A beach is “permanently changed after a major hurricane”
Steven Libman wonders if the Great Recession is over for the arts in America and if they will ever return to ‘pre-recession’ splendour.
As we all know, the Great Recession that began in 2008 was the worst economic disaster to hit America and the global economy since the Great Depression. While the Great Recession is technically over as measured by economists, millions of Americans are still out of work or have stopped searching for work and some sectors of the economy still have not recovered.
What about the arts? Clearly much of the information may be anecdotal, but a conversation with a few experts yields some comments and statistics that are worth mentioning. According to David Snead, vice president of marketing and communications for the esteemed New York Philharmonic, “My short answer is the recession is over for us pretty much the same way it is over for most other sectors. Things are better than one to three years ago, but not back to pre-recession.”
The “not back to pre-recession” comment can signal that the landscape has changed forever for the arts community in much the same way that a natural landscape, i.e. a beach, is permanently changed after a major hurricane.
Americans for the Arts has just released a major study on the National Arts Index that indicates the national arts community continues to slowly recover from the Great Recession, but is still not back to the levels attained in 2007, the year before the recession began. The study goes on to state that the arts as an industry are lagging behind the economy as a whole – the report states, “it appears that the economic recovery, which started in 2009, does not positively affect the arts sectors until 2011.” In 2007 the National Arts Index had a score of 103 and by 2011 it had dropped to 97, the lowest index score.
As we all know, the Great Recession that began in 2008 was the worst economic disaster to hit America and the global economy since the Great Depression. While the Great Recession is technically over as measured by economists, millions of Americans are still out of work or have stopped searching for work and some sectors of the economy still have not recovered.
What about the arts? Clearly much of the information may be anecdotal, but a conversation with a few experts yields some comments and statistics that are worth mentioning. According to David Snead, vice president of marketing and communications for the esteemed New York Philharmonic, “My short answer is the recession is over for us pretty much the same way it is over for most other sectors. Things are better than one to three years ago, but not back to pre-recession.”
The “not back to pre-recession” comment can signal that the landscape has changed forever for the arts community in much the same way that a natural landscape, i.e. a beach, is permanently changed after a major hurricane.
Americans for the Arts has just released a major study on the National Arts Index that indicates the national arts community continues to slowly recover from the Great Recession, but is still not back to the levels attained in 2007, the year before the recession began. The study goes on to state that the arts as an industry are lagging behind the economy as a whole – the report states, “it appears that the economic recovery, which started in 2009, does not positively affect the arts sectors until 2011.” In 2007 the National Arts Index had a score of 103 and by 2011 it had dropped to 97, the lowest index score.