Art Giving is Up, but....

Yesterday (October 23, 2011) on NPR's Weekend Edition - Sunday reporter Joel Rose examined the recent upward trend of arts giving: it's improved -- in fact, giving has increased by over 5% in the past twelve months.

This is significant news.

First, it indicates that the economy is improving. (It could also indicate that there is a shift toward community values in still-difficult times, but perhaps that is too utopian of me.)

Second, it provides hope for the future of cultural institutions. (A Boston Globe article last month noted that job growth in the museum and culture sector was negative, so greater giving would surely help.)

But...

Giving is up for established, older-audience, white-majority, well-endowed institutions.

The small, the scrappy, and the local are still struggling.

Rose's example compares the Metropolitan Opera with Arts Engine. Which one have you heard of?

The data comes from a study by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy entitled Fusing Arts, Culture and Social Change: High Impact Strategies for Philanthropy

The concept of participatory philanthropy may be vital to the success of "the other guys" of the museum world....