From the Field

Chorus Operations Survey

SMU DataArts, on behalf of Chorus America, has released its annual Chorus Operations Survey Report for 2022. It covers the staffing and financial health of choruses, with special attention paid to the impact of COVID-19 on choral budgets. This year’s report includes a new section on attendance levels, which consisted mostly of virtual events.

Does Free Admission Result in More Diverse Audiences?

Impacts Experience has released a new audience diversity data analysis, updating findings with postpandemic data on whether free admission results in more diverse audiences. Even with updated data, the previous conclusions still hold: compared to paid-entrance museums, free museums don’t see higher onsite satisfaction nor are they perceived as more welcoming. Beyond demographics, people still have greater intentions to visit museums that charge an entry fee than to visit free museums, and many free museums see the same visitors returning. Even in the postpandemic environment, admission prices don’t seem to be a primary factor in drawing attendance.

Models for Creative Placemaking

Urban Land Institute has released Creative Placemaking: Recommendations from and Impact of Six Advisory Services Panels, a new report (and marketing tool) exploring the social, environmental and economic value of creative placemaking. The report features six case studies on Urban Land Institute’s Advisory Service Panels’ use of creative placemaking as part of various land development strategies, including reconstruction after disaster. The report ends with a series of recommendations and lessons learned, such as highlighting the potential of creative placemaking for “placekeeping” and as an equity-promoting strategy.

National Arts Education Status Report

The Arts Education Data Project (AEDP) has released its first-ever National Arts Education Status Report (2019). AEDP is a collaboration between State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education and Quadrant Research to produce data-driven analyses of student participation in arts education. Findings from 17 states suggest that more than 2 million U.S. public school students (4%) do not have access to any arts education. Students without access are concentrated in urban or very rural communities, schools with higher percentages of free/reduced-price lunch eligibility; majority Black, Hispanic or Native American student populations; and public charter schools. Additional levels of analysis are available through AEDP’s interactive dashboard.

Impact of Large, Unrestricted Gifts

The Center for Effective Philanthropy has published a new report on the effect of MacKenzie Scott’s philanthropy, Giving Big: The Impact of Large, Unrestricted Gifts on Nonprofits. The report finds that long-term, unrestricted grants such as Scott’s—which are less common as a method for granting—were transformational, were used to expand nonprofit work and support organizational stability, and generally did not add to the burdens of the nonprofits receiving them. The research notes that it is important to consider that the average recipient of these specific grants had greater capacity and a larger budget than the average nonprofit.