The Coronavirus Pandemic Has Cost American Arts Organizations a Collective $4.5 Billion So Far, a New Study Says

Arts and cultural organizations
across the country are estimated to have lost a combined $4.5
billion because of the health crisis, according to an
ambitious new
survey conducted by the
Americans for the Arts. And that’s just the start.

The average among the 11,500
organizations surveyed for the study, which launched just over
three weeks ago, have so far lost $38,000 each. More than
two-thirds estimate that the crisis will have a “severe” or
“extremely severe” impact on their business.

Meanwhile, 94 percent of
respondents have canceled events. Roughly half of them say that
expenses have gone up or are expected to. And 23 percent have
already reduced staff, while another 43 percent say they will
likely have to do so eventually. 

“Clearly, this is a devastating
time for the arts, with nonprofit arts organizations alone already
accumulating $4.5 billion in losses and much more uncertainty
ahead,” says Randy Cohen, vice president of research at Americans
for the Arts, which is leading the study. “We will definitely lose
organizations by the time we get to the other side of this COVID-19
crisis.”

The surveyed organizations range
from “small volunteer-led groups to institutions with budgets in
the tens of millions,” says Cohen. Three-fourths of those are
non-profits, while the rest are commercial outfits and individual
artists. All 50 states are represented. 

No matter how you slice it, the
news is bleak. “And yet,” Cohen says, “there’s still room for
optimism.” 

When social distancing measures
are lifted, arts and cultural organizations will be vital to
righting the ship.

“Getting people out of their
houses and spending money again will be key to jump-starting the
economy,” he goes on. “This is what the arts do—they get us out of
the house and create social and economic opportunities—attending a
festival, going to a museum exhibit, attending the theater. And the
data show that, when we do, we are driving commerce across a range
of sectors—pumping business to local merchants.”

Arts also bring people
together—not just geographically, but culturally. 

“Regardless who we voted for,
everyone loves their local festivals, working together on a
community mural, and seeing Hamilton for the third time,” Cohen adds. “These are
things we do together. And the research backs up this
point.”

He points to Americans for the
Arts’s 2018 public opinion poll “Americans Speak Out
About The Arts,” in
which 72 percent of Americans said they believe “the arts unify our
communities regardless of age, race, and ethnicity” and 81 percent
of the population considered the arts to be a “positive experience
in a troubled world,”

The post The Coronavirus Pandemic Has Cost American Arts
Organizations a Collective $4.5 Billion So Far, a New Study
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