Arts program study: Theaters vulnerable during recession

WASHINGTON -- The number of not-for-profit U.S. theater stages has doubled in the last 15 years, though the supply has outstripped demand with audience numbers staying flat or declining, according to new research released Monday by the National Endowment for the Arts.

"The remarkable growth and professional management of theatrical organizations across the nation has not yet been matched by equally robust growth in audiences," NEA chairman Dana Gioia wrote.

Theaters have generally maintained healthy finances in recent years, the study found, but a long recession could make all these relatively young venues vulnerable. Their revenue has fluctuated with business cycles in the U.S. economy, prompting declines in 1991 and 2002.

"Obviously the longer these economic stresses continue, the more trouble they're going to cause," said Bill O'Brien, the NEA's theater program director.

Corporate donations and government support have declined since 1990, but those losses have been more than offset by increases from foundations and individuals, he said.

The NEA's findings were based on data from Theatre Communications Group, the theater industry's largest trade group, figures from not-for-profit tax filings with the IRS since 1990, U.S. Census data and NEA audience surveys.

Key findings include:

• Between 1990 and 2005, the number of not-for-profit theaters doubled from 991 to 1,982.
• Since 1992, the percentage of the U.S. adult population attending nonmusical theater declined from 13.5 percent, or 25 million people, to 9.4 percent, representing 21 million people, in 2008.
• Attendance to musical theater has grown but remains flat in terms of the percentage of the population.
• Theater revenue is more balanced between earned income and contributions.
• Theater revenue dropped nearly 12 percent during the 2002 economic downturn and continued to decrease slowly until 2005.

"Inevitably they do emerge," said Sunil Iyengar, the NEA's research director. "In each case they've emerged from the recession more disciplined and with a more solid portfolio."

During tough times, many theaters have tried to show their civic benefits through education and outreach programs and marketing to underserved audiences, O'Brien said. Building up community support may have helped many theaters weather the first waves of the current recession.

While theaters continue to cluster in high-population areas (New York far exceeds all other states in theater count), some of the sharpest growth that fueled the rising number of theaters has been in states with small- and mid-sized populations, such as Nevada, Arkansas, Utah, Colorado and Mississippi.

"That bodes well, I think, for the future of theater," Iyengar said.

This is the first study of its kind for the government's arts agency. Researchers set out to document the theater industry's recent history, rather than provide a list of solutions for weathering the recession, O'Brien said.

"We need to convince people that the experiences people have when they come into our theaters are tremendously valuable because people are going to have to cut back on something," O'Brien said, "and we want to prove to them that it shouldn't be us."

------

On the Net:

National Endowment for the Arts: http://www.nea.gov/