On the Road to Arts & Economic Prosperity
Released in June, Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 (AEP5) is Americans for the Arts’ fifth study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry’s impact on the economy. AEP5 is the most comprehensive economic impact study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry ever conducted.
It documents the economic contributions of the arts in 341 diverse communities and regions across the country, representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Nationally, the nonprofit arts and culture industry generated $166.3 billion of economic activity during 2015 — $63.8 billion in spending by arts and cultural organizations and an additional $102.5 billion in event-related expenditures by their audiences. This activity supported 4.6 million jobs and generated $27.5 billion in revenue to local, state, and federal governments (a yield well beyond their collective $5 billion in arts allocations).
Customized AEP5 reports were delivered to all 341 participating communities, and the study has yielded hundreds of newspaper articles and editorials, including 12 front page news stories. In addition to the research study and a robust website of resources, Americans for the Arts’ Vice President of Research and Policy, Randy Cohen, went on a 60-city speaking tour to visit these communities and help them release their localized study findings. During these visits, Randy presented the findings to elected officials, business and government leaders, press and media outlets, and the arts community.
Cultural Equity creates a Learning Lab for Americans for the Arts
After releasing the organization’s Statement on Cultural Equity in 2016, Americans for the Arts developed a Learning Lab program in 2017 which offers year-round training to help staff build diversity, equity, and inclusion skills. Topics in the year’s labs included: conflict management, understanding complex language, recognizing implicit bias and privilege, and much more. Staff expanded on the board-approved values for the organization to include behavior agreements on that will support and advance our work together. Additionally, other staff advancements included cultivating strong orientation strategies, examining hiring practices, and updating the employee handbook.
Much of the cultural consciousness and system-change work is coalescing around the EQUITY 360 project, an ambitious effort to transform inequitable systems and structures inside local arts agencies that keep them from delivering equitable service. On policy, we continue to push Title 1 funding for the arts and the CREATE Act, both of which have strong equity focuses. ArtsU programming and Learning Labs for 2018 include diversity, equity, and inclusion topics — and a new multi-year fellowship is in development to tackle the arts leadership pipeline, and the relationship of Local Arts Agencies to the broader community.
The Value of the Arts
Coming out of the 2016 election, Americans for the Arts secured a series of ads targeted at arts advocacy for the Trump administration and other key legislators and leaders. These ads began the first week of March in The Hill, NY Daily Post and Palm Beach Daily News and showcased the importance and value of federal funding for the arts. In the spring and summer of 2017, Americans for the Arts produced localized ads supporting the National Endowment for the Arts in 21papers across the country—the home districts of Congressional and Senate appropriators. These ads reached more than 1.3 million readers including key members of Congress in their hometown papers. Later in 2017, Americans for the Arts developed a print ad based on the 25+ awards we give each year, often with partner organizations. This full-page color ad reached 240,000+ decision makers with placement in several national media channels from October to December including: The Nonprofit Times, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Politico, The Hill, Nonprofit Quarterly, and publications from the US Conference of Mayors and the National Conference of State Legislatures. In December, we secured a full-page color ad in Crain’s Business New York to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our Diversity in Arts Leadership (DIAL) internship program in New York City. Additionally, we secured placement for this ad in The Chronicle of Philanthropy in early 2018. The ad showcases this important initiative which has provided critical training and internships to 240+ students from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Americans for the Arts also worked with the Chronicle of Philanthropy to reach their digital subscribers with banner ads, newsletter ads, and a sponsored article on AEP 5. These pieces of content garnered 1,150,000 impressions and 2,995 views. The average time spent reading the AEP5 sponsored article was 46 seconds, which is more than double the average of sponsored content on the Chronicle of Philanthropy website.
Introducing the Member Briefing Series
In March, Americans for the Arts launched a new member-exclusive series to provide the most up-to-date information ranging from our positions on timely topics to updates about programming. The half hour monthly calls, moderated by Americans for the Arts staff, contain 15 minutes of overview with senior staff and 15 minutes of live Q&A from members. In 2017, we covered: Strategy for Defending the NEA; Arts, Jobs, & the Economy; Arts, Health, & Healthcare; Tax Reform and the Charitable Deduction. Upcoming topics include: Arts and Education; Arts, Immigration, and Sanctuary Cities; an Update on Americans for the Arts Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work; and a deep dive into the AEP5 findings.
The calls are archived at https://artsu.americansforthearts.org/members.
Organizational Database Advancements
To improve reporting and ensure wider capture of data in Americans for the Arts’ organizational database, in 2017 we implemented the use of several new modules within the database.
- The Exhibit Module tracks exhibit sales for our Annual Convention and NAMPC. Past exhibitor information has been entered and new exhibit sales are processed through this module. As a result, the Marketing Coordinator now has a history of exhibitors at her fingertips to help drive sales for future years.
- The Advertising Module tracks all advertising sales across many different programs at Americans for the Arts including both print and electronic advertising sales. Thus, staff from different program areas can now see a history of sales in other program areas which makes it possible to cross sale. The ad track includes ads on our website and e-blasts, Arts Link, and program ads for Annual Convention, NAMPC, BCA10, National Arts Awards, and more.
- The Awards Module tracks the history of the awards given in recognition for all the great work and support for the arts from people and organizations. We have not previously tracked recipient’s recognition through awards in the database. Now, the data can be easily pulled as a report through the Awards Module.
This work represents a renewed commitment to improving our organizational database to better help drive revenue increases and improve our reporting capabilities to drive data analytic driven decisions.