Arts and culture organizations were devastated by the pandemic.
In 2023, Americans for the Arts released their 6th Arts & Economic Prosperity Study examining the impact of arts and culture organizations across the nation.
They found that the arts and culture industry was among the most devastated economic sectors and the slowest to recover. They cited key reports and studies attesting to the dire situation.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis provided one report on the pandemic’s impact on the arts, finding that: “In year one of the COVID-19 pandemic, few areas of the U.S. economy were harder hit than the performing arts: Performing arts presenters and performing arts companies joined oil drilling/exploration and air transportation as the steepest-declining areas of the U.S. economy in 2020. After adjusting for inflation, the value added by performing arts presenters (including festivals) fell by nearly 73% between 2019 and 2020.” (Read the full report here.)
Many communities implemented restrictions on public gatherings and travel, which limited attendance and even the ability of performers to work together on the stage. 99% of producing and presenting organizations canceled events during the pandemic with many shuttering for entire seasons—a loss of an estimated 557 million ticketed admissions. (This finding comes from the Americans for the Arts research on the pandemic’s impact on the arts.)
John Hopkins University reported that in 2021 the percentage of job losses at nonprofit arts organizations was nearly five times worse than the average for all nonprofits: -34.7% vs. -7.4%
The pandemic’s impact was not felt equally. An Americans for the Arts study found that organizations serving and representing BIPOC communities were more likely to report that they lacked the financial resources needed to return to in-person programming than non-BIPOC organizations (55% vs. 38%).
Audiences are returning slowly in many communities with informal estimates of a ⅔ to ¾ return rate as of 2023.
