The Impact of September 11th on Arts OrganizationsSept 11 wardresearchreport

THE IMPACT OF SEPTEMBER 11TH ON ARTS ORGANIZATIONS

Prepared for: Hawaii Community Foundation and Hawaii Consortium for the Arts

SUMMARY This summary presents key findings from a telephone survey of n=236 arts organizations from databases maintained by the Hawaii Consortium for the Arts (HCA) database and the Hawaii Community Foundation (HCF). The purpose of the research was to measure the impact of September 11th on the organizations.

Impact of September 11th

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A slight majority of those surveyed (58%) indicated that the tragic events of September 11th have had an impact on their organization’s business and activities.

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The outlook for the future appears to be somewhat pessimistic, as the proportion who feel that future planning will be affected increases to more than two-thirds of the respondents (68%). Just under three in 10 (28%) feel that there will be no future impact on their businesses, while the rest remain unsure.

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Actual Impact of September 11th to Date Too early to tell Don't Know 2% 2% No, organization has not been impacted 39%

Yes, organization has been impacted 58%

Base: 236

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Actual Impact of September 11th to Date Selected comments from those who have been impacted: “Donations of material and goods to support events are impossible right now.”

“Donations are lower than normal.”

“Lower attendance due to economic reasons and less visitors.”

“The economy downturn has affected the amount of advertising.”

“Business in September was terrible. It hasn’t picked up since then.”

“We had to layoff two people.”

“We laid off our entire staff.”

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Perceived Impact on Future Planning

Too early to tell Don't Know <1% 4% No, organization's future will NOT be affected 28%

Yes, organization's future will be affected 68% Base: 236

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Perceived Impact on Future Planning Selected comments from those anticipating changes in future planning: “It will determine whether or not we should file for bankruptcy.”

“We will not be able to expand within the Islands.”

“We are all funded by the State. If State revenues decline, we will have to cut programs.”

“People may not have the money to take workshops we provide.”

“If people don’t travel to our Island, it will hurt our economy.”

“Layoffs and cutbacks in hours of operation.”

“Funding for art is really low on the priority list for most people.

We will see more impacts in the next few months.”

“We are watching all of our expenses. We are rethinking our artist showings, and may even suspend these showings.”

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Visitor Industry Relationships Recognizing the immediate (and prolonged) impact of September 11th on the visitor industry, another question sought to quantify the reliance of Hawaii’s arts organizations on the visitor industry. The good news --given the sharp decline in the visitor numbers --- is that only a small proportion rely on the visitor industry for the majority portion of their budget. On the other hand, the fact that three out of four arts organizations derive 20% or less of their total budget from the state’s largest industry points to a major opportunity which has long been a topic of discussion among the arts community. 

One in 7 of those organizations surveyed (14%) indicated that a majority of their budget (50%+) comes from the visitor industry.

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Just under half (44%), however, said that none of their budget comes from the visitor industry. Additionally, one in 4 (25%) get between 1% and 10% of their budget from tourism.

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Estimated Percentage of Budget From Visitor Industry More than half 14% None 44%

41% to 50% 2% 31% to 40% 3% 21% to 30% 5%

11% to 20% 6%

1% to 10% 25% Base: 236 arts organizations

Mean = 16% (including 0) Mean = 30% (excluding 0) WARD RESEARCH, INC.

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