The central purpose of this study is to explain the financial problems of the performing groups and to explore the implications of these problems for the future of the arts in the . Our data encompass a variety of sub-topics. The main focus of our research was the cost and revenue structures of the performing groups; thus the bulk of our efforts was devoted to the accumulation of records of costs, ticket sales, revenues and contributions from other sources. A close second in importance was the information we gathered in trying to determine who constitutes the audience, in terms of education, economic characteristics, geographic distribution, ticket purchasing habits and so on. From these two major efforts we went on to a series of sub-studies: among them studies of performer incomes, of the history and anatomy of cultural centers, of grants and contributions, of the state of the arts in Great Britain, (because we expected to find some revealing contrasts there), of particular organizations - case studies conducted in considerable depth.

Our subject matter was defined to include only live professional performance. The sheer mass of our data and the heterogeneity of the audience we would like to reach have dictated the general form of this volume. It would have been all too easy to inundate the reader with statistical detail, but this would almost certainly have obscured the main threads of our argument. Yet it would have been most unfortunate had we suppressed entirely those potentially valuable materials which specialists would want to see. We have, therefore, compromised by keeping the text as straightforward and unencumbered as possible and relegating our more technical materials to footnotes and appendices.

There are three parts to this book. The first is largely descriptive, indicating in some detail the current economic state of the performing arts in the . After a brief chapter describing the organizations with which we shall be dealing, the substantive portion of Part I begins with a re-examination of the much-publicized cultural boom. The discussion then turns to the characteristics of audiences and the financial circumstances of performers, and culminates in an examination of the economic state of the performing organizations.

The second part of the book is more analytic. It discusses the technology of the performing arts and its implications for their financial future. Separate chapters are devoted to trends in total costs, in major cost components, in box office receipts and in other earned income. Special attention is given to ticket pricing policies. The last chapter of this section undertakes to bring these elements together and to depict trends in the over-all financial gap between expenditures and earned income experienced by representative art organizations.

Part III examines the sources of funds used to cover these deficits: contributions by individuals, firms, foundations and governments. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for the future of the arts and for public policy. It should be re-emphasized that in our discussion of policy there will be no attempt to provide detailed proposals or to recommend concrete courses of action. Rather, we shall undertake to examine critically the grounds that have been proposed for public support and to suggest the magnitude of the financial commitment that is involved.

Only three of our conclusions will be indicated at this point, but they will suffice to suggest the general direction of this study. First, it will be shown that while the phenomenon that has been described as the cultural boom is indeed a reality, its scope and magnitude have been exaggerated in many reports on the subject, and its character and significance misunderstood.

Second, despite the allegations of increasing grass roots interest in the arts and the optimistic view that audiences include a wide range of social groups, it will be shown that the typical audience at professional performances is drawn from an extremely narrow segment of the population - a group characterized by unusually high levels of education and income.

Third, we will offer evidence that the economic pressures that beset the performing arts have been growing, and that this is no historical accident, but a consequence of what might be considered the technology of their operations, so that the need of the performing groups for contributed funds is likely to continue to grow ever larger.

CONTENTS
Introduction.

Part 1. The current state of affairs:

  1. The organizations.
  2. The cultural boom: a new look at the evidence.
  3. The audience.
  4. The performer, the composer, the playwright and the choreographer. 
  5. The financial state of the organizations.

Part 2. The trends and their analysis:

  6. Anatomy of the income gap.
  7. Trends in over-all cost of performance.
  8. Trends in performer salaries and other components of cost.
  9. Factors affecting demand and earnings.
10. Ticket prices.
11. Trends in the income gap.

Part 3. Sources of financial support:

12. Contributions by individuals.
13. Private institutional support.
14. Government support in practice.
15. On the rationale of public support.
16. Prospects.

List of tables.
List of graphs.
List of appendices.
Appendices.
Selected bibliography.
Index.

The central purpose of this study is to explain the financial problems of the performing groups and to explore the implications of these problems for the future of the arts in the . Our data encompass a variety of sub-topics. The main focus of our research was the cost and revenue structures of the performing groups; thus the bulk of our efforts was devoted to the accumulation of records of costs, ticket sales, revenues and contributions from other sources.