How Are The Arts Doing? Not So Well, A New National Arts Index Says

Feeling a little low? Ill even? Today Americans for the Arts announced and released its new National Arts Index, and you can see, the latest number isn't good:

Thumbnail image for artsindex.jpgI have several times called on the arts community to produce better statistics -- actual, accurate, relevant and up-to-date data (here, here, here and here, for example).

So I'm glad Americans for the Arts is trying something. It devised the National Arts Index by taking into account 76 "equal-weighted, national-level indicators of arts activity." And the group says that makes it "one of the largest data sets about the arts industries ever assembled." Americans for the Art intends to make this an annual measure; the first report covers the 11 years from 1998 to 2008.

Along with the index came a 21-page executive summary (here) and a 146-page full report (here). I haven't had time to read them, but I do intend to look at, at least, the short version. What numbers, their source, and how they are used are important, obviously, and I'd like to know the answers.

Meantime, here are a few conclusions, verbatim:

  • The arts follow the nation's business cycle--not surprising as the arts are composed of 100,000 nonprofit arts organizations and 600,000 more arts businesses, 2.24 million artists in the workforce, and count on billions of dollars in consumer spending. Based on past patterns, we estimate an arts rebound to begin in 2011.
  • Demand for the arts lags capacity. From 1998 and 2008, there was annual growth in capacity of the arts industries--a steady increase in the number of artists, arts businesses and nonprofit arts organizations, and arts-related employment.  Nonprofit arts organizations alone grew in number from 73,000 to 104,000 during this span of time. That one out of three failed to achieve a balanced budget even during the strongest economic years of this decade suggests that sustaining this capacity is a growing challenge.
  • How the public participates in and consumes the arts is expanding. The arts participation measure is on the increase.  Personal arts creation by the public is growing steadily (making art, playing music). Attendance at mainstream nonprofit arts organizations, however, is in decline. Technology has also had an impact: 50 percent of music and CD stores have disappeared in the past five years, while the number of online downloads grown four-fold in just the past three years.
  • Demand for arts in education is up. A growing percentage of college-bound high school seniors are getting four years of arts and music, even as other national studies point to a decline in arts education. College arts degrees conferred annually have increased from 75,000 to 120,000 in the past decade.
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  • The competitiveness of the arts is slipping. Overall, the arts are not "stacking up" well against other uses of audience members' time, donor and funder commitment, or spending when compared to non-arts sectors.
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    • The rest of that release is here.

    Photo Credit: Americans For the Arts

    January 20, 2010 9:54 PM | | Comments (1) |

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    1 Comments

    By HalifaxCB on January 21, 2010 4:03 PM

    I read through the 20 page report summary (I'll see if I can read the full thing later) and found it hard not see the results as pretty much a good thing for art, if not particularly gratifying for art organizations. Art is a form of individual communication; the more individuals participate the livelier the communication is. (One point of interest though was the report on educational levels via SAT scores, I note they neatly dance around the issue of how bright the actual art students are. Are those kids who took 4 years of music and art pre-college going into arts, sciences, or elsewhere?).

    That organizations, on the other hand, are having trouble should be expected in a time when the field is changing rapidly; they tend to be run by those who aren't really in touch with the rapid changes occurring on the ground. This is just a modern equivalent of the "fall of the Salon", which, if art history means anything, is a good thing.

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    Real Clear Arts This blog is about culture in America as seen through my lens, which is informed and colored by years of reporting not only on the arts and humanities, but also on business, philanthropy, science, government and other subjects... more

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