"Artistic happy dances are going on within the Seattle arts community. News came this week that $1 million in federal funding will be spread out among local art, theatre, music, and literary organizations to help preserve nonprofit arts jobs in jeopardy. Thirteen local arts groups received $25,000 or $50,000 in funding, including: On the Boards, Northwest Folklife, Pilchuck Glass School, Intiman Theatre, and Seattle Theatre Group. Both the City of Seattle and the Cultural Development Authority of King County received $250,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts, which will be allocated--via an application process, due August 10--in a one-time arts stimulus for additional Seattle-based arts nonprofit groups.
the Seattlest blog. "Saving King County Arts Jobs $1 Million at a Time. July 8, 2009. website accessed July 12, 2009. "http://seattlest.com/2009/07/08/saving_king_county_arts_jobs_1_millo.php
2009 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA):"The following nonprofit arts organizations are receiving grants to support the preservation of jobs that are threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn.
Art in General, Inc.
New York, NY
$25,000
International Sculpture Center, Inc.
Hamilton, NJ
$25,000
Penland School of Crafts, Inc.
Penland, NC
$50,000
Pilchuck Glass School
Seattle, WA
$50,000
Worcester Center for Crafts, Inc.
Worcester, MA
$50,000
Number of Grants: 41
Total Amount: $1,725,000"
NEA. "FY 2009 Grant Awards: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act." website accessed July 12, 2009. http://www.nea.gov/grants/recent/09grants/arra09.php?DIS=Visual%20Arts
Museum of Glass
Tacoma, WA
$50,000
CATEGORY: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Museums
City of Seattle, Washington
Seattle, WA
$250,000
CATEGORY: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Local Arts Agencies
Cultural Development Authority of King County
Seattle, WA
$250,000
CATEGORY: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Local Arts Agencies
http://www.nea.gov/grants/recent/09grants/states2/arra.php?STATE=WA
"There has been much public conversation recently regarding the role of the arts and culture industry in economic stimulus. Following is information that seeks to clarify this issue through two key points: that the arts and culture industry is a sector of the economy just like any other with workers who pay taxes, mortgages, rent and contribute in other ways to the economy; and that the National Endowment for the Arts is uniquely positioned to assist in job stimulation for that industry.
Arts businesses are small businesses
More than one in three full-time artists -- nearly 690,000 workers -- is self-employed, compared with less than 10 percent of the labor force. Artists are entrepreneurs and sole proprietors, the very definition of small business.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, any organization with average annual revenues of less than $7 million qualifies as a small business. With 100,000 nonprofit arts and culture organizations in U.S. (according to Americans for the Arts), many arts organizations are operating on the scale of small business, generating revenue in their communities.
The arts and culture sector
A recent study released by the National Governors Association titled Arts & the Economy: Using Arts and Culture to Stimulate State Economic Development states, "Arts and culture are important to state economies. Arts and culture-related industries, also known as 'creative industries,' provide direct economic benefits to states and communities: They create jobs, attract investments, generate tax revenues, and stimulate local economies through tourism and consumer purchases."
As noted in the NEA study Artists in the Workforce (June 2008), there are two million trained, entrepreneurial working artists across the country who are assets to their communities. Representing 1.4 percent of the U.S. labor force, artists constitute a sizeable class of workers -- only slightly smaller than the total number of active-duty and reserve personnel in the U.S. military (2.2 million).
In addition to artists, there are many more arts administrators who manage arts institutions including office staff such as accountants and booking agents, production staff such as stage managers, and artistic staff such as ballet masters and artist managers.
According to research by Americans for the Arts, nonprofit arts organizations and their audiences generate $166.2 billion in economic activity every year, support 5.7 million jobs, and return nearly $30 billion in government revenue every year. Every $1 billion in spending by nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences results in almost 70,000 full time jobs.
The National Endowment for the Arts
The NEA has in place processes to distribute federal funds quickly and effectively to organizations large and small in every Congressional district. The NEA's grant-making process of applications, panels, and grants distributes money to arts and culture organizations in six to nine months both through state governments and directly to the organizations themselves.
A review of NEA grants for FY 2008 revealed that for every $10,000 of grant money, 162 artists benefited. This number does not include the arts administrators involved in these projects as mentioned above.
Of the 884 grants approved in the NEA's October 2008 National Council on the Arts meeting, project costs totaled $403.8 million of which 22 percent was designated for salaries. Of the $53 million requested in those 884 grants, the NEA was able to fund more than $20 million or 38 percent.
The NEA has strong relationships with grantees and other institutions in the nonprofit arts field that can facilitate funds distribution. And finally, the projects the NEA supports aren't subject to hearings or studies at the front end that might delay the start of a project and don't put entitlements in place after a project is completed.
Examples from the arts and culture sector
Nonprofit arts organizations have been struck particularly hard in this economic downturn due to their reliance on both private and public, earned and donated monies to support their activities. Some examples of the impact of the economic crisis on arts organizations follow.
- The Los Angeles Opera said today that it had laid off 17 employees, or approximately 17% of its staff. It has also mandated a pay cut for all employees, averaging 6% but with higher-paid staffers taking an 8% cut. (source: Los Angeles Times, 1/27/09)
- The Milwaukee Shakespeare Theater Company, a high profile regional nonprofit theater closed down operations in October. (source: report from the field)
- The Seattle Art Museum has cut back five percent of its staff and is facing a $3.8 million annual shortfall if it can't find a new tenant for the space Washington Mutual had been leasing from it. (source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1/25/09)
Reports referred to above are available online:
Arts & the Economy: Using Arts and Culture to Stimulate State Economic Development (pdf)"
National Endowment for the Arts. "Information Regarding the Arts and Economic Stimulus." January 29, 2009. website accessed July 12, 2009. http://arts.endow.gov/news/news09/arts-and-economic-stimulus.html
"The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5 ("Recovery Act") recognizes that the nonprofit arts industry is an important sector of the economy. The National Endowment for the Arts is uniquely positioned to fund arts projects and activities that preserve jobs in the nonprofit arts sector threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn. As part of this important investment, the Arts Endowment has designed a plan to expedite distribution of critical funds for the national, regional, state, and local levels for projects that focus on the preservation of jobs in the arts.
This program will be carried out through one-time grants to eligible nonprofit organizations including arts organizations, local arts agencies, statewide assemblies of local arts agencies, arts service organizations, units of state or local government, and a wide range of other organizations that can help advance the goals of the Arts Endowment and this program. Grants will be made either to organizations for their own job preservation projects, or to designated local arts agencies, eligible to subgrant, for subgranting programs to eligible nonprofit organizations (see "Subgranting Funds" below).
All applicants must be previous NEA award recipients from the past four years (see "Applicant Eligibility" for more information). In addition, organizations are limited to receiving NEA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds through only one source – from the Arts Endowment directly, or directly through an entity eligible to subgrant NEA funds including a state arts agency, a regional arts organization of state arts agencies, or a designated local arts agency that is eligible to subgrant or regrant funds.
Projects are limited to:
- Salary support, full or partial, for one or more positions that are critical to an organization's artistic mission and that are in jeopardy or have been eliminated as a result of the current economic climate.
And/or
- Fees for previously engaged artists and/or contractual personnel to maintain or expand the period during which such persons would be engaged."
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