Welcome to Edition 3, Our Latest Report Findings on the Health of the U.S. Arts and Cultural Sector

This edition includes insights on trends as well as updates on seven performance indices key to assessing organizational health, all related to earned revenue, marketing and participation: 

This third edition marks a shift in our reporting structure to release findings from new sets of data by focusing on particular content areas every four months. 

Select insights of Edition 3 include:

  • Total engagement increased substantially due to big growth in virtual participation in digital programs. Many sectors engage far more people through digital offerings than they do on-site; most notably, opera companies, symphony orchestras and art museums had explosive average growth in virtual participation.  In-person participation remained fairly flat in all sectors.
  • Across the field, NCAR found that the subscription and membership model is not dead.
  • As arts organization go from Small to Medium to Large, the average program revenue they earn per attendee increases exponentially while their marketing expenses per attendee increase to a far lesser extent. This suggests that the increased investment in skilled marketing staff is a key element to growth in program revenue.
  • The number of people engaged per offering declined for most sectors. Programmatic offerings are being added at a faster rate than audience/visitor growth.

We hope you enjoy engaging with the data and welcome any comments, feedback, and suggestions you may have.

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