Arts and Culture / Education

NFF’s Annual Survey: A First Look at Arts and Culture Organizations

February 12, 2015

Arts and culture nonprofits play a vital, yet often overlooked, role in community services and local identity. Arts and culture organizations (A&Cs) frequently serve as anchor institutions in a neighborhood and become core components of the local fabric. Cities and countries are often synonymous with their arts and cultural offerings: New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mexico City's Museo Nacional de Arte, and less formalized institutions like Vietnam's night markets are all examples of the important link between art and local identity.

NFF has long understood the value of A&Cs in the public sector landscape. Every year our State of the Sector Survey queries organizations from around the country. So far, we've heard from over 750 arts and culture organizations that encompass a broad range of sub-sectors. Reflecting the overall geographic distribution of survey respondents, we've had the highest response rates in New York, California, Illinois, and Massachusetts. Survey respondents have varied immensely in scope, from a symphony orchestra in California to a theatre company in Illinois. Overall, here's what nonprofits are saying:

  • Thus far, the majority of arts and culture organizations have reported making a meaningful investment in audience development

The vast majority of this audience development (and/or engagement) was targeted at school-age children via arts education programs conducted on-site or in partnership with schools. Like other sectors, A&Cs reported that they were actively engaged in data collection and data-driven decision-making to inform programming.

  • Arts & culture organizations face challenges comparable to the entire sector

When asked about organizational challenges, arts & culture organizations struggled with similar challenges as their non-arts peers. The vast majority grapple with achieving long-term financial stability and the ability to offer competitive wages in order to attract new staff and retain current hires.

  • Arts programming has made strides to engage with audiences in new ways

Many organizations have adapted and moved beyond their four walls to bring programming to nonconventional spaces in the form of free concerts, arts education after-school programming, or weekend programming for low-income families.

Our State of the Sector Survey is open until Wednesday, February 18th and we look forward to hearing from other arts organizations from around the country. So please, strengthen the sector and share your nonprofit's story today!