Author: Owen, Virginia Lee

Publication Year: 1982

Media Type: Book

Summary:

Abstract:

Paper presented at Second Annual International Conference on Cultural Economics and Planning, sponsored by the Association for Cultural Economics, Mastricht, Holland, May 26-28, 1982.

Ever since the publication of Performing Arts: The Economic Dilemma economists have generally regarded the performing arts as technologically stagnant. This view arises from the limitation of the physical size of the hall in which performances are given: to sell more tickets, there must be additional performances. Added performances increase costs substantially, since most personnel costs rise proportionately with added performances. Exceptions occur - rehearsal time need not be increased; the services of choreographers, coaches and other training or directing personnel have already been completed (for the most part); there are no added costume, scenery, or physical capital costs. In fact, added performances provide more output to share these fixed costs, thereby reducing average fixed cost and possibly average total cost as well. Baumol and Bowen report some performing arts institutions operate at a less than optimal number of performances and could reduce costs by expanding the number of performances, thereby moving down the average total cost curve.

It is the thesis of this paper that the Baumol and Bowen definition of output is too narrow, for it is unidimensional. A rose may be a rose, but a performance is not a performance. Hence, the number of witnesses or the number of performances does not identify output. Rather, some measure of the various attributes of the performance should be used as that definition. Given such a broadened concept of output, the less than efficient number of performances in the Baumol and Bowen context can disappear.

The first section of this paper develops the multidimensional concept of output for the performing arts. The next section incorporates that concept into a model of arts management. The third section provides some preliminary results of a survey of U.S. opera companies to provide insight into an operational definition of quality and technological change in this performing art. All theoretical sections use opera as an example, but apply to nonprofit performing arts organizations in general.

It seems apparent from these meager survey results that the quality of opera in the U.S. has improved in the last decade. This is corroborated by managerial perceptions and changes in inputs to the opera production. These findings support the assumption of quality maximization postulated in the model. Certainly, the survey results do not support a finding of technological stagnation; the adoption of innovative capital equipment is widespread. This has not resulted in a significant increase in output as measured by performances, however, but in output as measured by a vector of attributes, or the quality index. It does appear that granting agencies bias production inputs toward capital intensity, but the sample size is too small at this stage to make this statement with assurance. In short, technological change in the U.S. opera has increased the quality of opera rather than the number of performances given. (p. 57, 63)

CONTENTS
A multidimensional definition of output.
A model of arts management.
Preliminary opera survey results.
Conclusion.
Notes [bibliography].

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Technology and Innovation