Author: Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities

Publication Year: 1980

Media Type: Report

Summary:

In little more than a decade, the number of arts organizations has tripled. In the past season, more than 150 of them presented over 7,000 performances for audiences in excess of 2 million and offered nearly 7,500 days of art exhibitions for 1.2 million people.

Abstract:

Metropolitan Denver is a boom town in the arts as well as in energy, commerce and real estate.

In little more than a decade, the number of arts organizations has tripled. In the past season, more than 150 of them presented over 7,000 performances for audiences in excess of 2 million and offered nearly 7,500 days of art exhibitions for 1.2 million people.

Together those organizations spent $25 million on their efforts representing a per capita investment in the arts three times as great as Phoenix, 75% more than Milwaukee and at a level probably equal to if not slightly greater than that in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

They earned slightly more than half of their expenses through ticket sales and admissions, raised $7.5 million from business, foundations and individual patrons, and got the rest from governmental grants and miscellaneous sources. They were further aided in their efforts by more than 1.3 million hours of time donated by volunteers.

But despite statistical evidence of a boom, there are problems in the Denver area arts community. Support for and participation in the cultural life of metropolitan Denver appears selective and spotty. Arts activity seems to have exploded at a rate far greater than the development of broad and uniform foundations of support or the growth of arts organizations' management capabilities. Some businesses are extremely supportive of the arts, others indifferent. Some local governments are very active in cultural affairs, others have accepted little responsibility. Some segments of the arts audience are active and adventurous, others participate only in what is popular and socially prestigious. Some arts organizations have their financial and managerial acts together, others seem lost at sea.

One of the most serious problems is the substantial gap that appears to exist between the size, stability and power of the largest organizations and the rest of the arts community. The 22 organizations with annual budgets of more than $100,000 represent about 15% of the arts groups, yet they spend nearly $23 million or about 92% of the total arts expenditure. That amounts to an average of slightly more than $1 million each. The remaining organizations spend about $1 million altogether, or about $13,000 each. Four out of ten Denver area arts organizations have budgets of less than $10,000 and half of those spend $2,500 or less annually. Four out of ten also employ no full time or part-time personnel. Fewer than 20% of metropolitan area arts groups can be classified as fully professional.

These are the primary findings of the Cultural Explorations in Metropolitan Denver, a fact-finding and planning project designed to stimulate coordinated programs of action to help the arts flourish in the Denver area during the 1980s. The project was carried out under the aegis of the Business and Arts Council and sponsored by a group of corporations including Chevron, Exxon, Frontier Airlines, United Bank of Denver and the Brown Palace Hotel. Additional support was received from the Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities. Representatives of the Colorado Council, Colorado Citizens for the Arts, Metropolitan Denver Arts Alliance, KVOD, KRMA-TV, ArtReach and The Denver Partnership, Inc., formed an Advisory Committee for the project which was designed and directed by the consulting firm of Arts Development Associates Inc. of Minneapolis.

CONTENTS
Summary and overview.

Chapter 1. Background and the study process.
Chapter 2. The burgeoning arts scene.
Chapter 3. Perceptions, goals and needs.
Chapter 4. Setting priorities for discussion.
Chapter 5. Some answers to three How can we's?
Chapter 6. The matter of quality.
Chapter 7. Of media, mechanisms and magic.
Chapter 8. Observations and recommendations.

Appendix.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Participation, Cultural Planning