Arts Groups Show Healthy Growth : Funding: Study says economic activity was up to $336.4 million in ’91.

Despite the recession, nonprofit arts organizations in the county generated about $30 million more in economic activity last year than in 1989, according to a study released Thursday by the Orange County Business Committee for the Arts.

The groups generated nearly $290 million in 1991, up from the $260 million three years ago, the last time such a study was done. Both studies were prepared by Chapman University president and economist James L. Doti from findings based on written questionnaires returned by 34 groups.

The groups employed 4,039 people--up from 3,881 two years ago. However, most of the activity involved part-time hires, which were up 41.1%, as opposed to an 8.5% increase in full-time hires. Meanwhile, a 15.3% decrease in the number of “contracted” employees, hired for short-term projects, “might suggest that there were fewer arts productions” staged last year, Doti said.

In all, questionnaires were received from 41 respondents this year, including such institutions as the Irvine Barclay Theatre, which had not opened in time for the previous survey. With their numbers added in, the total amount of money generated was $336.4 million, and the total number of paid workers was 4,456.

Doti said the $290 million figure included $56.5 million (up from $50.8 million) in direct spending by the arts groups, including salaries and operating expenses; $163.2 million (up from $146.7 million) in indirect spending, the amount that arts groups’ employees and vendors spend in the county; and $70.1 million (up from $62.3 million) in indirect audience spending, which includes money spent on such things as meals and transportation, excluding tickets.

For the 34 groups, contributed income, public and private, jumped 9.4% to $22.7 million; earned income was up 12.5% to $35 million, Doti said. Paid and free attendance (for children, for instance) was up 9.5% to 1.9 million. He said the report did not take into account the significant number of groups carrying accumulated deficits.

Overall, the arts ranked as the 11th largest non-governmental employer in the county, down from ninth in 1989, a decrease probably caused by large corporations moving to the area, Doti said.

Doti volunteered his services. Expenses for the study were paid by a number of local corporations and the Joan Irvine Smith & Athalie R. Clarke Foundation.