A Culture of Dominance

Arguments are sometimes made stating that the arts are "less important" than Health and Human Services, or Public Benefit nonprofits. Given the presence of COVID-19 during the 2020 giving year, it makes sense that more donations would go towards humanitarian efforts.

However, in a 2018 study by Americans for the Arts, Americans overwhelmingly indicated that they felt the arts were somewhat or very important to community life. [2]

More recently, a study conducted by CultureTrack released in July 2020 further proved that even during the pandemic, audiences desired to engage with arts and culture by whatever means were available.

While recognizing that the financial and emotional toll of the pandemic was widespread, the study showed that Americans were looking for missing connections through the arts. Many turned to creative hobbies such as singing or crafting during lockdown while others tuned in to digital pre-recorded and live-streamed performances. These online offerings often drew more first-time visitors than prior traditional arts and cultural programming. [3]

However, inequitable funding practices create major disparities across the sector and negatively affect communities.

Race

Current events have catalyzed long-overdue conversations for the sector around racial equity. As a result, many organizations are discussing and implementing Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEAI) initiatives. While organizations are now focused on improving DEAI efforts, philanthropic practices need to be taken into consideration.

In May 2020, Jim Rendon published an article "Nonprofits Led By People of Color Win Less Grant Money with More Strings Attached," that discussed issues of "philanthropic redlining" and the flawed logic behind the approach foundations take to granting funding to minority-led organizations. [5]

Rendon presents concerning statistics, stating that 60% of the 66 African American-led organizations surveyed for the study had less than $500,000 budgets, and just 23% had reserves of 3 months or more. [6] The low budgets and lack of fund reserves are concerning for the long-term sustainability of these organizations.

Additionally, foundations view Latino-led organizations as "more risky" investments than white-led organizations, often resulting in a denial of funds from the foundation. The reason cited is a "lack of experience" working with the organization, but without the opportunity to receive grant funding, how can those organizations gain the necessary experience working with funders? [7] This mindset towards minority-led organizations creates funding disparities along racial lines.

In 2015, the Devos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland conducted a study that compared financial data from the top ten highest-earning African American, Latino, and Mainstream museums, dance companies, and theatres. [8] The differences in median contributed income levels were large across years and artistic genres, with African American and Latino organizations consistently making far less in contributed revenue than their mainstream counterparts.