Recession and the Arts: Act II

One of the nation’s biggest cultural institutions, the Walker Art Center, in Minneapolis, announced in March that it was cutting its operating and program expenses, freezing salaries, instituting a mandatory furlough, and eliminating seven jobs that were already vacant. The center’s director, Olga Viso, volunteered to return 6 percent of her salary and benefits this year, and 7 percent next year.

Christopher Stevens, Walker’s chief of finance and development, says that, while museum attendance remains strong, “every other area is under siege.”

Walker’s story is by no means unique.

The declines in revenue that threaten to close many small and medium-size groups have now started to make significant dents in the budgets at big institutions.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York cut 74 positions from its merchandising department, and is expecting to cut 10 percent of its 2,500-person staff overall. The Detroit Institute of Arts has reduced its staff by 20 percent, employees of the Cincinnati Symphony recently accepted an 11-percent pay cut, and the Miami City Ballet announced it will lay off eight dancers and reduce its budget next season by more than 25 percent.

Americans for the Arts estimates that 10,000 of the nation’s nonprofit arts and cultural organizations are at risk of closing their doors in 2009, a loss of as many as 260,000 jobs, says Robert Lynch, president of the Washington advocacy group.

While large institutions “have the ability to absorb more body blows and keep on going,” the cuts are starting to dig deep, says Ford W. Bell, president of the American Association of Museums, in Washington.

Mr. Stevens says the Walker has so far tried to reduce costs in ways that won’t be obvious to the public.

For example, the institution will screen fewer films, invite fewer music and dance groups to perform, and perhaps allow some exhibitions to run longer than they might have otherwise.

“But if the economy doesn’t improve there will be a further driving down of the amount of programming and eventually the public would feel that,” he says.

Creative Strategies

Like Walker, many arts groups are balancing cost-cutting measures with efforts to increase their visibility and find creative approaches to continuing its high-quality programs, often by collaborating with other organizations.The Utah Shakespearean Festival, in Cedar City, considered dropping its fall season entirely, but instead replaced larger plays — those that would need 15 or more actors — with ones requiring only two or three actors and that were especially popular with audiences.

“It is choosing play titles that will resonate and hopefully guarantee attendance, and also that are not as large in production value,” says Bill Bahr, the festival’s education director.

The decision to produce lower-cost plays came not only because of a drop in revenue but also because of the huge increase in unemployment costs in 2008, says Mr. Bahr. By the end of last year former employees faced a hard time finding jobs after leaving the Shakespearean company, due to closures or cutbacks at other theaters. Employees who cannot find a job after leaving can claim unemployment, which in a typical year costs the company $60,000 to $70,000 in unemployment claims. But that number doubled to $130,000 last year, says Mr. Bahr.

Many museums are cutting costs by using their existing collections rather than showing outside works.

The Palm Springs Art Museum, in California, decided not to participate in at least two traveling exhibits and instead will be showing its existing collection. “Our exhibition budget in the next fiscal year will be one-half of what it was this year,” says Scott Schroeder, director of development.

The choices that arts groups make during these times are vital, according to Mr. Bell of the museum association. “The big worry we have is that museums will cut reflexively, that they won’t be thoughtful enough about it. Because you can’t cut so much that you have a long lag time in recovering when the economy comes back.”

‘Arts in Crisis’

To help with those decisions, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, started its “Arts in Crisis” program in February, which has attracted approximately 270 groups interested in free consulting services and more than 50 outside experts who have been vetted to act as mentors.

“I see a lot of organizations that are learning to deal with the environment, and that is a good thing,” says Michael M. Kaiser, the Kennedy Center’s president.

“I’m really impressed by so many administrators I’m talking to who are taking firm steps to deal with the crisis, but not making their organizations impotent,” he says.

With money tight, a key cost-saving measure Mr. Kaiser suggests to arts groups is collaboration. For example, Opera New Jersey, in Princeton, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, in Newark, are planning three joint productions to be performed in Princeton this July, as well as a production of Carmen to be performed in three cities in New Jersey next February. The idea to work together was being considered before the economy was an issue, according to Jeff Dinsmore, the marketing manager for Opera New Jersey. But he says the timing couldn’t be better.

“The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra obviously has marketing and public-relations ability and we have marketing and public-relations ability,” says Mr. Dinsmore. He says the groups hope “we can combine lists and combine efforts and reach more people for fewer dollars.”

The collaboration isn’t the only cost-saving idea the opera has put into place. Two years ago the group began rehearsing for its winter production at a local retirement home, which also provided living space for principal artists and key staff members who are temporary employees.

“They live there and eat there and we rehearse there for about 90 percent of the process,” says Mr. Dinsmore.

He says the elderly residents love the entertainment, as they are allowed to attend rehearsals and watch the staging and refining of the show up until the final product. The opera saves money on rehearsal space — the nursing home provides free what otherwise can run between $500 and $1,000 a day. The partnership also gets people talking about the show.

Ticket Offers

Many organizations are putting a greater emphasis on increasing their visibility, while also working to be sensitive to the strain the financial crisis has put on their supporters.

In response to a forced furlough, which requires 67,000 state employees to take two to five days of unpaid leave before the end of June, Maryland Citizens for the Arts has coordinated with 29 organizations throughout the state, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, Round House Theater, Imagination Stage, and Strathmore, to offer free tickets and special discounts to select performances and events in the coming months to those state workers.

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, in New York, has told its 8,000 regular subscribers that it would hold season tickets until September for any of last year’s subscribers who have lost their jobs. If subscribers still have not found employment by September, the group has said it will give them this season’s tickets free.

Ten subscribers so far have contacted the orchestra and asked that their tickets be held, says Nancy Zawacki, a spokeswoman for the organization.

“If someone loses their job, that doesn’t need to cause our relationship to end,” says Ms. Zawacki. “Subscribers have been our loyal base of support for decades and decades. They have been there for us during tough times, and we need to be there for them during the tough times.”

The orchestra is also participating in a national food drive through the League of American Orchestras, as a way to show that the arts have a role in solving local problems, especially in a difficult economy.

The national organization has recruited 250 orchestras in all 50 states to participate in Orchestras Feeding America, a food drive coordinated with Feeding America, formerly America’s Second Harvest.

In St. Louis, the Regional Arts Commission has teamed up with a local mall to help fill vacant retail space with art studios, galleries, performances, classes, and offices. The project, called Art Space, has brought an increase in visitors to the ailing mall, and has helped merchants stay in business, according to Jill McGuire, executive director of the Regional Arts Commission.

A dance studio now occupies what was a Gap clothing store. The performers use the dressing rooms to change into costumes, and the wooden floors are now used for tap and Irish dancing. More than 60 arts groups have signed contracts for the empty retail space so far. The rent is nominal, averaging $100 per month, plus utilities.

“This has been a visionary project that shows how arts are an economic driver in a community and how business can support the arts as well,” says Ms. McGuire.

While many groups are acting locally to try to emphasize their role in building strong cities and towns, Mr. Lynch, of Americans for the Arts, points to positive signs on the national front.

The federal stimulus measure passed in February included $50-million for the NEA. State arts councils will receive 40 percent of that money, with more than 2,400 arts groups so far competing for the rest.

“I’m very, very pleased that we got the $50-million, because nobody thought the arts would,” Mr. Lynch says. “It was a message that the arts are important, that the arts are considered by this Congress and leaders there to be part of the solution to our problems, that the arts are both important for their inherent value but also for what they do for job generation and economic development.