Study: O.C. arts numbers down after 9/11

A new statistical glimpse of how the arts were faring economically in Orange County in the year leading up to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks shows a public increasingly eager to pay for performances and exhibitions, and donors willing to keep writing checks in the face of a balky (but not yet plummeting) stock market--all of which encouraged gung-ho cultural institutions to hike their spending commensurately.

But that was then--the 2001 fiscal year documented in the quadrennial state-of-the-arts study by Chapman University economists and the Orange County Business Committee for the Arts. The this-is-now part of the study, released Tuesday, was predictably more chastened. The 55 participating Orange County nonprofit arts organizations foresaw four years of steady spending growth slowing to a crawl in 2002.

The study, titled “The Economic Impact of the Nonprofit Arts on Orange County,” mainly looks back on the salad days before Sept. 11 and the stock market bust, said Esmael Adibi, the Chapman economist who analyzed the data.

Figures for about half of the institutions surveyed -- including many of the largest -- reflected fiscal years that ended in July 2001, before the seismic shift in national mood and agenda. The rest gave figures for the calendar year, including the nearly four months after Sept. 11.

According to the survey, the take from paid admissions to museums, performances and arts festivals soared 58.6% during the boom economy -- from $29.5 million in 1997 to $46.8 million in 2001. The number of paying patrons rose 37%, from 1.45 million to 2 million. Donations to operating budgets grew 65.1%, from $29.8 million to $49.2 million.

With total income up 56.2%, the arts groups raised their spending even more aggressively--by 58.9%. The number of full-time employees increased 40%, from 417 to 585.

Those figures come from the 38 organizations that responded to both the 1997 and 2001 surveys--including all of the heavyweights, such as the Orange County Performing Arts Center, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, Pacific Symphony, South Coast Repertory and major local museums.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” Adibi said. “People who are doing well spend more on arts, and when that becomes part of the way you live, you continue to do that unless the trends change your behavior.”

But the trends have shifted. Asked to estimate the impact of Sept. 11 and the recession, more than 60% of the organizations surveyed said that donations were hurt, and more than 30% said attendance was hurt. Collectively, the 55 organizations projected that their earned income would fall nearly 3% in 2002, from $63.9 million to $62.1 million. However, they expected donations, which pay for nearly half of their aggregate expenses, to rise 8.9% -- an estimate that surprised Adibi.

“I think they’re very optimistic,” given the recession economy and bear market, he said. The organizations collectively expected to increase spending 1.9% for the year.

The new study is the fourth conducted since 1989 by Chapman and the Business Committee for the Arts. It aims to document the role that the nonprofit arts play in the county’s economy.

“It’s to tell [business donors] their money is going to two causes -- one is to improve quality of life, the other is to improve the economy,” Adibi said.

The study concluded that arts institutions’ total economic impact on the county grew to $407.9 million.