Author: Becker Research Corporation

Publication Year: 1972

Media Type: Report

Summary:

The study design in brief: This study [prepared for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities] covers incorporated, non-profit, arts and humanities organizations in Massachusetts having expenditures of $5,000 or over in fiscal year 1972 or calendar year 1971. In all, a total of 290 such organizations were found to meet the study requirements and 285 of these were successfully interviewed. Accordingly, the absence of the few eligible organizations not represented has no significant effect on the results presemted in this report.

Abstract:

The study design in brief: This study [prepared for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities] covers incorporated, non-profit, arts and humanities organizations in Massachusetts having expenditures of $5,000 or over in fiscal year 1972 or calendar year 1971. In all, a total of 290 such organizations were found to meet the study requirements and 285 of these were successfully interviewed. Accordingly, the absence of the few eligible organizations not represented has no significant effect on the results presemted in this report.

Not included in this study were institutions that could not be examined independently from a parent organization, city or state government agencies, commercial theatres, dinner theatres, profit-making art galleries, organizations not incorporated, and organizations with incomes of $5,000 or more but with expenditures of less than $5,000 during the last fiscal year. Carefully selected interviewers, primarily graduate students in business and law, were recruited and given long and intensive training, specifically for this assignment of collecting the data. Interviewing was conducted on a confidential basis between January 5, 1973 and February 8, 1973.

The findings in brief:

1. The arts and humanities make a very significant contribution to Massachusetts in a variety of ways: Total financial impact on the state's economy exceeded $71 million last year. Over 10,000 were employed by the arts and humanities with a payroll of $31.5 million. The arts and humanities pump an additional $39.5 million into the economy through the purchase of goods and services and capital outlays. They provide the public with 7,785 performances of music, dance, drama and exhibitions annually. Much of this rich cultural store is made available at low and frequently no cost to the public, students, the elderly and the poor. They offer workshops, classes, lectures, intern and training programs for the public, students, hospitals, prisons and other institutions. Highly qualified management serve at sub-par executive salaries, thus in a real sense contributing much of themselves to the total cultural effect.
   
   
2. In addition, members of the Council on the Arts and Humanities point out that the industry makes many less tangible but significant qualitative contributions to the Commonwealth: They serve as a magnet for the state's tourism industry. They are a major attraction for new industry and better educated employees. They conserve the state's historical and artistic tradition. They attract and nurture a great many highly skilled and creative performing artists. They function as the curators of many of the Commonwealth's priceless artistic and historical treasures. The above were not systematically derived from the interviews in a structured way. They did, however, emerge from study conferences and are presented here as considerations which add an important perspective to the quantitative findings of the study.
   
   
3. The public provides very widespread support for the arts and humanities in Massachusetts: Over 13 million people patronized the arts and humanities in 1972, about half as paying customers and the rest as free admissions. The public paid out $16.3 million for tickets, subscriptions and memberships in 1972. Another $6 million was spent for tuitions for academic programs, classes and workshops. Contributions from private individuals amounted to $8 million, substantially greater than those from corporations and foundations combined. (Less than 1% of total income was derived from state government). A total of 17,140 people donated 1.8 million hours of volunteer time to the institutions surveyed in 1972. In 1972, the public also provided $2.5 million in in-kind contributions of materials, equipment, space and services.
   
   
4. The arts and humanities in Massachusetts are operating in the red and their financial problem is growing worse with each passing year. In 1972, total expenditures of the arts and humanities $65.1 million (excluding depreciable capital items) exceeded total income of $63.8 million, leaving a net deficit of $1.3 million for the year. Since operating revenues (as opposed to gifts, grants and subsidies) amounted to only $38.8 million, the organizations' gross operating deficit was far greater, showing their great reliance on sources of unearned income. In 1972, 142 organizations showed a deficit and 127 a surplus, an excess of 15 deficit organizations |In 1970, deficit organizations outnumbered surplus organizations by only 95 to 93, a trend which dramatizes the rapidly growing financial crisis in the arts industry in Massachusetts. Deficit organizations actually ran in the red by a total of $3.9 million, which is the amount needed to put the industry back on a currently solvent basis. In spite of these deficits, the institutions have thus far managed to survive through extraordinary volunteer help and fund raising resourcefulness.

Conclusion:

Thus, the arts and humanities by any industry standard are in an extremely precarious financial condition. Left unchecked, present trends could well result in the debilitation and ultimate erosion of these institutions as we have known them in Massachusetts. Even in an era of unprecedented inflation and pressure on private, corporate and state budgets, it would seem that the arts and humanities would have a high priority for financial assistance. Especially in view of the magnitude and quality of their contribution to the good of the Commonwealth, it would seem imprudent in the extreme for the established leaders in Massachusetts to allow this unique state asset to suffer continued erosion.

CONTENTS
Foreword: Executive summary of the findings.

1. The impact of the non-profit arts and humanities on the economy of Massachusetts.
    Activities offered by the arts and humanities.
    The availability of non-profit art and humanity organizations to the public.
    Public participation in organization activities.
    Cost to the consumer.
    Industry manpower.
    Total industry expenditures (Fiscal 1972).

2. The income gap.

3. Support of the arts and humanities.
    Industry income received from all sources (Fiscal 1972).
    Volunteer and in-kind contributions to the arts.
    Organization memberships and season subscriptions.

4. Organization problems and activities curtailed.

Technical appendix.
Universe of organizations.
Letter.
Questionnaire.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Creative Economies