From the Field

COVID-19 and Public and Private Funding

Two new reports examine how state government and local organizations continue to react to and face challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pew Charitable Trusts’s article, How States Are Using Pandemic Relief Funds to Boost Broadband Access, examines the use of federal funds to expand broadband to underserved communities. Meanwhile, the Urban Institute has published a report, Nonprofit Trends and Impacts 2021, on nonprofit charities and the communities they serve. The report details pandemic-dampened trends in donations and the demographics of nonprofit organizations.

Helping Local Arts Agencies with Arts Data

Arts Data in the Public Sector: Strategies for Local Arts Agencies, by Bloomberg Associates, aims to assist cities in collecting and utilizing data about their arts and cultural sectors to demonstrate impact, shape policy discussions and promote arts access for all. This guide explores the ongoing difficulty of data collection in the nonprofit cultural sector, which is complicated by the wide variety of arts organizations and activities, as well as the absence of established metrics. The data practices of 15 local arts agencies are profiled alongside the common challenges and implications associated with data collecting, interpretation and sharing. Bloomberg Associates will offer a webinar on the guide and case studies in January.

Attendance, Donation Trends for Orchestras, Theatres during Pandemic

TRG Arts + Purple Seven recently released Orchestras in Recovery: Ticket Sales and Donation Trends, 2019-21, a report covering ticket sales and donation trends during the pandemic. Although there are signs of recovery, ticket sales and associated revenue are lagging significantly behind prepandemic levels. From November 2020 to October 2021, revenue is down 67%. Most gains took place in late spring and early summer 2021.

A similar report from the Theatre Communications Group, titled Theatre Facts 2020, highlights that not-for-profit theatres attracted 23 million attendees from October 2019 to September 2020. The report notes that during this time, not-for-profit theatres saw a marked decline in earned income. Theatres were able to offset some of this lost revenue through increases in individual giving and government support.

Los Angeles County’s Creative Strategist Program

The Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture released an evaluation of its artist-in-residence program, Creative Strategist. This program places artists in LA County departments to develop, strategize, promote and implement artist-driven solutions to complex civic challenges. The report covers an evaluation of the first six residencies and finds that the program engendered a significant amount of “art-as-process.” Creative Strategists engaged with underserved communities and left toolkits for their departments. The report concludes with a series of 13 recommendations to improve program structure and administration.

Integrating Arts and Culture in Community Development

PolicyLink, in collaboration with ArtPlace America, has just released Core Competencies: Reflections on Integrating Arts and Culture in Community Development. This final installment in their six-part series of research on arts, culture and community development dives into technical assistance and capacity building methods. Focused on preparing external funders, technical assistance providers, educators and the field at large, this report offers lessons learned and a guide to integrating arts and culture practices into non-arts organizations.