On Bottom Lines, Life Preservers and the Art of Mental Health
I write a weekly column for the website AudienceOutlookMonitor.com which collects audience surveys taken by arts groups from around the world and analyzes the results and tracks the data over time since this spring. Here are some columns over the last few months.
June 23, 2020
By Frank Rizzo for AudienceOutlookMonitor.com
Yes, there’s the hard and sometimes overwhelming work of analyzing when audiences are likely to return, creating new scenarios for their safe welcome back, imagining different programming for the near and far future — and all within the context of social, political and health issues.
But the bottom line is the bottom line.
What happens when donor appeals, lay-offs, cancellations, salary slicing, and even larger withdrawals from previously sacrosanct endowments are not enough?
There may be some financial life preservers being tossed into the swirling sea of unknowns.
Headlines were made recently when The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation announced a dramatic increase in its philanthropy, dedicating an additional $200 million — on top of its $300 million originally planned for 2020 grants. This largesse will help fortify “the infrastructure and reimagined programming of nonprofits in education, the arts and culture.”
Among other foundations stepping up recently, was The Shubert Foundation which announced grants for the remainder of the year totaling $32 million — ranging from $10,000 to $325,000 — to 560 not-for-profit performing arts organizations across the country, “particularly those companies dedicated to developing and producing new American work.”
Welcome news for sure, but at the same time states and cities in the U.S. are looking for ways to cut their own stressed budgets — and the arts are often among the first to be placed on the chopping block. Government response to the arts sector varies widely, with some offering support through special grants, while others slash existing cultural budgets.
In Philadelphia, for example, the mayor eliminated the $3 million Philadelphia Cultural Fund from the 2021 revised budget proposal, funding which supports organizations …