Category: issues

The US Senate holds a hearing on the behavior of non-profits. “The U.S. Senate Finance Committee hearing focused on abuses that may occur at up to 10 percent of the nation’s 1.6 million charities. The abuses — ranging from inept oversight by volunteer boards of trustees to the willingness to become partners in tax shelter schemes — cost the nation billions of dollars each year, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson said.”

The US Congress is scrutinizing tax laws that provide breaks for donations to non-profits. Some of the proposed reforms could be onerous. “To deputize the nonprofit community with the responsibility for these inquiries would assign the highly technical and complicated work of determining an appraisal’s accuracy to individuals who are not qualified nor authorized to deal in these matters.”

What do the arts need more than anything else? Playwright David Edgar says artists need to provoke and outrage arts institutions. “He argued that the arts in this country had been at their most successful when the spirit of provocation was most alive – as in the late 1960s and early 70s.”

A study on arts participation released at the National Performing Arts Convention in Pittsburgh echoes previous reports. “Once again, as in studies past, more people reported attending a live performing arts event at least once in the past year than reported attending a professional sporting event. Eight out of 10 acknowledging that the performing arts improve the quality of life in their communities. More than that, between 58 and 71 per cent of those interviewed agreed that attending live arts events encouraged them to be more creative. This has traditionally been an argument used to support arts education in schools. It was interesting to find, in this era of diminished arts education, that so many people still subscribe to the belief.”

Why is the city of Philadelphia cutting its arts funding, when investment in the arts has returned major benefits? “Why, given all of the studies showing how much the arts contribute to a city and region’s health, have we not figured out how to fund the arts in a way that they don’t have to go begging every year for mere survival. Why is it that we can support transit, education, health and human services, recreation and other line items with the understanding that they are necessary to our existence, but still treat dance, music, theater and art as if they are luxury items – nice if you can find the money, but not essential?”

The UK is launching an investigation into ticket agency fees for concerts and West End theatre. “The consumer affairs watchdog has launched a fact-finding study to discover if agents are distorting the market and overcharging customers following a series of complaints.”

In Toronto, a new hall meant to house the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet has turned up some cultural differences between the two groups and how they’d like to use the building. “A good deal of horse-trading went on as to who would use the 12 less desirable weeks, particular those in the hot summer months. In the end, both companies accepted some of them. But the ballet, being a tenant rather than a partner in the project, had the weaker bargaining position. Its season will now push into July.”

“According to the report by the Foundation Center and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, funding for the humanities by a sample group of some 1,000 large U.S. foundations more than doubled, from $134.1 million in 1992 to $335 million in 2002. But total foundation giving tripled in that period, to $15.9 billion in 2002, and the humanities’ share of the pie crumbled from 2.5 percent in 1992 to 2.1 percent in 2002. In 2002, education ($4.2 billion) and health ($2.9 billion) were the prime recipients of the sample group’s dollars, according to the Foundation Center.”

“For years, many conservatives have railed against the political leanings of the arts world and opposed the use of public money in arts funding. It’s a world that has taken as its official motto Andy Warhol’s observation that art is whatever you can get away with. . . . It shovels you between ennui and disgust. It’s axiomatic that much of the mainstream discourse in arts circles would be regarded as the language of the fringes in other fields. ‘It’s very lonely,’ says Don Schwartz, a sculptor based in Connecticut who argues that the liberal dominance of the arts world is a result of liberals disliking economics and thus drifting to jobs in culture. ‘It’s very intimidating to be a conservative in the arts. A lot of conservative artists give up’.”

The strain of trying to keep arts organizations afloat financially is beginning to show. “While theaters, ballets, museums and operas perpetually live hand to mouth, as do most nonprofit groups, fundamental changes in the nature of arts financing suggest that they will continue to struggle even as the economy and capital markets recover.”