2 3 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Americans hold strong positive at titudes toward the arts and their need for support. Fresh evidence is provided by a Harris/ Arts Research Center survey, commissioned by the Committee in June 1975, which documents the increased attendance at live arts events and the overwhelming public conviction that arts and other cultural institutions improve the quality of community life and contribute to the community's economic health. People believe the arts to be so central to community life that they are willing to pay additional taxes to support the arts. 4 Arts organizations play an important role in the nation's economy. The Committee's work affirms that arts organizations and activities are substantial purchasers of goods and services. Their existence enhances real estate values. They nurture the economic health of other industries. They help communities attract business and industry, and, in turn, help them attract competent people. They employ hundreds of thousands of men and women. They stimulate tourism and the many businesses which benefit from it. 5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Despite the height ened role of the arts in American life, there is cause for deep con cern about the future of the organizations that bring the arts to the public. The Committee's work documents the fact that arts organizations, by the nature of their activities, are unable to keep pace with the rising costs of an economy based on mechanization, technology, and mass production. This leads to a paradox: the more technologically advanced we become as a nation, the greater the economic burden on arts organizations. According to the Committee's study, ticket and admission income covers only about onehalf of total costs. Rising wage levels and labor costs, combined with inflation and increased energy costs, have greatly increased the economic burdens of arts organizations. Expenditures Compared with Ticket and Admission Income 343 Arts Organizations In millions of dollars 6 Many arts organizations are being forced to drop ongoing or planned programs, thus depriving the public and weakening the fabric of our cultural life. Existing research indicates that restricted levels of operations by arts organizations may affect the quality, as well as the quantity of their presentations of the arts. The Committee's study reveals that programs dropped during 1974-75 equaled 6 percent of gross expenditures of the organizations studied, Programs not undertaken for lack of funds equaled 6.1 percent. Taking into account the average of 5 percent of gross expenditures by which organizations in the study are failing to cover costs, and allowing a reasonable margin for error, the Committee concludes that an increase in funding of 14 percent is needed to maintain the quality and stability of the nation's arts organizations and to enable them to provide full service to the public. 3 4 7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Government subsidy of arts organizations is now clearly established as public policy. It should be expanded to make possible fuller development of free and low-cost public service activities of arts groups. The Committee's study of 343 arts organizations shows that 44 percent of attendance at arts events was in the form of free admissions and free performances in parks and schools. Public subsidy is also necessary for expanded services to students, the elderly, and other groups unable to afford prevailing ticket and admission prices. Public subsidy designed to increase access to the arts by eliminating the cost barrier between the arts and the people is both socially and economically necessary for a healthy society. However, in the Committee's study of 343 arts organizations, state aid met only 6.1 percent of their total operating costs and Federal aid met only 3.6 percent. The National Commit tee for Cultural Re- ponderant source of support for the arts must continue to be local and that this support must increase as public subsidy grows. The Committee's study shows that more than 80 percent of the funds that now sustain the arts organizations studied comes from local sources-individuals, foundations, corporations, and city and county governments. This "mixed economy" of support for the arts is unique to the United States and underlies the phenomenal growth of the arts in recent years. 10% 9 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS The National Com- Resources recom- should provide an average of no less than 10 percent of the operating costs of its arts organizations and that Federal aid should provide an average of no less than 10 percent of the total cost of arts organizations throughout the country. In making this recommendation the Committee recognizes that many organizations properly may receive substantially more than 10 percent and others less, according to their needs. This recommendation does not envisage any diminution of local assistance to the arts, which is and must remain the keystone of support. Federal or state aid at higher levels must not be permitted to lead to political interference or control. The Committee's recommendation is intended to provide a broad outline of a national policy for the arts which could be applied to the appropriate legislation for the National Endowment for the Arts, and for each of the state arts agencies. For the National Endowment for the Arts, this would translate into an appropriation of no less than $225 million in 1976-77. 5 |