Author: National Research Center of the Arts

Publication Year: 1974

Media Type: Report

Summary:

This study has been undertaken in the conviction that the factor of invisible internal erosion can be costed out, that in specific cases dollar figures can be put on activities which a reasonable and balanced scale of operations would require, but which at present are not being set in motion because of immediate budgetary limitations.

Abstract:

This study has been undertaken in the conviction that the factor of invisible internal erosion can be costed out, that in specific cases dollar figures can be put on activities which a reasonable and balanced scale of operations would require, but which at present are not being set in motion because of immediate budgetary limitations.

The method has been to select a smaller number of organizations, for their value as illustrations rather than as representatives of geography or category, and to analyze them in detail. The institutions selected are of indisputable quality and exemplary achievement; all of them would be counted success stories by any standard, yet each provides a wealth of examples in support of the study's hypothesis: namely, that behind every book deficit or net income gap or even surplus there is a hidden deficit - a program deficit, so to speak - of unfulfilled performance. In each case the more precise objective is to arrive at what might be called a public service budget, the budget of the organization not as it might be, in the best of all possible worlds, but as it ought to be in this world, if it were functioning at its normal and natural rate and living up to its obligations and opportunities.

As this study shows, in the case of the five organizations included in it, the difference between a public service budget and the actual budget runs as high as 32%, with three of the organizations clustering in the 18-19% range and the fifth with a 5% difference added to an already high net income gap.

The concept of a public service budget is not wholly strange or alien to many of the administrators who were interviewed in the course of the study. A number of them had been thinking along similar lines. None, however, had put such a budget together, or incorporated it in the day-to-day thought processes of their boards of trustees or their staff colleagues, or seeded it into their planning and development work. The idea still runs counter to habits and customs of many years' standing. It requires a reversal of attitude, to one which looks first to the public service needs that the organization exists to fill, and only after that to a scaling down of its services in the face of harsh resource limitation. The case histories recounted below are illustrative attempts to measure the difference between the two levels.

CONTENTS
Introduction an Overview.
Procedures.
Purpose and hopes.

Chapter 1. Arena Stage, Washington, D.C.

Background and conditions.
Cost analysis.
A larger permanent company.
Full year contracts.
Management positions.
Technical and custodial positions.

Chapter 2. The St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri.

Background and conditions.
Cost analysis.
Extending the hours open to the public.
Cost of salaries.
Exhibition funds.
Increase in curatorial travel funds.

Chapter 3. The Minnesota Orchestra, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Background and conditions.
Program changes.
Positions.
Services purchased.
General salary levels.

Chapter 4. The American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY.

Background and conditions.
Cost analysis.
Facilities cleaning and maintenance.
Facilities and visitor security.
Curatorial services.
Educational and public services.
Membership - Natural History magazine.
Library.
Exhibitions.
Basic improvements in physical plant.

Chapter 5. Ballet West, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Background and conditions.
Cost analysis.
Cost of salaries.
Facilities rental.
Production costs.

Appendixes:
     A. Guidelines.
     B. Budget details: The American Museum of Natural History. 
     C. Budget details: The American Museum of Natural History.
     D. Budget details: The American Museum of Natural History.
     E. Budget details: The American Museum of Natural History.
     F. Arena Stage (Washington Drama Society, Inc.) Financial Statements.
     G. The St. Louis Art Museum, Financial Statement.
     H. The Minnesota Orchestra, Financial Statements.
      I. The American Museum of Natural History, Financial Statements.
     J. Ballet West, Financial Statements.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Creative Economies