NEA Survey on Public Participation

Last month the National Endowment of the Arts released the findings from their Public Participation report.  Conducted in May 2008, it showed significant drops in overall attendance for performing arts events, museums and craft events.  Full PDF of the report is here for download.

The report also indicates a rising median age for attendance from 43 years old in 2002, to 45 years old in 2008.

Attendance drops were partially influenced by high travel costs at the time of the survey.  Gas prices were registering between $3 and $4 per gallon during this period.  So those attendance numbers could be expected to bounce back if the survey was taken with today's lower energy costs.

But the report suggests that the median age numbers shows that an aging arts audience is a more permanent trend.  

The data reported by the NEA offers an excellent opportunity to compare your own attendance surveys against national trends and to consider how much your audience/visitor population is aging.

Federal money for the arts trickles down

Ten days ago the NEA announced their grants from the President's stimulus package.  In all $19.9 million was given out to state and regional arts agencies.

In our neighborhood the Southern Arts Federation in Atlanta received just over a half million and the North Carolina Arts Council (NCAC) received $339,100 in federal grants.

The NCAC announced that it, like other recipients of the stimulus money, will "re-grant the funds to support the preservation of critical jobs and artists' contracts".  Local arts councils, statewide service organizations, and organizations that currently receive General Support and Outreach grants are eligible.  North Carolina organizations have through June 1 to apply for the funds to NCAC.  

For more information about the North Carolina grants check out the NCAC's Economic Resource Recovery Room.  A full list of the organizations that received federal money from the NEA can be found here.

NEA report on nonprofit theatres

The National Endowment for the Arts released a study of the nation's nonprofit theatres a few weeks ago.  All America's a Stage: Growth and Challenges in Nonprofit Theatre looks at the period between 1990 and 2005, when the number of these theatres doubled.

No doubt the study's look at performance during and following recessions will get the most interest.  The study reports that, after the 2001 downturn, revenues fell 12 percent for 2002.

For me, that made their findings on increasing ticket prices even more interesting.  The report included statistical models that predict increasing low end ticket prices by as much as 20% would have little impact on attendance.  The models resulted in an attendance downturn of less than 2% when ticket prices increase.

It seems counterintuitive to raise prices in a down economy.  But I'm sure more than a few general managers, executive directors and the like will give some thought to the numbers in this report.  I'll be asking for a little more info on the models they used.

You can read more about the report from the NEA or download it here

and make your own conclusions.