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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2007 > June > 26 > Entry
Refresher: Austin ranks high in arts, not in philanthropy, study says
People seem to be surprised that the Dallas Morning News reported that Austin receives more per capita state arts funding than other major Texas cities
A surprise? Not really, if you’ve been charting the history of Austin arts funding. As a refresher, here’s a story we ran last December on our front page that charts a more comprehensive review of Austin arts funding than an analysis of TCA funding can offer.
American-Statesman December 16, 2006
We love an arty party in Austin.
But we’re not too keen on anteing up for the arts.
A new study released Friday by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan Washington research group, ranks Austin the No. 2 city in the country when it comes to hosting nonprofit arts festivals. Only Columbus, Ohio, bested Austin with more nonprofit community celebrations, festivals, fairs and parades.
However, when it comes to contributing funds to the arts, Austin doesn’t even make the top 50. Of metropolitan areas with populations of a million or more, Austin ranks 51.
What gives? Or rather, why don’t we give more money to the arts?
The answer may lie in one of Austin’s biggest drawing cards: its youth. Philanthropy is not just a function of wealth but age: the older, the better.
“Austin is an affluent town, and very educated, but it’s young,” said Peter J. Frumkin, director of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service at the University of Texas. The median age in Austin is 29.6, according to a 2005 survey by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Although young people attend arts events, they aren’t as likely to pony up the big bucks like their older counterparts. They’re busy making money, not giving it away.
“People typically wait until their careers are settled,” Frumkin said. “A lot of people who have made big money here are not ready to step back from their careers and focus on philanthropy.”
Austinites are ready to work in the arts, though. The city is 11th in the number of artist jobs per capita. And in terms of cultural facilities and nonprofit organizations, the city is 13. But Austin ranks 40th in arts expenditures.
In creating the rankings, Urban Institute researchers used 2003 data from the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the institute’s National Center for Charitable Statistics.
The report, “Cultural Vitality in Communities: Interpretation and Indicators” scans the nation’s 61 largest metropolitan areas and ranks the top 50 by seven different measures.
The Urban Institute not only looked at symphony concerts, operas and museums but also drumming circles, quilting bees, poetry slams and street murals.
All the more expected, then, that Austin would top the charts, even though commercial ventures such as South By Southwest and the Austin City Limits Festival weren’t counted.
“Austin has the reputation of really celebrating the quirky, the free, the independent arts rather than supporting established organizations with big donations,” Frumkin said.
The back story on some recent cultural projects bears that out.
The Blanton Museum of Art may be Austin’s biggest and newest crown jewel.
But Austinites chipped in a little less than 20 percent of the $83.5 million price tag on the UT museum. Statewide alumni and foundations accounted for the majority of donors.
Houston, long known for donors with deep pockets and civic pride, tops the arts philanthropy scale in Texas (ranked 28), while Dallas ranks 30 and Fort Worth 43. San Antonio ranks 47.
The San Francisco region ranked No. 1 on three key measures: nonprofit arts organizations, artist jobs and employment in commercial and nonprofit arts establishments. Washington was tops in nonprofit arts spending and contributions.
Experienced Austin arts fundraisers don’t find the latest data discouraging.
Cliff Redd, executive director of the Long Center for the Performing Arts, noted that a small but important group of donors has made Austin home to a symphony orchestra, opera and ballet companies as well as hundreds of smaller groups.
He added that Austin’s major arts donors have already made a convincing leadership case for a new group of maturing future philanthropists. The Long Center, which will open in 2008, has raised more than $72 million toward its $77 million goal.
“Philanthropy is a learned attribute,” Redd said. “And the good news is, we are learning.”
Cookie Ruiz, executive director of Ballet Austin, is optimistic about future philanthropy.
“With a thriving community of young professionals who are actively engaging in our arts community, it is my guess that as they grow professionally, so will our city’s collective giving to our arts ecology,” she said.
Ruiz touts Austin’s community of artists as a major asset.
“It is wonderful to see that we rank near the top for the number of working artists,” she said. “Should we cease to be a city where artists want to live, that loss would be unrecoverable.
“Our high concentration of working artists should become an issue of city and regional pride, and a resource to be protected with the passion we devote to the protection of our environment,” Ruiz said.
HOW THE AREAS RANK
The 50 metropolitan areas (population more than 1 million) with the most arts nonprofits per 1,000 population
- San Francisco
- New York
- Washington
- Boston
- Seattle/Bellevue/Everett, Wash.
- Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
- New Haven/Stamford, Conn.
- Oakland, Calif.
- Hartford, Conn.
- Portland, Ore./Vancouver, Wash.
- Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, N.C.
- Milwaukee
- Austin/San Marcos
- Rochester, N.Y.
- Buffalo, N.Y.
The 50 metropolitan areas (population more than 1 million) with the most nonprofit contributions per 1,000 population
- Washington
- San Francisco
- New York
- Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
- Seattle/Bellevue/Everett, Wash.
- Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, N.C.
- Hartford, Conn.
- Boston
- Nashville, Tenn.
- Los Angeles
- Denver
- Cincinnati
- Philadelphia
- Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Newport News, Va.
- Newark, N.J.
Source: Urban Institute
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