Dynamic Arts Consulting

How do Americans participate in the arts and culture?

 The NEA released it’s most recent Survey of Public Participation in the Arts last week.  Data regarding performing arts participation corroborates previously documented audience trends.  Both the 2002 and 2008 studies noted these audience demographic characteristics of classical music (defined as symphony, choral, and chamber music concerts):

1. Older audiences are attending arts events

2. Education largely influences performing arts attendance

3.  More women than men attend “classical” music concerts

 An overall decline in performing arts attendance was seen in 2008.  9.3% of adults attended a classical music event, down from 12% in 2002.  In 2002, 24 million people attended a classical music performance.  The rate of attendance  was statistically unchanged from the 1992 study.

However, one of the most critical pieces of data is the continued “ageing audiences” of classical music.  The NEA survey notes:

In 2002, people ages 45 to 64 were more likely to go to a classical music performance than adults of other age groups. The audience has shifted to older people — in 2008, 12 percent of Americans from 65 to 74 years of age reported going to a classical music performance, compared with 10 percent of people ages 45-54 and only 7 percent of adults under 35. The largest decline in attendance rates was for people 55 to 64 (15.6 percent in 2002 versus 11.6 percent in 2008). 

Another performing arts genre that showed a decline in younger audiences was Opera:

“In 2008, the percentage of adults from 45 to 65 years old who attended opera declined by more than one-third”

What are the causes and  implications of this ageing audience?

1. Fewer younger people are being exposed to classical music education in school

2.The use of the interntet for consuming art has sharply increased.  70% of adults went online for any purpose in 2008, and of those, 40% listened to music, downloaded, or posted artwork or performances.

3. Performing Arts organizaitons must find ways to engage younger audiences and spread knowledge of classical music.

Other comments and notes regarding the NEA study can be found here, on Greg Sandow’s blog on the future of classical music.  Links and notes about the convening hosted by the NEA focusing on the findings of the survey are seen on the Artful Manager’s blog as well as Createquity

Audiencce Development, Education, and governmental cultural policy comingle in the ultimate outcome of public participation in the arts.  Each player influences arts consumption in different ways and it is important for arts mangers to understand the entire system as well as the indivudual players.

After a brief sojourn to San Francisco in October, I am now reconnecting my thoughts of economics and the arts through my search for a position in symphony management.    Regardless of career aspirations, arts administrators need a strong foundation of management tools to govern their organizations effectively in the current economic climate.

Discussions of increasing audiences, donated revenue, and downsizing staff are common topics and strategies for weathering the economic downturn.  However, the economic challenges in symphony administration are intricately tied to a dichotomy between the financial and artistic sides of the organization, noted here as the economic-artistic dichotomy.

Issues of the artistic-economic dichotomy are expressed by Tuomas Auvinen, who notes that

“there needs to be a balance found as the organization experiences economic influences.  The accusations of financial carelessness and mismanagement easily come in when the general director has, from the critic’s point of view, misbalanced the equation in favor of the artistic production team, causing the issues of accountability and efficiency to be placed in a secondary position.  This easily leads to accusations of mismanagement and financial carelessness when, in effect, the question is about prioritizing the artistic output of the organization rather than the market-oriented expectation of financial accountability”.

Auvinen represents the complexity of the artistic process in opera with the following diagram:

From: Why Is It Difficult to Manage and Opera House? In The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society

The key players in orchestra administration are the board, staff, musicians, and conductor.   Each of these sections of the organization is a stakeholder in the success of the symphony season.  Ultimately, arts leaders must maintain the artistic mission while keeping the organization financially stable.

Scouring the latest issues of Symphony magazine for discussion of the economic-artistic tensions in symphony administration, three main issues facing symphony administrators stood out:

1. Increasing audiences and donors

2. Maintaining organizational sustainability

3. Connecting with communities

These three items will be addressed through subsequent posts.  Tactics, strategies, and schemes will be discussed. While the economic-artistic dichotomy is not named as such in publications of symphony management, the concept permeates orchestra administration through programming and artistic constraints. 

Despite certain challenges, the current economic crisis is encouraging symphonies to experiment with marketing and programming in new ways.   Symphony managers must approach the crisis with forward-thinking attitudes.  New visions and organizational approaches may evolve through a collaborative effort to ensure the growth of individual orchestras and the field as a whole.

In the current economic climate, the arts are newly challenged to maintain legitimacy and financial support. This takes a toll on the internal culture and artistic output of arts organizations. Regardless of the benefits in creating long-term plans and assessing core values, etc., many arts organizations cannot look past their upcoming seasons to ensure viability.

The Americans for the Arts convention in Seattle this June focused on sustainability and renewable resources for the arts. The keynote speech, Renewable Resources: Arts in Sustainable Communities by Peter Senge, got me thinking about how the arts can remain sustainable and true to their core purpose through financial struggles.

Attempting a new angle on this widely acknowledged problem was difficult, however. Instead of providing unique insight, I will instead provide links to emerging resources for arts managers that aim to quench the demise of nonprofits both large and small. Here is what I’ve found:

The Kennedy Center’s Michael Kaiser Arts in Crisis tour: http://www.artsincrisis.org/press.cfm. Recent stop in Madison, WI. Next to Grand Rapids, MI and Los Angeles, CA.

Americans for the Arts policy and advocacy funding resources: http://www.artsusa.org/get_involved/advocacy/funding_resources/default.asp

The League of American Orchestras On The Road to Authentic Civic Engagement: http://www.americanorchestras.org/learning_and_leadership/civic_engagement.html

And finally,

The NEA’s Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act: http://www.nea.gov/recovery/index.html

I am interested in feedback regarding how arts organizations can utilize financial resources and internal personnel as mechanisms to retain economic viability. Hoping for ongoing dialogue while researching organizational culture of the performing arts for Simply Sustainability, Part II.