A quick list of the things to look for in the arts industry for 2012.
1.) Ticket Sales/Attendance – Movie audience number continue on a downward spiral as the availability of online media entertainment becomes more and more plentiful. Pair that with the growth of services such as Hulu, Hulu Plus, Netflix, iTunes and most recently Amazon’s on demand movie streaming service, and you’ve got yourself a perfect climate for marketing departments in the performing and visual art world to break out all the stops. While the biggest enemy of a live arts event will remain the couch, watch for audiences to move their ‘entertainment’ dollars away from movies with friends and looks for something else. If the arts world is smart, they’ll use this to their advantage – because a night out at the gallery or theatre can’t be replaced by Sony, no matter how hard Sony may try.
2.) Ticket Prices – On the other side of the previous trend – ticket prices are still a huge hurdle for many Americans to experience the arts. Shows on Broadway – the definitive performing arts locale in the country – can cost the average person anywhere from $30 – $250 any given day. And when you look at a recent study of 2010-2011 season attendees on Broadway, the population segment attending these shows is, well, expected – white, middle-aged, well educated (college degree or higher), affluent and female. This is a trend that will be interesting to watch. As people continue to cut their expenses in their home, arts organizations are going to have to reflect their understanding in their ticket prices/offerings. While there will always be a demand for higher priced tickets, I’m more interested in the bottom half of the ticket scale. (shameless plug – the Mauldin Cultural Center has FREE concert and theatre tickets…)
3.) Congressional Bills – There are a few bills to watch out for in 2012, namely the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) [link to full text], that will play a huge role in not only the arts industry, but also how the average ‘Joe’ is able to access and utilize the arts. SOPA is garnering a lot of friction currently. The biggest culprit of the criticism is a portion of the bill that effectively gives the US Dept. of Justice the right shut down, or rather deny access to, any website that is accused of spreading pirated works, without a court order. In ‘english’ – if you posted the official music video for Frank Sinatra’s newest song on your YouTube or Facebook account, even if your only intent was to share it with your friends, the record company could request that the D.O.J. shut down the entire site of Facebook or YouTube until the material was removed. It would also require that, until the material is removed from the website, Facebook or YouTube would not be allowed to appear on any online search results. Now the overall goal for the bill is admirable – helping eliminate illegal downloading/sharing of copyrighted material (especially music and movies) – but many feel that this bill is far too overreaching. Check this article and this article for more information and keep your eye out for this legislation to make a huge splash in 2012. Currently it has not made it out of House Subcommittee yet, so there is some time before there are any votes or any movement whatsoever, but if it should reach the floor of Congress – you’ll be glad you knew about it now.
4.) State Arts Agencies – If you thought last year’s budget battle was tough, wait until 2012. With a Presidential election looming as well as other state elections, be on the lookout for many state governments to target, yet again, the arts. In South Carolina, we’ll be facing an uphill battle with Gov. Nikki Haley who last year budgeted the elimination (not cuts, elimination) of the SC Arts Commission. When state legislators put the SCAC back in the budget, Gov. Haley vetoed their funding, and her veto was (luckily) overturned by the SC House. Gov. Haley has again expressed interest in eliminating the SCAC in the 2012 budget. We [arts professionals] expect to see this trend throughout a few other states and we’ll need the support of everyone to help keep the arts alive.
If you need a refresher course on the importance of the SCAC to the state, and to organizations such as the Mauldin Cultural Center, check out our blog archive for coverage of last year’s budget process.
5.) 2012 Election – It’s no surprise that the 2012 election will effect all of us in some fashion, no matter who is elected. With some candidates calling out the National Endowment for the Arts for elimination, charitable donation legislation in Congress, SOPA legislation, and the further polarizing of American politics – the arts are poised to become a talking point in the political arena in 2012. Be sure that you are informed of everything arts-related this year. Check out the “Links” page here on our blog site for some helpful resources.
a pART of the story 