On Money, Missions and Fauci

Let’s talk about money, and lack of it — but where it may be found, too — as arts groups approach a new uncertain pandemic-centric year and as audiences start to think about approaching, eagerly, but warily, too.

But first a reality check -- at least here in the U.S. -- from the arts advocacy group Americans for the Arts which recently reported that “1 in 10 nonprofit arts organizations doubt their ability to survive the pandemic”.

Government support varies from country to country, and here in the U.S. the response has been especially slow in throwing financial lifelines to arts groups. Americans for the Arts suggest making this economic data a mantra: “The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that the nation’s arts and culture sector—nonprofit, commercial, education—is an $878 billion industry that supports 5.1 million jobs. That is 4.5% of the nation’s economy—a larger share of GDP than powerhouse sectors such as agriculture, transportation, and tourism. The arts even boast a $30 billion international trade surplus."

Like so many industries during the pandemic, the arts and entertainment economy is devastated, too. A Brookings Institution report shows America’s arts and creative industries lost $150 billion in sales and 2.7 million jobs through July. The “fine and performing arts” alone (commercial and nonprofit) incurred losses of $42.5 billion and a whopping 50% of its workforce

This makes a compelling case for extraordinary financial support, no? Well, not so far, although such support for the arts and entertainment economy is fundamentally a conservative-rooted idea in principle, at least as outlined in an article earlier in The Washington Post. The article was in response to the Save Our Stages Act, a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate in July, which would provide $10 billion in aid over six months for live performance venues devastated by Covid-19. Passage is still pending.

For those who need data …CONTINUED