FY 2004 annual report [2004]

FY2004: A Year of Internal Rebuilding

In January 2004, Susan S. Weiner was sworn in as the agency head for Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA) and said: "The arts not only enrich our souls, but they also enrich our pocketbooks." She was addressing the important role that the arts play in Georgia's economic prosperity, especially through tourism, the state's second largest industry.
The initial order of business was to set the agency's house in order, to rebuild it into an efficient, costeffective, and customer-conscious organization. The goals were to rethink the agency's tasks, redesign the agency's systems for the 21st Century, and for the agency staff to work together as a team. These goals began with a performance review by the Georgia Department of Audits that arrived simultaneous to Mrs. Weiner's appointment. These goals continued into FY2005.

Comparison to Other Southern States As this per capita appropriations chart shows, GCA's revenue was the lowest in the South and its national revenue ranking placed it in the bottom fifth. The state's federal grant from the National Endowment for the Arts is a function of population and as such was equitable with other states.

State Arts Agency (SAA)
Alabama Florida Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee Georgia All States

SAA Legislative Appropriation

Dollars

Per Capita

$ 3.169M $ 15.810M $ 4.210M $ 4.934M $ 1.661M $ 5.919M $ 3.320M $ 5.946M $ 3.629M
$303.066M

$ 0.70 $ 0.91 $ 1.02 $ 1.09 $ 0.57 $ 0.69 $ 0.79 $ 1.01 $ 0.41
$ 1.02

Total SAA Revenue

Dollars

Per Capita

$ 3.835M $ 16.545M $ 4.870M $ 5.601M $ 5.451M $ 6.826M $ 4.294M $ 6.560M $ 4.291M
$371.454M

$ 0.85 $ 0.95 $ 1.17 $ 1.24 $ 1.88 $ 0.80 $ 1.02 $ 1.11 $ 0.49
$ 1.25

Fig.1 - State Arts Agency (SAA) Allocations for Fiscal Year 2004

Providing access to the arts for all Georgian's is the prime mission of GCA. FY2004 was a very successful year in reaching across the state. This was achieved through reductions in administrative costs. The legislatively approved budget allocated $3.3M of the state's allocation to grants and contracts, but the agency was able to award $4.01M through savings. The Total SAA Revenue in Georgia combines the state appropriation with the federal grant from NEA.

Even with Georgia's many counties and its low, per capita ranking, GCA managed to place awards in all but four of the state's counties. The awards enabled over 19 million participants, audience members, and tourists to benefit from these tax dollars.

The Arts: An Economic Engine for Georgia

Georgia Council for the Arts awards grants to nonprofit organizations and units of government; all
must have been operational for at least twelve months. The awards are contracts for services in arts programming. Among the types of organizations that received funding in FY2004 were:
Arts organizations in the disciplines of dance, literature, music, presenters, theater and the visual arts
Local arts councils, whether managed by a city or county or a nonprofit entity Colleges and universities, whether public or private Cities and Counties that directly produce arts events, including festivals where the arts are a
major component of the event

Georgia Council for the Arts: FY2004 ANNUAL REPORT

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Schools and Boards of Education Libraries, Boys & Girls Clubs and other after-school contractors, arts services
organizations, other nonprofits offering arts programming, literary publications, traditional arts archivists and artists, and more

Of the total revenue these grant recipients earned, only 2.6% came from the Georgia General Assembly. These nonprofit and government entities struggle to remain self-sufficient, operating like other businesses to serve their marketplace and produce satisfied customers, while educating and enriching the lives of Georgians. The story of the revenue sources reflects the value Georgian's place on having arts and culture in their communities.

The arts organizations winning general operating support awards reported income totaling $162M; a 12% increase over FY2002. The contracted artists hired to complete the arts programming dwarfed the number of the paid staff: directors, scene painters, musicians, teaching artists, actors, writers, designers, etc. And, if the total number of volunteers (the lifeblood of nonprofit entities) is added, Georgia's nonprofit arts organizations are a large industry in Georgia. The cost of an economic impact study is beyond the funding of this agency and because GCA does not fund every nonprofit arts organization in the state, GCA's economic figures are limited. However, according to a study conducted by the Metropolitan Atlanta Chamber of Commerce in 1998, the nonprofit arts industry in the Metro region totals a workforce (staff, contractors, and volunteers) that rivals the region's largest employers, including The Coca-Cola Company, UPS, and Georgia-Pacific.

Grantees' Revenues

Admissions & Services Contributions City/County Grants GCA Grants

39.1% 36.1%
7.2% 2.6%

GCA's grantees earned 39.1% of their revenues through admissions and other service income. Their revenues from corporations and businesses, private foundations, and individual donors almost matched, at 36.1% of the total revenue. Some cities and counties also support nonprofit arts organizations, and GCA's grantees reported a total of $21.6M in support from these sources or 7.2% of their total revenue.

Awards from the state of Georgia are important to the stability and vitality of these organizations that serve our state's citizens. The state award, though a small fraction of the grantees' operating budgets, provides more than fiscal benefit. GCA awards:
Serve as an imprimatur, attesting to the artistic merit of the offerings and soundness of the fiscal and operational management of the organization, reassuring private and other donors of the excellent use of their contributions
Support statewide touring by our finest artists, enabling them to perform in rural counties that don't have the benefit of a local orchestra or museum
And, these awards help to grow emerging arts organizations in rural and other underserved counties, further widening access to the arts for all Georgians
Though not all GCA grants are for general operating support, for those funded in FY2004, the award did not exceed 2.17% of each organization's operating budget.
The first reason above is most important, for the arts are among the largest recipient of individual and corporate donations. According to Giving USA, Georgia ranked 11th in the country in private contributions to nonprofit arts organizations in 2004. Georgian's love the arts and support them not only in attendance, but also in donations.

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Much like the children's story, The Little Engine That Could, the arts industry in Georgia is the story of the Little Economic Engine That Does, especially when the economic benefit to the host community is considered. Every city and county wants to have a professional sports team, for the tax and revenue benefits to the governments and retail establishments (hotels, restaurants, etc.) is well documented. Yet, Georgia's arts industry surpasses the revenue streams generated by professional sports. In 1998, the Atlanta Braves, Falcons, and Hawks sold 4.4 million seats in Metro Atlanta. That same year, the attendance at live concerts, plays, museums, and festivals was over 8.3M. Metro Atlanta has the largest cluster of arts, which is not unexpected given it is also the largest population center in the state. Even so, GCA's statewide grantees enjoyed 19.1M attendees in FY2004, more than a doubling the 2004 figures for Metro Atlanta. In FY2003, the tourism industry contributed $25B in expenditures to the state's economy and realized $1.1B in state and local tax revenues. Georgia's arts industry is the largest portion of our state's cultural heritage tourism.
And, according to Travel Industry of America, tourists who visit cultural-heritage sites are the fastest growing segment of this industry and spend more money per trip than other types of tourists, almost 30% more. GCA supports the growth of this industry by specifically funding arts programming at fairs and festivals, as well as other cultural venues across the state. Among the FY2004 grantees were Clayton Arts Festival, Japan Fest, Atlanta Dogwood Festival, Midsummer Macon, Savannah Music Festival, Kwanzaa & Heritage Foundation, Swamp Gravy, and the National Black Arts Festival.
The Arts Enrich, Educate, and Engage
Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA) is proud to administer grants that not only engage our citizens and educate our children, but also enrich our communities.
The Arts Build Communities When we think of America's great cities, we often think of the arts: New York City conjures up Broadway and its theaters, New Orleans evokes jazz. In Georgia, mention Colquitt in Miller County and one thinks of Swamp Gravy; say Hogansville and the Hummingbird Festival comes to mind; say Savannah and the popular Savannah Music Festival is brought to mind; hear Atlanta and among the immediate images are the National Black Arts and Dogwood festivals. The arts help not only to define communities, but also to create a sense of place.
Economic developers understand that when a community supports a symphony or fine arts museum, it has reached economic maturity: it has enough citizens who earn enough money to contribute to the `finer' things in life. These cultural amenities attract more businesses and the types of employees these businesses want to hire. GCA's Community Arts Development awards, dedicated to helping Georgia's communities unite and prosper, totaled $1.15M in FY2004.
The Arts Enhance Learning Study after study, conducted by such learned institutions as the College Board, Benton Foundation, and Georgia Tech, attest to the merit of learning the arts and of using the arts to teach other subjects (arts education and arts-in-education). The Benton Foundation study found that students with only four years of arts education score, on average, 100 points more on the SAT. An after-school program in southwest Atlanta, Moving in the Spirit, has its students graduate from high school at a rate of 90%, a rate that produces envy from many schools. GCA's Arts Education grants, designed to put artists in schools helping to teach other subjects, to help schools build arts curricula, and to help teachers use arts-in-education, totaled $459K in FY2004.

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Only the Arts Make Us Laugh and Cry... Simultaneously In FY2004, GCA helped to sustain 16 orchestras and opera companies, 18 museums and galleries, 26 theaters, 12 dance troupes, 7 literary publications, and 34 schools directly benefited from classes and performances conducted by Georgia artists. These audiences laughed, cried, learned about the world, and often did so simultaneously. GCA's Arts Services Program grants to discipline-specific arts organizations and for touring totaled $1.99M in FY2004.
The Arts Preserve Our Heritage Since the beginnings of man's recorded history, the arts have been the means of not only preserving heritage, but also of passing lessons-learned to the next generation; think of the cave paintings of early man artfully depicting the hunting of game for survival. Georgia's traditional arts include music traditions such as North GA fiddling and a capella gospel, and regional crafts such as Coastal sweetgrass basketry and Piedmont pottery. Though most tend to identify GA Folklife with our state's older, indigenous communities, the traditions of ethnic and immigrant groups are also enriching our state.

GCA has not employed a State Folklorist in almost a decade. In FY2005, GCA hired a manager for its Traditional Arts Program and is looking forward to growth in this program area, helping communities within our state preserve their heritage and sustain the state's diversity.

GCA Grants at a Glance

An Overview of FY2004

Number of Awards Amount Awarded Number of Counties Receiving Awards

503 $4.01M
156

In FY2003, GCA awarded 343 contracts for services, not counting the Grassroots Arts Program sub-grantees. In that same year, the total amount of the funds awarded was $3.7M.

GCA Awards by Service Delivery Region (SDR)

SDR

Number of

Total Award % of

% of

Counties/

State

Total

Number of Counties

Population GCA

Receiving an Award

Awards

1

15 of 15

$ 131,682

8.72

3.57

2

13 of 13

$ 112,355

5.91

3.03

3

10 of 10

$2,090,245

42.25

56.52

4

8 of 9

$ 117,802

5.02

3.19

5

12 of 12

$ 204,985

5.57

5.54

6

11 of 11

$ 217,187

5.24

5.87

7

14 of 14

$ 156,975

5.09

4.25

8

15 of 16

$ 279,933

4.13

7.57

9

17 of 17

$ 60, 983

3.22

1.65

10

14 of 14

$ 212,535

4.12

5.76

11

16 of 18

$212,535

4.29

5.76

12

9 of 9

$237,571

6.31

6.44

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The number of applicants drives the percentage of total GCA grants awarded by county and by SDR. SDR 3 benefited from receipt of over $2M not only because it holds the largest populations centers in the state, but also because it has (1) more nonprofit arts organizations and (2) most of these organizations apply to GCA for funding. With more competition (increased applications from other regions), these figures will change over time. Legislators should understand that the grants are awarded on a competitive basis, following guidelines of the National Endowment for the Arts, so that making an application is not an assurance of an award.

GA Awards Compared to Other Southern States

State Arts Agencies

Number of Grants

Alabama

430

Florida

735

Kentucky

515

Louisiana

226

Mississippi

262

North Carolina 1,113

South Carolina 342

Tennessee

395

Georgia

503

Total Awards
$ 2.834M $ 28.003M $ 3.675M $ 4.766M $ 5.153M $ 5.192M $ 1.945M $ 4.016M
$ 4.010M

Number of Counties
53 61 86 28 56 100 41 50
156

Among her sister states, Georgia ranks 4th in the number of grants awarded, yet only ranks 5th in the total amount of the awards. This is primarily a function of the agency's mission (providing access to the arts for all Georgians) and of the state's large number of counties.

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