This indicator is part of Foster arts and cultures.

Indicator description:                                                           

This indicator compares the number of arts, culture, and humanities not-for-profit organizations in Bernalillo County to other peer communities in the Southwest in 2003 and 2008. Also reported is the number which file IRS 990 tax forms, required when an organization has revenues over $25,000 in a tax year. The aggregate revenue and assets from organizations filing 990’s are also reported. The aggregated nonprofit revenue and assets are divided by the most recently reported Total Personal Income for the respective community (2006) to obtain a portion of Total Personal Income going to nonprofit arts and cultural organizations. The communities are ranked by this percent, which normalizes dollar support within each community. Total Personal Income per Registered Organization is also computed, which indicates the capacity of the community to support arts and cultural groups.

Why is this indicator relevant?

Quantifying the basic trends regarding the number of arts organizations (nonprofit only) in a community, as well as whether revenues and assets are increasing and at what rate helps a community understand the relative health of these important organizations. Research has shown that within neighborhoods, cultural participants are likely to engage in other types of civic activities, stimulating involvement in other community needs. Even modestly funded arts and cultural organizations have these kinds of impacts on communities. Therefore, growth in the number of these organizations compounds community and cultural engagement.

Data Sources:

Urban Institute, National Center for Charitable Statistics database, 2008; U.S. Commerce Department, Bureau of Economic Analysis (2006); University of Pennsylvania, Social Impact of the Arts Project, 2004.

What can we tell from the data?

• The Albuquerque area has a growing number of arts, culture, and humanities not-for-profits and their reported revenues have grown competitively over the last five years.
• The Albuquerque area ranks in the middle of the peer communities in the Southwest for percent of arts organization revenues to Total Personal Income.
• A community’s ability to support arts and culture is indicated by its Total Personal Income per Registered Organization and the Albuquerque area ranks last in this measure of capacity, although Albuquerque provides a competitive portion of its Total Income to these organizations.

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