Corporations say arts support will be stable - Front Page - Business Committee for the Arts - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

There may be some good news for the arts in these bleak economic times. According to a recent survey conducted by the Business Committee for the Arts, a nonprofit group founded in 1967 by David Rockefeller to encourage corporate funding of the arts, many major long-time donors say that their support levels will remain unchanged in 2002, even after the events of Sept. 11. The survey, conducted by phone the week of Oct. 22, included 100 companies. While 64 reported their levels would stay the same, 12 anticipated a decrease, 19 said they were undecided, and 5 planned an increase.

In 1997, business support for the arts was $1.16 billion. An increase of 34 percent was recorded for 2000; $1.56 billion was given to various arts groups, with the majority going to museums (22 percent), symphony orchestras (19 percent) and arts education programs (17 percent).

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