Raising the Barre: The Geographic, Financial, and Economic Trends of Nonprofit Dance Companies A Study by Thomas M. Smith Research Division Report #44 RESEARCH DIVISION REPORT #44 1 COVER PHOTO Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s production of Jim Vincent’s counter/part. (Photo by Todd Rosenberg) Raising the Barre: The Geographic, Financial, and Economic Trends of Nonprofit Dance Companies A Study by Thomas M. Smith Foreword by Douglas C. Sonntag Edited by Bonnie Nichols Contributions by Janelle Ott and Don Ball Research Division Report #44 This report was produced by the National Endowment for the Arts Research Division Tom Bradshaw, Director Acknowledgements The NEA Research Division would like to thank Kelly Barsdate (National Assembly of State Arts Agencies), Thomas Pollak (National Center on Charitable Statistics), and John Munger (Dance/USA) for their contributions and counsel; and Stephanie Colman (former division assistant with the NEA Dance Department) for her database assistance. August 2003 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Smith, Thomas M., 1969- Raising the barre: the geographic, financial, and economic trends of nonprofit dance companies: a study by Thomas M. Smith; foreword by Douglas C. Sonntag; edited by Bonnie Nichols; contributions by Janelle Ott and Don Ball. p. cm. -- (Research Division report; #44) 1. Dance companies--Economic aspects--United States. 2. Nonprofit organizations--Economic aspects--United States. 3. National Endowment for the Arts. I. Nichols, Bonnie. II. Ott, Janelle. III. Ball, Don, 1964- IV. Title. V. Research Division report (National Endowment for the Arts. Research Division); 44. GV1785.8.S65 2003 792.8--dc22 2003015218 Table of Contents 6Foreword ................................................................................................................1 Executive Summary ..............................................................................................5 Introduction............................................................................................................9 Datasets ................................................................................................................11 Significant Findings ............................................................................................13 Location and Growth of Nonprofit Dance Companies....................................17 Starts and Terminations of Nonprofit Dance Companies................................23 Finances of Nonprofit Dance Companies ........................................................27 The NEA’s Role in Supporting Dance Companies ..........................................33 Conclusion ............................................................................................................37 References ............................................................................................................39 Appendix ..............................................................................................................41 Foreword 6 annual snapshot of dance companies, presen- ters, and service organizations. Accumulated grant files contain the comprehensive history of American dance in the last half of the 20th century. The other two databases used in this study, the Unified Database of Arts Organizations (UDAO) and the economic census, are also derived from federal sources. There is a certain irony that the most evanes- cent means of artistic expression would find its history preserved in government archives. These datasets document a period of change and upheaval for American concert dance. During the decade, dance companies changed how they generated income, both earned and unearned. It was also a period of significant social transformation that had a profound impact on cultural organizations and the role of the artist in American society. In addition to using movement to express an aesthetic vision, choreographers and companies were expected to assume new responsibilities as performers, American Ballet Theatre’s merican dance is a fugitive art, resistant to educators, community activists, cultural com- production of Frederick Ashton’s capture, elusive in definition, and difficult mentators, conservators, and curators. The Dream featuring Alessandra A Ferri and Ethan Stiefel. to quantify. Providing this discipline with (Photo by Jack Vartoogian) boundaries is particularly hard. The nation’s Over time, the means employed by the Arts dance field is encyclopedic in the forms, tech- Endowment to gather information on its appli- niques, cultures, and aesthetic philosophies it cants has followed the evolution of the field. represents. It contains the traditional, vernacu- Categories for funding and the determination of lar, and high art dances of hundreds of cultures financial priorities came from recommendations and nations. To understand more clearly this made each year by panelists drawn from the ephemeral art form and the environment in professional dance field. Panelists’ recommen- which it works, the National Endowment for dations reflected the need to recognize the the Arts (NEA) commissioned a study to exam- continuous change in the artistic and adminis- ine dance companies over the last decade, titled trative structure of dance organizations. These Raising the Barre: The Geographic, Financial, and alterations responded to the individual needs Economic Trends of Nonprofit Dance Companies. of choreographers and dancers, while others It is my hope that this document will provide were in reaction to governmental or economic a basis from which to look at the effects of imperatives—the need to establish a nonprofit economic forces on the artistic fortunes of organization, for instance. dance companies. Cognizant of the evolution of company struc- Charting this terpsichorean landscape was inad- ture, the National Endowment for the Arts did vertent; the National Endowment for the Arts not establish a formal definition of what consti- became an archivist for the concert dance world tutes a dance company, relying instead on its by default. Each year, applications act as an applicant pool to define the shifting edges of the 1 RAISING THE BARRE art form’s institutional boundaries. Over the grants were to support “artistic development” in years, in addition to artistic excellence, various whatever way the recipient chose to define that characteristics were used to help define which term (e.g. research, travel, extended study with organizations would have priority in funding a mentor), Choreographer’s Fellowships were decisions. These characteristics usually most often used as small production grants to reflected the concerns of the time, among them hire dancers, pay for rehearsal space and time, dancers’ employment for a specific period of provide funds for costume design and construc- time, professional administrative staff, nonprofit tion, subsidize theater rental, and finally status, and a track record of production. support performance. In short, to establish a “company.” To understand the significance of the numbers in this study and how dance companies As new dance companies grew, they began to changed, it is necessary to recall what forces receive larger NEA grants that allowed them to were shaping the field’s artistry and finances. perform at home and on tour, and significantly, At the beginning of the study, what had come as Thomas Smith’s analysis shows, to attract to be called the “dance boom” was ending. more private dollars. Additionally, a network The “dance boom” was the period from the of committed dance presenters played host to mid-1960s through the mid-1980s when dance artists outside of their home locations, and companies—mainly ballet and modern—were nurtured artists at all stages of their careers. proliferating in communities across the country. Service organizations provided information, The “dance boom” was marked by explosive communication, and a means of convening a growth in the number of companies, eager audi- disparate field into a unified community. ences, domestic and foreign presenters hungry to showcase recent innovations in American To enlarge both their audience and funding dance, and an abundance of new funding base, ballet companies were in search of cities opportunities at the local, state, and federal in which to establish second homes. The levels of government. Pennsylvania Ballet (Philadelphia, PA) and the Milwaukee Ballet companies would embark on Modern dance, particularly companies perform- a “joint venture” to share resources, as would ing the work of a single choreographer, reaped Pacific Northwest Ballet (Seattle, WA) and the benefits of the new market demand, and Minnesota Dance Theater (Minneapolis, MN). perfected the model for touring troupes. These The Joffrey Ballet (now based in Chicago, IL) companies employed dancers for a significant had homes in New York and Los Angeles. portion of the year with every expectation that Cleveland Ballet’s second home was San Jose, demand from audiences and presenters would CA, Cincinnati Ballet’s in New Orleans. continue to sustain performances at home and Colorado Ballet (Denver, CO) and Tampa lucrative multi-week, regional, national, and Ballet (FL) joined forces. Ballet West (Salt international tours. Lake City, UT) had a summer home in Aspen, CO. Unfortunately, none of these relationships By the late 1980s, a system of support for dance have proven to be lasting. companies and choreographers was in place. Independent choreographers received fellow- Throughout the 1980s