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The Lure of the Spotlight
How the art world is attracting financial angels
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Business New Haven
10/6/1997
By: Laura Patrie
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In these times of reduced government funding and a rather conservative political climate, the already hard job of finding money to produce art has been made all the more difficult. But New Haven arts leaders are learning that their strength, and their financial hope, may lie in combining forces.
Arts leaders recently formed the Arts Industry Coalition, a group that members hope will boost donations and patronage of local art. Members include among others the Yale Repertory Theatre, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the Shubert Performing Arts Center and Yale University Art Gallery.
In a bid to show a united front, arts leaders recently held a news conference with New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. announcing a fall arts schedule. DeStefano said at the news conference that the organizations realize “that together they are more powerful and [can] reach more people.”
Since Congress voted to end funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and due to national debate on the merits of public financed art, groups who present art have had to find creative solutions to their ever-present funding problems. It will be up to the states to carry the torch in regard to government financing, while groups continue to tap into monies from grants, foundations and private and corporate donations. For example, the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven recently gave Long Wharf Theatre a $500,000 grant to expand and revitalize the venerable theatre, now in its 31st season. SNET and Yale were the major sponsors of New Haven's Festival of Arts and Ideas, which combined local art and artists with corporate sponsorship and sophisticated marketing.
According to the Connecticut Commission on the Arts (CCA), a state agency, the arts have played an important role in the state's strengthened economy. Consider the numbers from a recent study, done by the CCA and the New England Foundation for the Arts:
• The non-profit arts industry in Connecticut had an economic impact of more than 1.3 billion dollars statewide in 1996;
• Since 1992, the spending of cultural organizations has increased 155 percent; and
• Non-profit arts organizations employed more than 30,000 people (including full- and part-time), an increase of 30 percent since 1992.
Kathleen DeMeo, a communications specialist for CCA, says businesses who give to the arts are helping promote one of the state's growth industries. “The arts are a terrific investment in our economy,” she explains. “Besides generating and supporting tourism and related industries, the arts make Connecticut a more attractive place for businesses to relocate and expand.” CCA handed out $2.3 million in grants last year, many of them matching grants with businesses. “We can enable arts organizations to leverage funds from outside sources,” says DeMeo. “We are trying to create partnerships between business and the arts.”
But government funding is only one portion of a very divided pie for arts organizations. There are many issues to contend with - funding, attendance, the infusion of popular culture into the 'high arts' and the demand on people's time from an array of leisure activities from computers to recreational sports. Arts organizations compete with the many entertainment options available these days.
They also compete for donors from the corporate world whose giving has increased for the second year, according to the American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel (AAFRC) Trust for Philanthropy. The AAFRC reports that charitable contributions increased nationwide in 1996, with contributions to the arts climbing 6.85 percent to almost $11 billion overall.
TheatreMania, a community theatre company begun in 1992, performs in West Haven's Savin Rock Conference Center. Its vice president for public relations Kevin Bee, says the five-year old group is just now beginning to solicit financial support from local businesses with the help of an arts enthusiast who has volunteered time. Bee says the group has financed all previous shows from their own pockets and with the rollover from ticket sales. But he says that the marriage of local business with local arts groups makes sense.
“We need small-business support because small business is community-based and the patrons are local,” explains Bee. “I would tell businesses that we are here and that we're just as viable and just as good as the big theatres.”
And the work produced by the smaller arts venues is often done on very limited budgets. TheatreMania's first production, says Bee, cost about $2,000 to $3,000 to produce. With a ticket price of $10, Bee says they have survived from show to show based on their low production costs and revenue from ticket sales. Due to their small budget they, like many local art groups, rely on mailings and word of mouth for exposure.
That concept though, does not apply to the larger arts groups whose ticket sales bring in only a fraction of total costs. Organizations with the expertise and staff to do so have gone after corporate support with a variety of marketing and advertising strategies. Wallingford's for-profit Oakdale Theatre, for example, promotes its corporate package on its web site, promising not only seating and dining accommodations, but also advertising. Oakdale provides advertising for its corporate sponsors on radio, television, signs, direct mail to subscribers, and more. It markets the packages, which start at $3,000, as a way to “get the best of both worlds; advertising and client entertainment.” That approach makes the giving more specific and gives the donors something in return for their support.
Many local arts organizations have also turned to the Internet for exposure, such as the Eli Whitney Museum and the Shubert Performing Arts Center, down to smaller venues such as the New England's Actor's Theatre and the Algonquin Players. As the Internet grows and its sales capacities are expanded, it may become an ideal medium for communicating with potential audiences and donors. It is already common to have 'virtual art galleries' where masterpieces are posted on web sites. Other sites are strictly informational, about productions, prices and directions, designed to draw in the audience and provide services to patrons.
According to a 1996 NEA study, there is a notable shift in the age demographics of art patrons, moving to an older audience as traditional art patrons age. The study found that younger people are attending fewer 'fine art' shows due to a changing attitude about entertainment and live performance.
At the same time, an earlier 1996 study conducted by the NEA and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, showed that while younger audiences may be declining, there is a rise in interest in the visual arts and art museums.
Despite where the trends may be going, arts organizations still need the audiences and the patronage to survive in the current political and social climate. Business support, it is certain, will continue to play a role in that effort.
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