The performing arts make up one of the largest categories of recipients of funding from private foundations. Every year, foundations large and small give millions in grants to symphony orchestras, theater companies, dance troupes, festivals and other performing arts organizations.
Identification
According to data from the Foundation Center for 2006, the most recent year for which data were available, private foundations gave $2.3 billion in grants for arts and culture activities, accounting for 12.2 percent of all private foundation giving. The performing arts accounted for more than $800 million, or nearly 6 percent, of all private grants (see Resources).
Types
Some of the largest foundations provide funding for many types of activities besides the arts, while others concentrate exclusively on the arts and humanities, or even narrow their focus to the performing arts.
Function
Private funding for the performing arts keeps many arts organizations in existence. A report by the National Endowment for the Arts indicated that box office revenues account for only 44 percent of arts organizations' incomes. The rest comes from donations, mostly from private funding sources.
Size
The Foundation Center reports that the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Annenberg Foundation were the three largest sources of foundation dollars for the performing arts. The three organizations gave more than 150 grants worth a combined total of nearly $130 million for 2006 (see Resources).
Misconceptions
In Europe, governments have a much larger role in supporting the performing arts than in the United States. Although government support of the arts has received much media attention in the past, private funding for the performing arts dwarfs federal and state funding.
