January 5, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
A survey of close to a hundred New York City cultural organizations found that 79 percent have reduced or plan to reduce their budgets.
Dramatic declines in corporate financial support following the crisis on Wall Street — combined with lower than normal individual donations and cuts in state and city support — have several arts groups cutting the size of their staffs and scaling back programs, according to the survey.
“Our findings show precaution and fear always twin,” says Randall Bourscheidt, director of the Alliance for the Arts, a New York nonprofit research and advocacy group, which conducted the survey. “Four-fifths of the groups have or will shortly cut their budgets, mostly in the 10- to 20-percent range. This tells me this is an act of cautionary planning rather than a reaction to a drastic loss of income as yet.”
The survey was conducted over a three-week period at the end of last year. On top of widespread budget cuts, other significant findings include:
68 percent of groups say they will defer new hires; 42 percent plan to lay off employees; 45 percent will cancel or postpone programs.
“Cuts, even of this size, alter the life of an organization,” says Mr. Bourscheidt. “These actions have a cumulative effect on the economy and on society: less spending, fewer jobs, less to attract tourists, less to enrich community life or the schools. Making New York less ‘New York.’”
The Alliance for the Arts plans to conduct another survey in late January to examine end-of-the-year giving and to assess how the economic crisis affected what is traditionally a big donation time.
In the latest survey respondents were not asked if grant income had been affected by the recession. Mr. Bourscheidt says he felt it was too soon to assess that area of giving.
A total of 96 arts groups responded out of about 500 surveyed in New York City. The responses came from a cross-section of organizations with diverse audiences, disciplines, and budget sizes.
Of the respondents, 33 have budgets in the $1-million to $10-million range; 32 in the range of $100,000 to $1-million; and 11 in the $10-million to $50-million range. Eighteen groups have budgets of less than $100,000 and 2 respondents have budgets greater $50-million.
A cross-section of cultural disciplines were represented, with 56 respondents in the performing arts; 24 in the visual arts; 6 zoos or botanical gardens; 4 science museums; and 15 arts or cultural-service organizations.
