant support is associated with an additional $12 from individual donors, $1.88 from businesses, and $3.55 from foundations. Among the key findings:

Broad and rapid expansion across the country
The number of nonprofit theaters in the United States has doubled over a 15-year period. In 2005, there were 1,982 nonprofit theaters with annual budgets of at least $75,000, up 100 percent from 991 in 1990.
Among the top ten states with the highest per capita concentration of theaters are Vermont, Alaska, Montana, Oregon, Connecticut, and Minnesota.
Although theaters continue to cluster in high-population states, the number of theaters in small and mid-sized population states has grown substantially. From 1990 to 2005, the sharpest growth rate occurred in Nevada, Arkansas, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, and Mississippi.

Theater finances – generally good news
Nonprofit theaters generally have maintained a healthy balance sheet. Between 1990 and 2005, real assets (such as land, buildings, and equipment) grew by nearly 60 percent, while liabilities remained flat.
Nonprofit theaters have achieved a more equitable balance between earned and contributed income. Earned income made up 52 percent of all nonprofit theater revenue in 2005, the remainder was mostly contributed. Individuals and foundations remain the biggest contributors to nonprofit theater.
In 2002, individuals donated 40 percent of all contributed revenue, and foundation giving made up 22 percent.
Between 1990 and 2005, nonprofit theater revenues fluctuated sharply with business cycles in the U.S. economy. After the 2001 recession, nonprofit theater revenue (including both ticket sales and contributions) dropped nearly 12 percent in 2002. Revenue continued to decrease slowly from 2002 to 2005.

Flat or shrinking attendance rates
Audience trends are flat or in decline. The percentage of the U.S. adult population attending non-musical theater has declined from 13.5 percent (25 million people) in 1992 to 9.4 percent (21 million people) in 2008. The absolute size of the audience has declined by 16 percent since 1992.
The number of adults who have attended musical theater has grown since 1992, but remains largely constant as a percentage of the population.
Attendance trends do not seem primarily related to ticket prices. Statistical models predict that a 20 percent price hike in low-end subscription or single tickets will reduce total attendance by only 2 percent. These data suggest that other facts are likely affecting the demand for theater.

Press Release from NEA

U.S. Congressional Arts Report Card

Americans for the Arts has published their 'Congressional Arts Report Card 2008' in advance of the November election. Statistics show that the budget for the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) is just 48 cents per American. Funding for the NEA, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), Arts in Education and the office of Museum Services totals approximately eight hundredths of one percent of the federal discretionary budget. The NEA budget had its highest budget back in 1992 at $176 million. In FY08 it is $144.7 million. Taking inflation into consideration, the FY08 budget has about half the purchasing power of its '92 budget. Without going through each member of Congress' grade , I'd just like to single out Doug Lamborn (Republican for the 5th district in Colorado). Not only does he receive a failing grade, he offered an amendment in June 2007 to eliminate funding for the NEA all together. Luckily the vote failed 97 to 335, but anyone in Lake, Park, El Paso, Fremont, Chaffee, or Teller counties should send this loser a message on election day that his antics won't be tolerated.

Putting Art Back in the Arts

While chair of the National Endowment for the Arts (1998-2001), Bill Ivey dreamed up an unofficial Cultural Bill of Rights, which he fleshes out in his book Arts, Inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights . Now director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University, Ivey argues that arts policy has long targeted two issues, arts education and increasing funding for nonprofit organizations, that aim to “bring more fine art to the American people” without encouraging more people to actually create. Here he answers some questions from the Utne Reader talked about why we’re making less art and what public policy’s got to do with it.

American Artists in the Workforce

The National Endowment for the Arts has released a study, based on U.S. Census Bureau results, titled Artists in the Workforce: 1990-2005. This is the first nationwide profile of professional artists in the 21st century. As the NYTimes reports, “If every artist in America’s work force banded together, their ranks would be double the size of the United States Army."

The study found that there are almost 2 million artists, or roughly 1.4 percent of the labor force, and that they earn a collective $70 billion annually, or $35,000 per capita. The study found that men make up for 54 percent of the artistic population, a percentage that has fluctuated little over the past 30 years. The number of African-American artists has remained steady at 5 percent of the artistic population between 1990 and 2005, while Hispanic, Asian and Native American artists increased from 9 percent to 15 percent. About 13 percent of people who say their primary occupation is artist also hold a second job — about twice the rate that other people in the labor force work two jobs.

California claims the most actors per capita, Nevada the most dancers and entertainers, Vermont the most writers, Tennessee the most musicians, New Mexico the most fine artists, Massachusetts the most architects and designers (including, among others, commercial, fashion, floral, graphic, interior designers and window dressers), Hawaii the most photographers and North Dakota (where radio shows abound) the most announcers. In 2005, there were nearly 40,000 people in the United States whose primary job was acting, a 10.6 increase from the previous 10 years. According to the study, out of the current acting population, 45.1 percent are women, 23.4 percent are minorities, 58.6 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher, and the median age is 35.

NEA New Play Development Program

The NEA New Play Development Program (NPDP) is a new leadership initiative created by the National Endowment for the Arts and managed by Arena Stage. The program will support the process and production of new American plays. This is the first round of the new program, through which a total of seven projects will be selected, developed, and documented over the course of the next two and half years. The Program is open to nonprofit, professional theaters or a consortium of theaters who apply in collaboration with a playwright. The Program Director is David Dower, Associate Artistic Director at Arena Stage. The Program Coordinator is Arena Stage’s Vijay Mathew. You can reach them at npdpinfo@areastage.org, or by calling 202.554.9066 x1215. Intent to apply deadline is June 20, 2008 and the application postmark deadline is July 31, 2008. Click here for the full guidelines and application.