AAA Interior Subcommitee Testimony

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Written Statement of

Abel Lopez
Chair, American Arts Alliance, Inc.
Associate Producing Director, GALA Hispanic Theatre

Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
Committee on Appropriations
United States House of Representatives

The Importance of Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)

April 19, 2007

Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the subcommittee, I am grateful for this opportunity to submit testimony on behalf of the American Arts Alliance and its member organizations – American Symphony Orchestra League, Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Dance/USA, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, OPERA America and Theatre Communications Group. The American Arts Alliance is a national network of more than 4,100 members comprising the professional, nonprofit performing arts and presenting fields. For more than 30 years, the American Arts Alliance has advocated for national policies that recognize, enhance and foster the contributions the performing arts make to America.

We urge the Committee to designate a total of $176 million to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). This testimony is intended to highlight the importance of the federal investment in the arts to sustaining a vibrant cultural community.

The NEA increases opportunities for the American public to enjoy and benefit from the performing arts.
Since the establishment of the NEA in 1965, access to the performing arts has improved in communities large and small across the country. The NEA has helped to foster the development of the many regional theatres, opera companies, dance companies, orchestras, and performing arts centers that Americans now enjoy. Despite diminished resources, the NEA awards more than 1,700 grants annually to nonprofit arts organizations for projects that encourage artistic creativity, provide lifelong learning opportunities, and engage audiences in the best the arts have to offer. This modest public investment in the nation's cultural life has resulted in both new and classic works of art reaching all fifty states.

The NEA supports the creation and presentation of the performing arts in your community
Last year, performing arts organizations received grants to support a wealth of performing arts productions in communities large and small. The NEA supported the production of new musicals, a video game symphony, a youth opera company, dance company residencies, a cross-cultural theater project, a 34-year-old chamber music festival, the American premiere of an opera, and free tickets for Native American school children. These productions happened not only in New York, Chicago or San Francisco but in Arlington, Virginia, Becket, Massachusetts and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Few other federal investments realize economic benefits, not to mention the intangible, intrinsic benefits that only the arts make possible.

With more funding, the NEA could do more.
The NEA has never recovered from a 40% budget cut in FY 1996 and all of its programs are seriously underfunded. Any additional monies over the NEA's current budget of $124.4 million will ensure that the NEA continues to support arts organizations in all 435 congressional districts. Additional funds would allow the size of individual grants to increase and provide support for the many high-quality grants applications that go unfunded each year.

The Nonprofit Performing Arts Community
The following profiles of the current state of the arts presenting, orchestra, dance, musical theatre, opera and theatre fields exemplify the economic, educational and quality of life benefits that performing arts organizations bring to American communities.

Arts Presenters
Performing arts presenters bring professional performing artists from all over the world into the communities they serve. They include organizations such as performing arts centers, academic institutions, local arts agencies, festivals and fairs. In coordinating all the necessary steps to bring the arts to a local community, presenters facilitate the interaction between artists and audiences, support the creation and touring of new works and are civically engaged in their communities. The number of nonprofit presenting organizations in the United States has grown from fewer than 400 in 1965 to more than 7,000. Collectively, presenters in the United States serve 6 million audience-goers each week and constitute more than a $5 billion industry. This is in large part due to support from the NEA. Presenters not only bring the arts into communities, but value arts education and give back to the communities they serve. The Association of Performing Arts Presenters, a national service and advocacy organization with more than 2,100 members worldwide, commissioned an Urban Institute survey revealing that:

77% of presenting organizations develop programs and offer performances for students K-12.
75% of presenting organizations offer free tickets through programs serving the poor, elderly and youth groups.
50% of presenting organizations facilitate programs for adult education and outreach.
54% of presenting organizations offer special services for persons with hearing, sight or mobility impairments.

Dance
In 1965, there were approximately 35 nonprofit professional dance companies. Today, there are more than 600. America’s dance companies perform a wide range of styles and genres. These include both classical and contemporary ballet, both classical and contemporary modern, as well as jazz, tap, cross-disciplinary fusions and traditional to modern work rooted in other cultures. When the NEA instituted its Dance on Tour program in the 1970’s, great dance became accessible to every community in America. NEA programs today, like the National College Choreography Initiative, continue to ensure that the best of American dance is for all of America, and a showpiece for the rest of the world as well.

Based on a 2005 survey, Dance/USA estimates that the 79 largest and most visible non-profit dance companies in the United States do the following:

Employ over 7,000 people;
Perform for total home audiences of nearly 3.3 million people. This does not include touring audiences, nor does it count the millions who attend performances given by the hundreds of dance companies with budgets under $1 million;
Utilize 26,500 volunteers, including 3,100 members of boards of trustees;
Pay nearly $227.9 million in wages and benefits;
Receive 3% of their income from government sources.

Musical Theatre
Located in 35 states and 7 countries, the 148 member organizations of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre include not-for-profit and commercial theatres, presenting houses, universities and independent producers. Founded in 1985 and based in New York City, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) is the national service organization dedicated exclusively to musical theatre and serving some of the leading musical theatre producers in the world. Last season, NAMT members cumulatively staged over 27,000 performances attended by 16 million people, and had revenues totaling over $500 million. NAMT has presented its Festival of New Musicals annually since 1989, bringing together theatre producers and writers, with the goal of furthering the development and production of new musicals. NAMT’s Festival has showcased over 300 writers and 200 new musicals, which have had thousands of subsequent productions worldwide. Past Festival shows include Children of Eden (over 1,000 productions), The Drowsy Chaperone (five Tony Awards in 2006 and named “Best Musical” by the Drama Desk Awards, New York Drama Critics Circle, and L.A. Ovation awards), I Love You Because (Off-Broadway in 2006), Meet John Doe (world premiere at Ford’s Theatre in 2007), Songs for a New World (over 400 productions), and Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002 Tony Award for Best Musical).

Opera
OPERA America members are found in communities all across the country - a total of 116 companies in 44 states. American opera companies are well known for their innovative and exemplary education and outreach programs, many of which are funded in part with NEA grants. Virtually all U.S. opera companies run such programs in their communities. Opera companies help fill the void left by discontinued arts education in many public school systems and can help young people communicate the realities of their lives via disciplined artistic expression. The audience for education and community programs served by US and Canadian companies during the 2004-05 season totaled over 2 million people.

All together, the opera companies of America contribute more than one half billion dollars to the U.S. economy each year and provide more than 20,000 jobs each year (paying almost $473 million in taxable salaries and fees).

Orchestras
In its 40-year history, the NEA has provided invaluable leadership and support for musicians, orchestras, and the communities they serve through direct grants, support to state arts agencies, and national leadership initiatives. Supported by a network of musicians, volunteers, administrators, and community leaders, America’s adult, youth, and college orchestras total more than 1,800 and exist in every state and territory, in cities and rural areas alike. They engage more than 150,000 instrumentalists, employ (with and without pay) more than 8,000 administrative staff, and attract more than 475,000 volunteers and trustees.

In 2004-05, orchestras perform more than 37,000 concerts to total audiences nearing 28 million. In addition to concerts, orchestras offer more than 40 different kinds of programs for their communities, including:

in-depth, multi-year residencies
long-term partnerships with schools
after-school and summer camps
programs in hospitals and libraries
instrumental education
educational classes for seniors

The NEA’s FY06 grants to organizations included 111 grants to orchestras and the communities they serve, supporting arts education for children and adults, expanding public access to performances, preserving great classical works, and fostering the creative endeavors of contemporary classical musicians, composers, and conductors.

Theatre
In 1961, nonprofit theatre in America consisted of only 16 theatre companies. Today, thanks in large part to the pivotal role played by the NEA, the number of theatre companies is estimated to be greater than 1,400. Nearly every Pulitzer Prize winning play since 1976 has originated at a NEA-funded theatre.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American non-profit theatre, reports that the estimated 1,490 theatres in the U.S. employ more than 110,000 workers – actors, directors, playwrights, designers, administrators and technicians – and constitute a more than $1.5 billion industry. Collectively, these theatres are estimated to have offered 169,000 performances that attracted over 32 million patrons.

Based on recent surveys of 202 non-profit theatres, TCG reports the following:

Over 1,283 outreach and educational programs are in existence today.
Over 3.5 million people – including a large number of at-risk children – are served by these programs. This network of educational and outreach programs all across the country, ensures access to all Americans and helps develop new generations of audiences.
These programs include touring productions, artists-in-the-schools, teacher training, workshops and lectures in local community centers and libraries, programs for at-risk youth, and lifelong learning opportunities.

Conclusion
Performing arts organizations are a vital component of community life, allowing citizens to appreciate our nation’s culture and heritage through excellent artistic programming. The arts illuminate the human condition, our history, contemporary issues and our future. The NEA is an investment that realizes significant returns on the federal dollars invested, both measurable and intangible. We urge you to designate no less than $176 million to the NEA. Thank you for your consideration of our request.