For Arts Funding, 2008 Was a Rough Year

As the clock ticks down on 2008’s roller coaster of economic turmoil and time runs out for charitable giving this year, non-profits are under pressures they weren’t feeling a year ago and communities are struggling to support art programs during the downturn. States and cities are dealing with budget shortfalls; corporations are trimming donations; and individual donors have less to give.

Some major institutions have just about hit rock-bottom: LA MOCA nearly imploded and the Baltimore Opera Company filed for Chapter 11. But not all cases are so dire.

“Nobody I spoke with was panicked,” said Sue Hoye, a freelance contributor to the Chronicle of Philanthropy who has written a report on the financial consequences for arts and culture non-profits. “They were just trying to be very cautious, and very realistic about what they could or couldn’t do.”

[Listen to Sue Hoye talk about how institutions are dealing with the economic crisis.]


All around the country, organizations big and small are cutting budgets, staff and programming. Some decisions seem major — the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., won’t do a collaborative international exhibit in 2010 — but may actually prevent more dramatic consequences down the road. One institution “felt it was better to take the one hard hit than to suffer a death of a thousand cuts,” explained Hoye.

The good news? Hoye said attendance is actually up. People “do want entertainment … they need it more than ever.”

If there’s anything to the “starving artist” cliche, arts non-profits know how to live through lean times. Some non-profits are sharing survival strategies to the greater art community. Kim Ward, outgoing Executive Director of the Washington Project for the Arts, is using her background in finance to offer local visual artists ideas for economic security. Some New Year’s resolutions Ward suggests artists make: Cut costs by sharing studio space, be more aggressive about marketing and use the slower pace of business as an opportunity to increase inventory. While the business side of art goes bust, thankfully artists keep creating.

Jeffrey Brown spoke this week to Hoye and Michael Kaiser, director of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., about the financial situation of arts institutions. The conversation aired Friday and can be heard here: