resources

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BCA Noteworthy
Sign up for our monthly e-bulletin that delivers practical information relevant to arts organizations and the business community, including: facts, figures, and events.

Current Reports and Data

UAF Statistical Research and Revenue Trends - NEW
These documents provide the most current available campaign totals for the nation's United Arts Funds. The UAFs are listed alphabetically by name of city and the figures represent UAF campaign revenue only. Americans for the Arts updates these figures continually and they are available online for members only.

2011 Private Sector Survey [PDF, 2.6MB] -  NEW 
Americans for the Arts created a combined survey for the Arts & Business Councils (ABC), Business Committees for the Arts (BCA) and Business Volunteers for the Arts program partners (BVA) in response to the field’s desire to learn more about organizations with a similar focus on arts and business partnerships.

Did you know?

• Total financial support provided to arts organizations and/or individual artists in the form of grants of contracts during fiscal year 2011 was $70.2 million. A total of 3,028 arts organizations and individual artists were supported by this funding.

• Responding United Arts Funds raised a total of $80.9 Million in 2011.

• 35 percent of responding organizations operated some type of Board Development Programs during their fiscal year 2011. These programs made a total of 216 Board Placements, served approximately 702 people, and were predominantly funded by a combination of grants, fees and sponsorships.

Also Available: 2010 Private Sector Survey

BCA Triennial Survey
The BCA Report: National Survey of Business Support to the Arts tracks trends and levels of business contributions to the arts in the United States, also providing businesses with the information they need to begin or increase support to arts programs.

Creative Industries
A comprehensive research tool, Creative Industries: Business & Employment in the Arts analyzes national business and employment data for both the nonprofit and for-profit arts sectors. The reports offer a new, facts-based approach to understanding the scope and importance of the arts to the nation's economy, giving businesses valuable data to advocate advancing the arts.

Arts & Economic Prosperity IV
Advocates can use this upcoming report to demonstrate how the nonprofit arts and culture industry is an economic driver, strengthening our nation’s economy by supporting jobs, generating government revenue, and acting as a cornerstone of the tourism industry.

Business Volunteers for the Arts® Programs 2012 Survey Results - NEW

Programs

Business Volunteers for the Arts
A program that connects business professionals with nonprofit arts organizations.

National Arts Marketing Project
A comprehensive web portal that organizes practical marketing information in a format that is easily accessible to novice, intermediate, and expert marketers alike.

Arts Policy Discussions

National Arts Policy Roundtable
The National Arts Policy Roundtable is an annual forum that enables national leaders of all industries (business, government, philanthropy, education, and the arts) to network, share knowledge, and recommend policies critical to the advancement of American culture.Policies recommended by the Roundtable are circulated back to the Americans for the Arts National Arts Policy Network for implementation.

Additional Tools

Starting a United Arts Fund [PDF, 1.48 MB]
Take a look at this PowerPoint presentation created by Alecia Townsend Kintner, deputy director, Greater Hartford Arts Council, for the UAF 101 session at the Americans for the Arts 2007 Annual Convention in Las Vegas. Jeff Hawthorne, director of Community Affairs, Regional Arts and Culture Council of Portland, also presented a capsule view (pdf, 153KB) of four emerging United Arts Funds.
 

Arts Education: Preparing Students for the Workplace [PDF, 44 KB]
Compiled for advocates, educators, and business leaders, this document provides a snapshot of key findings from the study Ready to Innovate (see full study below), conducted by Americans for the Arts and the Conference Board.  Data collected from the study indicates that leaders in business and education view the arts as a vital step in preparing students to be creative workers for the global marketplace.

Arts-based Learning: An interview with Ted Buswick [PDF, 249 KB]
In an interview conducted in August 2010, Ted Buswick, one of the pioneers in the arts-based learning field, talks about importance of arts-based learning as businesses are increasingly focusing on creativity and innovation.

Business Support to the Arts [PDF, 74 KB]
Business support to the arts change along with the economy. With more than $3 billion in arts funding, businesses play a key role in ensuring the health and vitality of the nation’s arts sector. This document provides a financial report on contributions for 2009.

Private Giving [PDF, 49 KB]
The Private Giving Report provides information on private giving to the arts, culture and humanities from 1997-2008 and offers analysis of current trends in private sector philanthropy.

Ready to Innovate: Are Educators and Executives Aligned on the Creative Readiness of the U.S. Workforce? [PDF, 629 KB]
Americans for the Arts and the Conference Board, in partnership with the American Association of School Administrators surveyed public school superintendents and American business executives to identify and compare their views on creativity and innovation. The results proved that while creativity is increasingly important in the workplace, there is a gap when examining the needs and hiring practices of companies.

(Re)Educating for Leadership: How the Arts Can Improve Business [PDF, 115 KB]
In an era of constant change, where tried-and-true business methods can leave a company gasping in the vapor trails of its competitors, the arts can help people reframe their environments, see things anew, and thereby increase discovery.