This report highlights key findings from a multicomponent Field Scan of equity in California’s non-commercial arts ecosystem. It was commissioned by the California Arts Council (CAC) as part of an evaluation of the agency’s grantmaking. The Field Scan was intended to assess how well CAC is serving the diverse communities across the state, and inform the agency’s strategies going forward by painting a picture of the distribution of resources within the non-commercial arts ecosystem and highlighting what CAC contributes to that ecosystem.
The core questions driving the Field Scan were:
1. How does the infrastructure of nonprofit arts organizations (in terms of overall distribution, budget sizes, etc.) relate to the demography of California?
2. How equitable is access to government support, foundation grants and private philanthropy (e.g., gifts from individuals) across arts organizations serving different populations and geographic areas?
3. What role does CAC currently play in the arts funding ecosystem?
To answer those questions, we combined statistical analysis of the available data on nonprofit arts organizations in California with qualitative research on how the arts are supported in three local communities.
The Field Scan consists of four components, which can be downloaded for free on CAC’s website and can be made available in other formats upon request:
• An Analysis of Equity in Nonprofit Arts Funding in California , prepared by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, complemented by a Technical Report
• Portrait of an Arts Ecosystem: Fresno, by Salvador Acevedo and Nikiko Masumoto
• Portrait of an Arts Ecosystem: Imperial County, by John Carnwath and Sarina Guerra
• Portrait of an Arts Ecosystem: South Los Angeles, by John Carnwath and Anh Thang Dao-Shah (with a foreword by Peter J. Harris)
The methodology section at the end of this report provides an overview of the rationale behind the case study selection, sources of data, and research methodologies used in this work.
