The National Center for Arts Research at Southern Methodist University in Texas has released findings from its inaugural report assessing the health of the nonprofit arts industry. The NCAR report utilizes 2012 data from every U.S. organization that reports its activity and self-identifies as an arts and culture institution, and identifies performance drivers and determines the value of managerial expertise. The 128 areas studied include contributed revenue, earned revenue, expenses, marketing impact, bottom line, balance sheet, community engagement, program activity, and staffing. Among the findings: the average arts and cultural organization paid for 53.1 percent of its cash expenses with unrestricted contributed funds; 45 percent of all operating revenue went to payment of artists and other program personnel; and, in the area of community engagement, the average arts and cultural organization engaged the equivalent of 10.3 percent of its local population. NCAR is led by faculty at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts and Cox School of Business in collaboration with the Cultural Data Project (CDP) and other national partners. The complete study can be read online here.
Posted December 12, 2013
