Trying to anticipate how change will have an impact on an arts organization is a diffi cult task. As we have seen from this brief overview of the major envi- ronments affecting arts organizations, complex forces can interact to produce unforeseen results. Seeking additional points of view and analysis is critical to developing a better understanding of how to respond to change.
One of the more signifi cant recent studies about trends in the arts in America was commissioned by the Pew Charitable Trusts in 2001. The Performing Arts in a New Era, published by the RAND Corporation, continues to be a source of a great deal of discussion by policy makers, arts leaders, and students. This publication offered a comprehensive overview and is required reading for anyone trying to develop a better understanding of the forces affecting the arts in America. The introduction of the report notes that:
Our research offers evidence of a fundamental shift in the structure of live performing arts in the future. Specifi cally, we predict that the number of organizations supplying live performances of theater, music, opera, and dance will contract at the professional level and expand at the community level. Organizations that produce live professional performances face particular problems in many small and midsized cities across the country and could become increasingly concentrated in large metropolitan areas and important regional centers that can support high-budget nonprofi t organizations with top-echelon performers and productions. For many Americans access to this level of performance arts will depend on touring productions. At the same time, Americans will have greater access to small, low-budget productions of greater cultural and artistic diversity performed largely by amateur artists (and professionals willing to perform for little or no pay) in their own communities. Also, as is true today, Americans will increasingly choose to experience the performing arts not through live performances but through recordings and broadcast media, the quality of which will continue to improve. 12
This report offers a less-than-bright future for organizations situated between the large institutions and the small arts organization. High fi xed costs and limited earned and unearned income (e.g., fundraising and grants) potential seem to be having the most negative effect on middle-sized arts organizations. Larger orga- nizations have the income and gift earning power and a scale of operation that help sustain them. Smaller organizations are not burdened with as many fi xed costs and are able to be more fl exible in their operational decision making.
This study provides several recommendations for plans of action to meet the current and future problems facing arts organizations. Equally important, the report provides a forum for the kinds of policy discussions that seem to be lacking in all levels of government.
Another publication that helped frame the impact of the arts in America is The Gifts of the Muse, also published by RAND Corporation. This 2004 pub- lication examines the extrinsic values (e.g., external factors such as the eco- nomic impact of the arts) and the intrinsic value, or the personal impact of the arts experience. This study helps balance the arguments for the impor- tance of the arts in our society, which to the authors, seemed to have tilted too far toward extrinsic values.
A more recent discussion about trends may be found in a report by Andrew Taylor of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His summary report of a Getty Leadership Institute and National Arts Strategies conference on “Cultural Organizations and Changing Leisure Trends, ” held in May 2007, offers many intriguing perspectives from a diverse group of participants. 13 (For more information about the Getty Institute and its programming go to www.getty.edu/leadership .)
Some of the highlights of the report, including the perception that we have less leisure time, were not supported by personal time-diary studies. The studies indicate the average American has fi ve to six more hours per week for leisure activities than in the 1960s. However, trends toward multi-tracking and multi- tasking have become part of the American lifestyle. Teenagers, while leading the multi-tasking way, are not alone by engaging in routine patterns of behavior that often include instant messaging and answering e-mail while watching tele- vision. The report notes the time we have to focus on a single task is made more diffi cult by these behavior patterns of constantly switching attention. The time- diary studies also pointed out that individual participation in conventional arts activities on average comes to a little less than nine hours per year.
The summary report shifted to examining some of the challenges facing the arts and culture world in what appears to be an increasingly fractured life- style of its audiences. Taylor offered what he identifi ed as “three clusters of opportunity for cultural organizations in all sectors — nonprofi t, public, commercial, and informal. ” 14
The fi rst cluster was the “culture as respite, ” 15 which would focus on respond- ing to how the arts can help mediate the fractured lifestyles people lead and stressing how this experience is different from daily life. The second opportunity was described as “culture as a connector. ” 16 In this instance the response would include recognizing “expression as a means to embrace complexity, ” 17 and then attempt to “connect our individual experiences to a wider range of individuals. ” 18 The third cluster would focus on bring- ing a “connection between expression and daily life. In this world, art, sci- ence, humanities, and heritage would be integral to work and leisure, not unique and discernable endeavors. ” 19 The group gathered at this conference then shifted to developing scenarios for these ideas with different types of organizations.
For the arts manager steeped in the daily grind of running an organization, pondering the larger issues of leisure time and expression may seem a little abstract. However, it is precisely this kind of exercise in thinking that the often overextended manager needs to build into her work schedule. It is important to keep asking, “What is at the core of how people experience the program- ming offered by arts and culture organizations, and how does the organiza- tion’s mission and the vision really serve to engage the community? ”
What do these reports offer arts managers pondering the future of their orga- nizations? If nothing else, the fact that the topic is even discussed shows how critical it is to step back from the daily grind and look around. Engaging the staff and board in regular future focused discussions can help keep an orga- nization vital and aware. As we will see in Chapter 8, providing effective leadership for an arts organization involves a great deal more than events, exhibitions, or seasons of shows.
SUMMARY
All organizations in an open system interact with changing environments that shape the transformation and output of the product. The economic, political and legal, cultural and social, demographic, technological, and educational environments interact to form a complex set of conditions that infl uence how well an organization will be able to meet its objectives. The evaluation of the six environments is a function of information gathered from audiences, other arts groups, board and staff members, the media, professional meetings and associations, and consultants. Since environments are constantly changing, managers must develop a process for continually evaluating input.
The economic environment is the most infl uential external force. General conditions such as infl ation, recession, interest rates, and the taxation system determine the fi nancial health of the operation.
The impact of the political and legal environment on an arts organization extends from the international scene to the local level. Cultivating positive communication and stressing the important part the arts play in the lives of voters can help build support from within the political arena.
The cultural and social environment is a combination of the values and beliefs of the society, as communicated through the family, the educational system, religion, and increasingly, the broadcast media. The changing family profi le, increased racial diversifi cation, expanding career and work choices for women, and gender role differences in American society are creating a differ- ent profi le of the potential audience member.
The distribution of the people in the United States is changing in terms of age, sex, race, income level, education, ethnicity, and location. The baby boom generation that fueled much of the growth in the arts is aging and is not being replaced in equally large numbers. The population is growing in numbers and diversity. The impact of these demographic changes will have a profound effect on the arts well into the next century.
Technology, once a major threat to the live performing arts, is now helping artists reach a wider audience than at any time in history. New technologies have helped increase the distribution of the arts in the United States, and may make the experience of the live performance available to consumers in their homes.
The U.S. education system is undergoing tremendous pressure to increase its effectiveness through accountability measures. Because education levels are a strong predictor of later attendance at arts events, arts managers would do well to become part of the education revolution by working to incorporate the arts into the changing educational environment.
For additional topics relating to the adaptive arts organization, please go to www.managementandthearts.com .
Questions
1. Do the six environments affect the various art forms in different ways? For example, are theater groups more or less infl uenced by changes in these environments than art museums? Explain.
2. This chapter focused on the infl uence of the environments on organizations. What infl uence do these environments have on the individual artist?
3. What combination of demographic descriptors would you use to outline why you and your family or friends are arts consumers?
4. What opportunities and threats will artists and arts organizations face over the next fi ve to ten years?