Gallagher: The Arts in Rural Communities
In Death and Life: The Promise and Problems of the Arts in Rural Communities, B. Kathleen Gallagher (Arts Management and Arts Entrepreneurship, Southern Methodist University) examines the unique challenges rural nonprofit arts organizations face while also exploring the opportunities such nonprofit arts and culture organizations (NPACOs) have for generating social and economic benefits in rural communities. Acknowledging the limited body of research on the effects of rurality on nonprofit organizations, Death and Life considers the role geography plays in NPACO’s resource variation and asserts consideration of these differences can strengthen the planning, programming, and results of policies and initiatives set forth by nonprofit arts organizations.
Gallagher relies on the data reported by nonprofit arts organizations to the IRS from 2005 to 2014 to investigate the relationship between geography and multiple variables including NPACO’s finances and length of organizational life. Gallagher finds that counties classified as rural, mostly rural, and mixed county composition are linked to lower program revenues, approximately $30,000 to $47,000 lower. Gallagher also found total revenue and compensation were lower for NPACOs located outside of mostly urban places. The average age of NPACOs in rural counties, however, was very close to the average age of NPACOs in mostly urban counties (23 and 22 years, respectively). This is an important consideration because “each additional year of organizational life is linked with higher program revenues, contributed revenue, total revenue, and compensation.”
Ultimately, Gallagher asserts these findings have critical implications for arts managers, and Death and Life makes recommendations for rural NPACOs grounded in Gallagher’s findings. Death and Life also urges those in rural communities and those supporting organizations in such communities to consider how NPACOs in non-urban areas are unique and to develop methods and policy to better support equitable access to the arts across geographic settings.
