So many things in life are about money. Even art. And for arts organizations that produce and present a rich array of cultural opportunities in our community, Life can be pretty expensive. Even if you don’t have enormous personnel costs like the Maryland Symphony, all of us still have to pay the light bill, the phone bill, the rent. The search for money can get pretty competitive. Take a look at the pictures above: on the left, today's take was about $1600; on the right, today's bills totalled about $1575. A good day.
Even at a little place like the arts council, we need to take in an average of $769 every time the mail gets delivered to make our little annual budget. I thank my lucky stars we live in Maryland, where state funding of the arts is strong. Frankly, if I relied solely on local donor support, I wouldn’t be able to heat the place. In the county where I live and work, the county government accounts for about $41 of that $769 I need every day, which works out to about ten cents per county resident per year.
Sustaining the arts is a topic that will be coming up occasionally on this blog. What’s your opinion? Are there better ways keep our arts institutions alive without bleeding our donors dry?
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