Photo by Dave Darnell // Buy this photo
Susan Schadt, president of ArtsMemphis.
Once a year, the arts and the economy combine like paint on a canvas when ArtsMemphis announces its annual allocations to local arts organizations.
This year’s picture of arts funding in Memphis reflects the broader financial strains across the country. Donations to ArtsMemphis were down by almost 20 percent at both the corporate and individual level during the last fiscal year.
Photo by Dave Darnell
Susan Schadt, president of ArtsMemphis.
Still, the organization will distribute nearly $1.8 million to 26 arts groups, compared to about $2 million to 27 groups last year.
“Everybody got a 10 percent cut in funding,” said Jackie Nichols, executive director of Playhouse on the Square. “It’s not a surprise because all the groups are experiencing the same shortfalls in our own fundraising. Everybody is down 10 or 15 percent. Who would have thought that two years ago those were better times?”
The fundraising efforts of ArtsMemphis (formerly the Greater Memphis Arts Council), which receives large amounts big money from corporations and foundations such as AutoZone, First Tennessee, FedEx, and the Tennessee Arts Commission, are essential to the survival of the city’s largest arts groups such as Ballet Memphis and the Brooks Museum of Art.
ArtsMemphis president Susan Schadt said that while donors haven’t stopped giving, many significantly reduced their funding. “They said they were sorry,” Schadt said. “During an economic downturn, more people are concerned about supporting social causes. The arts really suffer.”
ArtsMemphis also declared a moratorium on adding new arts groups to its major funding categories this year, though some groups will receive grants this fall for “emerging arts groups,” ranging from $2,500 to $3,000.
ARTSMEMPHIS 2009
Operating and arts education grants
Arts Education: $200,000
Ballet Memphis: $218,089
Beale Street Caravan: $19,349
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art: $281,534
Memphis Symphony Orchestra: $383,247
The Metal Museum: $73,058
Opera Memphis: $218,089
Playhouse on the Square: $190,332
Soulsville/Stax Museum: $45,900
Theatre Memphis: $107,855
Total: $1,737,453
Project support grants
Africa in April: $20,500
Beethoven Club: $4,000
Blues Foundation: $20,748
Center for Southern Folklore: $10,000
Concerts International: $10,000
Cultural Development Foundation: $12,000
Dance Works: $4,600
Germantown Community Theatre: $5,244
Indie Memphis: $4,150
New Ballet Ensemble: $4,000
Power House Memphis: $12,880
River City Concert Band: $3,000
TheatreWorks: $5,839
True Story Pictures: $2,389
Urban Art Commission: $5,000
Voices of the South: $12,000
Total: $136,350
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