posted by Jayson Smart, Program Officer

In February 2010, the Rasmuson Foundation commissioned Helicon Collaborative to conduct a scan of arts and cultural institutions in Alaska regarding the impact of the current economic recession on the sector. This scan involved an online survey of 81 arts and cultural organizations from across the state as well as phone interviews with 21 cultural organization leaders.  Alaska State Council on the Arts was asked to facilitate the contract with Helicon and direct the survey activities. 

The following highlights the main findings of the survey:

• A majority of organizations are seeing these economic challenges as a long-term shift in the resource base for the cultural sector and are preparing to operate leaner, more opportunistic organizations in the future.
• Organizations are reducing activities and related staff positions that are not critical to the essence of their mission. Many organizations consider themselves to be under-resourced for the scale of their operations. Many organizations are open to more radical restructuring, but are uncertain of sustainable models.

• Many organizations are interested in programmatic and administrative partnerships, but lack the time and capacity to pursue them.
• There is concern about increasing skepticism from local and state public officials, and Alaskans generally, about the value of the arts.
• “Individuals” are the only contributed income source where cultural leaders see opportunity for growth in the future. 65% of survey respondents reported a decline in Corporate giving in FY09. Approximately 50% saw reduced Foundation giving in the same time period.  Organizations seem to understand that to expand individual giving will require nurturing a “culture” of individual philanthropy and developing more sophisticated fundraising approaches.
• As a result of the challenges that they are facing, many organizations are pursuing more “commercial” programming to increase earned income. Many cultural leaders are worried about what this means for their ability to push beyond the cultural mainstream and reach underserved communities. 

This kind of information helps inform the Foundation, along with stakeholders in the sector, of the predominant and current issues that most impact arts and cultural organizations in the state. An important value of the Rasmuson Foundation includes directing funding toward efforts and initiatives that can have a long-term positive impact. In many cases this translates into support for organizations that focus on building foundational capacity in management and overall effectiveness. This has been demonstrated over the past several years through the Foundation’s Arts & Culture Initiative that has directed funding to organizational capacity building (organizational Advancement Fund), expanding programming and building new audiences (Creative Ventures Fund), and creating new artistic opportunities for individual artists. Our overall goal is to see that these efforts working collectively will positively shape and enhance the overall growth of arts and culture in Alaska. We believe at the Foundation that we are making headway in this effort, but much work still lays ahead. 

Data from this report is an important benchmark in time that gives us a glimpse into the current reality of our highly valued arts and cultural institutions in the State. Several strategies must continue to be undertaken by this sector to further prepare for our changing economic times (referred to as the “New Normal” by our President Diane Kaplan in previous blog posts), and to communicate effectively about the true impact of arts and culture in our  lives. While arts and culture influence practically every aspect of our day-to-day life, it’s important that we don’t become complacent in the appreciation of this influence.    

More than ever arts & cultural institutions have to employ savvy and innovative strategies to remain viable, vibrant and influential. Many organizations in Alaska are in fact well positioned to meet these challenges ahead, but many (including the “healthy” ones) will need the ongoing support of patrons, funders and the public at-large to keep our traditions, artistic expression, and ultimately, our identity, intact. 

Click here for a full copy of the Helicon Collaborative Report.

Tags: Alaska arts and culture organizations, Recession impact on Alaska arts and culture organizations

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 at 1:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.