Arts Quarter has announced the findings from its fourth survey of UK arts organisations, looking to plot the ongoing affects of the global recession on the sector.
In all, some 452 arts organisations of all scales, regions and art forms took part in this year's survey, the fourth of its kind to be conducted by AQ since the start of the recession in 2008.
Key Findings:
A majority of respondents reporting that they will be unlikely to recover losses in public sector funding from other sources until at least 2015.
Continuing modest growth in both fundraising and earned income streams combined with the impacts of public sector cuts felt across the sector point clearly to the arts being in the midst of the Second Recessionary Wave as predicted in AQ's 2nd and 3rd such reports.
On earned revenues, a lack of confidence in growth in a number of key areas as consumer confidence wanes and the impacts of public sector cuts take hold on a number of key revenue streams.
The first signs of 'fundraising bottlenecking' are becoming evident in the sector as more organisations begin private sector fundraising, competing for support with established fundraising teams. This is leading to some reporting declines in fundraising revenues owing to increasing competition for support - without a commensurate growth in funders or philanthropy generally.
Declining faith in the 2012 Olympics and Cultural Olympiad's capacities to generate much needed additional revenues and create a long term legacy of greater arts attendance post 2012.
John Nicholls, Managing Partner of Arts Quarter commented,
The findings from this, our fourth such survey into the impacts of the global recession on the UK arts community provide very clear evidence that the current economic climate is having a significant and long-lasting affect on the sector as economic growth remains weak and cuts in public sector support take hold.
Any hope that the Catalyst Arts programme might offer any form of even medium term recovery for the sector is looking increasingly unlikely with many of our respondents recognizing that support will only be secured in the medium to long term. That said, our findings this year, as before continue to demonstrate a clear commitment by our respondents to thrive in the longer term but at what cost to the sector in the short term?
To download a summary of the findings or request a copy of the full report, visit: http://www.artsquarter.co.uk/news.html
For more information visit http://www.artsquarter.co.uk/news.html