The Impact of COVID-19 on the Arts: A Conversation with Randy Cohen
Whitney Hosty, Senior Philanthropic Advisor, recently checked in with Randy Cohen, Vice President of Research at Americans for the Arts, to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected arts organizations and artists across the country.
Below you’ll find Whitney and Randy’s conversation.
Authored by: Ashley Hawkins, Content Specialist
Interview Highlights
The following exchange has been edited for length and clarity.
Whitney Hosty:
Thank you for talking with me today, Randy. Could you please provide some background on Americans for the Arts?
Randy Cohen:
Of course, Americans for the Arts has been around since 1960. This is a conspicuous year, as we’re celebrating our 60th anniversary. What Americans for the Arts does is try to ensure that everyone in this country has the opportunity to participate in and engage with the arts, whether to attend, to go to museums locally, participate in creative arts events and festivals, murals, and also to make sure every child in this country is receiving a quality arts education. And we do that through three primary goal areas. One is resources, one of the reasons we’re here to talk today, right? Funding for the arts. We lead the federal advocacy efforts. In fact, our organization, dating back to the early sixties, was one of the primary institutions responsible for establishing the National Endowment for the Arts. We work with state arts agencies and local arts agencies, as well as the private sector.
Randy Cohen:
Another thing we try to do is advance the value proposition for the arts, right? We all love the arts. They inspire us and engage us. They create the communities that we want to live in, but the fact is, the arts are also improving our communities socially, educationally, and economically. And so, we try to craft that message. And then the third piece is leadership development, which we achieve in two ways: through our grassroots army of 420,000 passionate arts advocates dedicated to advancing the arts locally, statewide, and nationwide. But as well as what we sometimes call the grass-tops, our elected leaders, our business leaders, philanthropy leaders, people in this country who can pick up a phone or, by virtue of their clout, can really move the gauges for the arts. We are headquartered in Washington, DC, and have an office in New York. We work across the country, primarily with local arts agencies, such as Arts KC.
Whitney Hosty:
Great. Thank you for the overview. Now that we know everyone’s lives have been changed, given your broad exposure to various organizations throughout the country, could you tell us a little bit about how the national art sector has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic?
Randy Cohen:
Yeah, absolutely. And it’s been devastating for the arts, for artists, for arts organizations, and for the general public, who love to participate and engage in the arts. What we’ve done is conduct several large national studies examining the impact of COVID-19 on arts organizations, as well as artists and creative workers. For example, we know that 96% of organizations in the nonprofit arts and culture sector have had to cancel their events, museum exhibitions, performances, and festivals. And so effectively every organization that produces content, even if you’re an arts education organization, the schools are closed, right? Everybody has been hit, and I can tell you, as of this week, arts organizations have lost an estimated 231 million admissions due to canceled events, and that’s amounted to a $5.9 billion financial loss.
Randy Cohen:
That’s just for nonprofit arts and cultural organizations. And so that’s been a huge, huge challenge. Some of the other things we’ve learned, and this is sort of based on surveys of over 12,000 organizational respondents, two-thirds have said in their surveys that this crisis is having a severe impact on their organization. A third have had to reduce staff, creative staff, and administrative staff. 40% say they’re likely to reduce staff at some point here. And then, really, one of the troubling figures is that 10% of organizations say they’re not confident that they’ll even survive the COVID-19 pandemic. You know, 10% you might think, well, I know, is that a lot or a little, it doesn’t sound like a whole lot. But there are 120,000 nonprofit arts organizations out there, and that means a potential loss of 12,000 organizations. Our organizations have been really hit very hard, and I think the challenge has been first to close, last to open.
Randy Cohen:
And so they’re really struggling to even understand when we can start to produce art again. Yet, one of the fascinating things is that 67% of arts organizations in our surveys are still delivering artistic content to their communities, raising community spirits, improving morale, and promoting greater social cohesion. They’re doing this through distance-based art creation and presentation. For example, there are now approximately 2,500 museums that have their collections fully available online. You can visit their websites and take free guided tours through their museum collections. Performances are on Facebook, and even publishers have made literary novels available for free. All that said, arts organizations are still doing a lot to reach the community.
Randy Cohen:
Now that’s the organizations, we’ve got another survey where we’re looking at the impact on artists and creative workers. And artists are among the most severely affected workers in the COVID-19 crisis. Their unemployment rates and impacts have just been among the highest. 94% report lost income, and 62% of artists have said they have become fully unemployed as a result of the pandemic. And we’ve heard from 19,000 artists in our survey, the average artist and creative worker lost $21,000 to date, so you can really feel the pain. Two-thirds, 66%, tell us they’re unable to access the supplies, resources, spaces, and people necessary for their work. 80% don’t have a plan, a financial plan for the other side of this. It has had a devastating impact on artists. At this point, we estimate that artists nationally will lose $50.6 billion in income in 2020.
Whitney Hosty:
Wow. Those are some pretty amazing numbers. I will say, my family has certainly appreciated and enjoyed the creativity of many organizations. We’ve had a chance to do everything from dance classes to seeing an off-Broadway play from the comfort of our home. But thinking about the long-term impact on everyone, from the individuals to the larger organizations, it’s obviously going to take a pretty large response to help them recover from this. Can you speak a little bit about the federal response and advocacy work that you’ve been involved in with Americans for the Arts?
Randy Cohen:
Yes. We have been very active in that work, and I always say what’s measured matters. If you want to make the arts relevant and part of these federal relief programs, we have to have the data. And so, like those surveys that I just talked about, we got out of the gate very early during this pandemic, so we would be able to say with some statistical backing, here’s what’s happening to artists and arts organizations in this country. And what we know from the CARES Act, for example, is how there was some modest financial investment, and the National Endowment for the Arts received $75 million. The National Endowment for the Humanities received $75 million, and in total, $300 million was provided to these federal agencies, which in turn support our artists and arts organizations. But that’s really just a small part of it because there’s the PPP, and the disaster relief, and the SBA loans, and the extended unemployment.
Randy Cohen:
What we really worked hard to do was ensure that the arts and artists were part of those packages as well, because that’s billions of dollars. And they have been; we know thousands and thousands of arts organizations that’ve been able to get some of those PPP loans. We are also working actively with the field in a professional development capacity to ensure they understand how to convert loans into grants. And one way we do that through that advocacy is our Arts Action Fund. The Americans for the Arts Arts Action Fund is classified as a 501(c)(4) organization, which is considered a political organization. It’s the cousin organization, if you will, of Americans for the Arts. And that’s where a lot of the political action happens and emanates from. These days, if you want to influence policy, you need constituents calling their members of Congress.
Randy Cohen:
And that’s certainly something everyone can do today is go to artsactionfund.org, and it’s free. It’s free to join, you can’t beat the price, and you’ll find all the policy updates there. And then when it’s time to take action, when it’s time to let your legislator know, hey, it’s important to include the arts as part of these packages, or it’s important to include nonprofits. This is a really simple way to get involved. And we have a 425,000-person advocacy army for the arts, and it’s the numbers that give you the clout in Congress.
Whitney Hosty:
I know that, in addition to having some federal support for the arts, philanthropy has long been a significant supporter of arts organizations and the arts sector in general. What type of response have you been seeing from the philanthropic community to the needs of arts organizations?
Randy Cohen:
I think that the philanthropic community has certainly stepped up with the arts, and what we see in communities across the country is artists’ relief funds, for example, where donors have pooled their funds as a way to provide emergency grants for artists. Again, the most severely affected segment of the US workforce is artists, and you need the artists; there’s no art without the artists. And so we need to find a net, a safety net, to protect these workers. That’s certainly one of the most exciting ways we’ve seen it. And I think that many people have done so; we all had tickets to something this year or this summer. Yeah. I was finally going to see Hamilton, and I mean, I don’t know why, because it’s like I’m the last guy to get around to seeing it at the Kennedy Center and of course, it’s all canceled, right?
Randy Cohen:
It’s all postponed, probably to 2021. And so, what a lot of arts organizations have done is ask those ticket buyers, hey, listen, it calls for a refund. However, if you turn that into a donation, this organization could really use it right now because arts organizations are just hurting. Like I said, close to $6 billion in losses already by the arts organizations. Another amazing aspect of the arts is their impact on various aspects of our community. Again, they are wonderful cultural amenities. We love the arts. They inspire us, they vitalize our downtowns, but they also impact other areas of the community that we care about. So, if you care about education, who doesn’t, really? I mean, we’re all trying to get our kids to perform better academically.
Randy Cohen:
The research is clear: when the arts are part of a young person’s education, you see better test scores, higher grade point averages, and lower dropout rates. And those are findings that cut across all socioeconomic strata. Every child stands to benefit from having the arts as part of their education. I personally have a theater background, and that was my training. And I ran a theater company for some years, and that was how I came up in the arts, but I also have a medical research background. I worked at Stanford University. I worked at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in the area of medical research. When I worked at Scripps every Tuesday at three o’clock, we used to have live chamber music in the lobby, and it was really beautiful, and it completely transformed the space and patients would walk in there or be wheeled in there.
Randy Cohen:
They could bring their family along. Staff were welcome to attend as well if they were able to break away. And what we started to notice is that patients, patients that I would see in the rooms, clinically lethargic, depressed, even if you have a view of the ocean, nobody wants to be in the hospital, right? But you could see a physical transformation in people. Eyes got less cloudy, their posture got better, and you just sort of sense a greater awareness of the environment around them. And we used to notice this and think something was happening here. It’s like they’re getting an IV drip of the arts, right? And so there’s this growing body of research now that shows when the arts are part of our healthcare, we have shorter hospital stays, fewer doctor visits, less medication, less depression, and evidence that it saves money.
Randy Cohen:
You may also care as a donor about your local hospitals and community centers, but the arts play a role there as well. Where the arts are just going to be so relevant now, as we get to work our way to the other side of this pandemic, every community leader, every business leader, every elected leader is trying to figure out how do we jumpstart our economy? How do we get people out of their homes and into the community, and spending money again? You know, going to these local businesses. And this is where the arts are a huge asset for our community leaders. Think about the last time you went to an arts event. Did you sneak out of the house, tiptoe into the theater, see the show, and run home before anybody saw you?
Randy Cohen:
Probably not. You may have went and had dinner first, paid for parking, and dessert or drinks after the show. And Whitney, if I remember, you’ve got little ones at home, you doubled the cost that evening on babysitting, right?
Whitney Hosty:
Exactly.
Randy Cohen:
There’s all this economic activity that takes place. Well, we did a national study where we interviewed 212,000 arts attendees, and we found the typical attendee spends $31.47 per person, per event, not including the cost of admission. And it’s all the shopping we do, all the ways we spend money. That’s what the arts do: they get us out into the community and encourage us to visit local businesses and frequent local merchants. And so, they have an important economic role. And if you’re a donor who supports downtown redevelopment and cares about local businesses. That’s just another way the arts will contribute.
Randy Cohen:
Let me just give you the flip side of that. The other reason is that the arts are kindling for the economy, right? Small investment, big returns. And that goes socially as well. There was a lot of polarization in the communities, but now with social distancing and people in isolation and everything, people are going to need to reconnect and reengage. And once again, this is the arts; they provide shared experiences in a public space. It’s a festival, it’s going to see Hamilton for the first, second, or third time, or it’s a community mural that we all make together, and people don’t care who you voted for or where you practice your faith, right?
Randy Cohen:
It’s this inspiring, shared experience. There is also research to support this. Every couple of years, I do a big national public opinion survey. The largest public opinion survey of the arts ever conducted, and 72% of the American population says the arts unify our communities, regardless of age, race, or ethnicity. 73%, the arts helped me understand other cultures in my community. And what’s amazing about those findings is that they cut across all socioeconomic strata. It’s not an urban phenomenon, it’s not an affluence phenomenon. And so, as we think, how do we heal our communities? How do we get to the other side of all these challenges we’re facing now? The arts have a central role in strengthening our communities.
Whitney Hosty:
Wow, thank you. You’ve mentioned so many important reasons why the arts are really just critical to our recovery. In addition to what you’ve mentioned about the Arts Action Fund, you also mentioned donating any purchased tickets. Any other suggestions about what donors or listeners might be able to do to help support artists and arts organizations?
Randy Cohen:
Yes. Go see art, buy art, but also participate in the arts personally. And there’s a non-transactional aspect to it, possibly. Make the arts part of your life. Because when we get to the other side of this, when you’re involved personally in the arts, I think you’re going to want to be more connected to the arts. And certainly, one way, as arts organizations start to open up, is to attend, and, obviously, donate. A lot of times, we connect and donate to a particular project, or it’s a series or something like that. I would encourage everyone to have grace and flexibility at this time. And if something got canceled, just say, hey, you know what, just turn it over to general operating support and keep the lights on, keep the building working.
Randy Cohen:
But really it’s a very challenging time. But when you make your donations, remember the arts, don’t forget the arts. And what we see happen sometimes is during prosperous social and economic times, contributions to the arts go up. But then when we see challenging economic times, people move their dollars elsewhere to kind of what they might consider essential services. And I would suggest to you, arts are an essential service. Because when you support the arts, you are supporting jobs, education, healthcare, and all the pressing issues in our communities. And so if you’ve been a donor to the arts, keep it up. And if you haven’t been a donor to the arts, you’re missing a great opportunity.
Whitney Hosty:
Thank you so much. I know we’re all just waiting for the day when we can safely get back out and get into our favorite galleries or go see a performance. I really appreciate you sharing your time and expertise with us today.
If you are interested in using a charitable fund to support arts organizations, contact us at info@growyourgiving.org to learn more.