Nonprofit Arts Leaders: Your Advocacy Advice Didn't Work Before. Why Should It Work Now?

By now, you’ve heard it, read it, and maybe even recited it. You’ve plugged that virtual cassette (kids, google it) into your cerebellum and out came the same old reasons to support the arts as before the pandemic. And, of course, this is during the pandemic. Surreal.

The catcher gives the signs. The pitcher nods. And here’s the pitch…

From Americans for the Arts (which is having its own issues right now):

The arts are a larger segment of the economy than most people realize. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that the nation’s arts and culture sector—nonprofit, commercial, education—is an $878 billion industry that supports 5.1 million jobs. That is 4.5% of the nation’s economy—a larger share of GDP than powerhouse sectors such as agriculture, transportation, and tourism. The arts even boast a $30 billion international trade surplus.

From The Nonprofit Times:

The total nonprofit workforce at the end of September 2020 remained down by 7.6 percent from its pre-March 2020 level. Particularly hard-hit were:

   Arts, entertainment, and recreation, -34.7%

   Education, -12.6%;

   Other services, -11.2%

   Social services, -10%

   Health care, -4.3%

Look, it’s not as though this information is false. It’s not false at all. It’s a factual snapshot of the nonprofit sector.

It’s just meaningless. That’s all.

It’s not meaningless to artists, of course. They need the work, the money, and the reason to produce art. Well, not the reason per se. The reason to produce art is not a money-first proposition. 99% of artists never make enough money to survive on art alone.

It’s not as though there is a collection of college freshmen that suddenly see that there’s money in art. And they stop coding or engineering or medicine or their poli-sci courses and have an epiphany: “Eureka! I could make so much money performing or constructing art! Why, it’s a guarantee!”

Administrative artists (those that run the operations, management, and deal with the donors and boards) are a little different, but only a little. Yes, one can cobble a living working for arts organizations in that capacity. I have. But generally, it’s not why people choose arts organizations for which to work. The money (except at the tippy-top, which is unconscionably high – blame the boards for that) is unsustainable, turnover is rampant, the grass is always greener in another city, and it is a telling thing that, as happens in most businesses (especially in the US), those employees with children and relationships ultimately suffer most.

It’s just meaningless to everyone else. Especially the underserved people you’re trying to help.

The core issue is one that will haunt the future of arts institutions and organizations as long as old, white, predictable, and uninspiring hangers-on still run these joints. At Americans for the Arts (AFTA), which has come to represent these folks, unbeknownst to the token cultural diversity they seem to espouse (on paper), they’ve even been lazy enough to try to codify the status quo.

According to AFTA's website (I kid you not)...

So, other than swapping #1 and #2, there is no difference? Really?

• With a global pandemic that is likely to kill half a million people by the end of March?
• After George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the millions of people who are clamoring for a new way that puts anti-racism as the one priority from here on in?
• After arts organizations across the country have closed, will close, or are at the very least, about to close – except the big “white” institutions?

Shame on you, AFTA. It is no wonder that many refer to you as “WAFTA.”

Critics say AFTA has been tone-deaf to the suffering of artists and organizations of color who have been disproportionately harmed by recent events, and it has missed opportunities to provide relief…. Critics also point to AFTA’s history, saying calls for equality and diversity have been ignored for years, as evidenced by the continuing relevance of its tongue-in-cheek moniker WAFTA (White Americans for the Arts). – Washington Post, December 15, 2020

Why do arts nonprofits insist on heading down the same path? Why bitch and moan, decrying the loss of jobs, the size of the industry, and some sort of bizarre “agony index” comparison with other nonprofits? The idea that somehow the plight of healthcare workers is lesser by way of some job loss percentage is insulting to the reader, an abomination to the health care workers, and acts as a significant, passionate reason not to support your local arts organization.

Recently, Doug Borwick put it pretty succinctly.

At least one question I’ve seen raised about the nonprofit arts industry in 2021 is the wrong one. Roughly put, it is “How will post-pandemic life impact us and our work?” To me, this illustrates the self-defeating ‘artcentricity’ that plagues us.

It’s not that no one cares that artists are out of work. People care. Just like they care that their local restaurant has closed down…that the bowling alley has been torn down…that billionaires as a class have added about $1 trillion to their total net worth since the pandemic began.

Anyway, the whole tack of economic hardship toward the arts will not work as a selling point, just as it has never worked as a selling point. It does not work because it does not play with an audience. It’s like a comedian explaining a joke after it bombs by talking about how his or her family will starve unless the audience laughs. Is the audience likelier to subsequently laugh?

It comes off as begging; well, not begging so much as abrasive, insensitive, and destructive. Hint: you don't want to come off as abrasive, insensitive, or destructive, let alone all three.

What’s more, and this might be the most important truth –

Supporting the arts is completely different from supporting your arts organization.

Forget about advocating for the arts. It’s a worthless, pointless, time-consuming endeavor. Stop doing that ridiculous one-day trip to your state’s capital city for “Arts Day.” Stop using educational achievement as a measuring stick for artistic support. Stop using economic impact or “butts-in-seats” as anything. All of this is irrelevant, wishy-washy make-work that achieves little -- and totally useless for garnering support for your particular organization.

Instead, advocate for your arts organization. Start by answering these questions. Then ask some more.

• Why is it crucial that your organization start to produce art post-Pandemic? What impact on the local community (be specific and quantifiable – don’t put forth unfounded opinions) takes place because you’re in it?
• Who produces your art? Has your staff and board (especially at the top) changed by virtue of your stated support of anti-racism? Are your diversity programs organization-wide, or just below the top? What does your new DEI director actually do – does he/she/they have the power to do it?
• Are you prepared to change the way you do business to become an effective force or are you going to continue to do pretty, fun art?
• Are the children you serve – or ask to perform – going to shift to the group that really could use an artistic experience? Those without the means to pay for one? What are you doing for Title 1 schoolchildren? What are the results of that? Have those kids been integrated into your work, or have you segregated them into a separate program? Are you still just doing Broadway musicals (even the junior editions) or are you choosing programming based on the needs of your community?
• Are you trying to attract the same audience over and over? Why? Are your productions/exhibits the same over and over? What would happen if you decided to choose your audience based on the specific work rather than the fact that you’re producing it?
• Are your marketing and development departments always tripping over each other? Are you perpetuating the clunky myth that selling tickets to donors (or asking ticket-buyers to donate) is not conflicting with your ability to make a community impact? If you’re a nonprofit interested in impactful solutions (which, at heart, is what a good nonprofit does), why are you selling tickets at all? Doesn’t that just lead to donors donating so that they can themselves buy tickets?
• Are your board members ensuring that the workers are paid enough? Why not? Is the ED/CEO/AD/MD making more than 7 times the hourly salary as the lowest paid worker? Why?
• Are your foundations and corporate sponsors aware that their behavior to the community is reflected in the diversity of what you do, or are you doing what you believe won’t offend them?

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