And Now, Today’s GOOD NEWS: The Cultures Are Alright
Perpetual bearers of good news The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance conducted a survey of cultural organizations this spring. And what does the survey show? Since the last survey in 2010, “more organizations reported higher income, both contributed and earned … [and] four out of five groups also reported expansions in programming or plans to increase programming in the near future.” Or, in longer form:
>>>>A higher percentage of cultural organizations report increases in both Single Ticket Sales and Subscriptions & Memberships in March 2012 compared to October 2010 – 43% report increasing Single Ticket Sales (compared to 33% in 2010) and 32% report increased Subscriptions & Memberships (compared to 20% in 2010).
>>>Compared to 2010, a higher percentage of cultural organizations report increases in Foundation Support (46% vs. 23%), Corporate Support (24% vs. 13%) and Individual Giving (51% vs. 38%).
>>>A higher percentage of organizations report that they have increased programming within the last 12 months (40% in 2012 vs. 35% in 2010) or plan to do so within the next 12 months (38% in 2012 vs. 29% in 2010).
>>>92% of organizations report stable or increased Individual Giving. More than half (51%) report increased Individual Giving.
>>>92% of organizations also report stable or increased Investment Income, with the majority of organizations (57%) reporting stable income.
>>>A lower percentage of organizations report reducing staff size or shrinking hours for staff in the last 12 months in 2012 than in 2010 (26% vs. 19%).
>>>33% of organizations report that they either have restored cut staff positions or are increasing staff in 2012 (question not asked in 2010).
>>>40% of cultural leaders say things will get better (up from 32% in 2010).
Well, that’s all sounding pretty great. The survey will be conducted again next spring, and you can read the whole report over here.
So there you have it: The world is not totally made of shit. Have you got some good news? If so, send it to tips[at]philebrity[dot]com with “GOOD MOTHERFUCKING NEWS!” in the subject header — we’d love to hear about it.
