Not-for-profit theatre companies that have had to pare their seasons or scale back productions in recent years -- thereby providing fewer opportunities for actors -- may wish to take note of two encouraging arts-funding studies.

The first, issued by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), reports that in the current fiscal year, appropriations for the arts at the state level held steady for the first time in several years. In many states, arts funding has actually increased, occasionally substantially. This stands in marked contrast to the deep and successive arts-funding cuts endured at the state level since the economic downturn of 2000-01.

While state arts agencies are breathing a sigh of relief that the current fiscal year didn't see a new round of funding cuts, another study -- this one a biennial survey conducted by the Business Committee for the Arts -- shows that American corporations are more generous to the arts than many may realize. And in what may be a tip for theatre groups looking to line up corporate sponsors, it is small businesses, not large corporations, that tend to be the most generous of all.

While nonprofit groups absorb the information contained in the NASAA and Business Committee for the Arts studies, a third study, this one commissioned by the Wallace Foundation and issued by the RAND Corporation, appears to take a startlingly new tack on the arts-funding question.

"Gifts of the Muse: Reframing the Debate About the Benefits of the Arts," scheduled to be unveiled following a telephone news conference on Tuesday, contends that the primary focus of arts advocates -- maintaining the supply of the arts for audiences -- should be overhauled.

Instead, the report recommends that federal, state, and local policy be refocused to help build demand for the arts by "introducing more Americans to engaging arts experiences, especially when they are young." In short, where there is a rising demand, a rising supply will, at some point, have to follow.

The study further contends that "an exclusive emphasis on instrumental benefits" of the arts -- such as their economic impact -- "does not provide a sufficient basis for policy decisions about the arts." Instead, the arts should be funded because audiences are growing and demand it.

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