Study Shows Arts Groups Give Much More Than They Get

San Diego arts organizations benefit the local economy more than they do themselves, pumping more than a quarter of a billion dollars into the economy, according to a study by the newly formed San Diego Cultural Arts Coalition.

Arts organizations throughout the county return $10 to the local community for each $1 contributed, according to the survey. But, despite having enriched the local economy in 1988-89 to an estimated tune of $270.4 million in direct, indirect and related spending, most arts organizations are barely surviving.

Even when $31.7 million in the form of earned income (admissions, fees, teaching and merchandise) is added in, only a collective $4.2 million stands between the 70 organizations surveyed and red ink. Among theaters, that figure is more like $400,000, according to Alan Ziter, executive director of the San Diego Theatre League.

The La Jolla Playhouse’s $750,000 deficit announced this year may be only the latest in a series of crises that could continue to plague theaters in this funding climate. According to Ziter, even the largest theaters are only $100,000 away from being in the red, and the smallest theaters have only a $10,000 margin.

“All it takes is one show where the income doesn’t come to what is expected for an organization to go out of business,” Ziter said, commenting on the slenderness of the financial cushion for most local organizations.

Adrian Stewart, managing director of the San Diego Repertory Theatre and founder of the San Diego Arts Coalition--a newly formed group of more than 70 local arts organizations--hopes to use the survey’s figures on both economic impact and the dedication of individuals to the arts to rally corporate and city support. (The survey showed patronage of 4 million, a volunteer corps of 9,000 and $11.4 million in individual donations--the biggest source of the groups’ income.)

“What we have to move away from is a series of crisis fund raising,” Stewart said. “This sets our agenda for the ‘90s. There are a lot of people who care. There are certain organizations that need to play a role to keep institutions that people care about going.

“It’s a fragile situation, and I believe that the real onus is back on the arts organizations to advocate to a whole new level of corporation (support), the small-size corporations, mid-size corporations,” he said. “A partnership has to happen, and it’s about more than money. It’s about giving San Diego a reputation as a cultural destination.”

Ziter was reluctant to separate funding for different art forms, because the purpose of the coalition is to locate new sources of support for the arts as a whole, but the survey does show that dance is the least supported of San Diego arts, receiving a scant 1% of all contributed income and 2% of the earned income.

Dance organizations are more dependent on earned income than any other organizations, with 76% of their money coming from ticket sales.

Theater is nearly as dependent on earned income, at 73%. Music organizations and museums have the most stable base, with only 60% of their money coming from ticket sales.

With figures like these, it’s no wonder that, despite the much-ballyhooed health of the San Diego arts scene, there has been a financial crisis in one organization after another: the San Diego Opera, the San Diego Symphony, the San Diego Repertory Theatre and now the La Jolla Playhouse.

The $270.4-million figure in the arts coalition report may seem high to those who remember a survey done just last year by the San Diego Chamber of Commerce. Max Schetter, director of the chamber’s economic research bureau, used guidelines from the California Confederation of the Arts to come up with a $96-million estimate of the arts’ direct and related impact in 1988.

Some of the differences between the two surveys are that the Chamber of Commerce used the most conservative multiplier possible--2 times the number of admissions--to determine related audience spending on meals, drinks, gifts and parking.

The arts coalition used a multiplier of 2.78, taken from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration model used in Boston in 1986.

Also, the chamber did not take into account indirect audience spending.