Trends In MN Arts Funding
Top Trends by the numbers in MN Arts Grantmaking
The overall # of arts grants rose by 844 from 2018 to 2021, then declined.
2019 and 2020 were High Water Marks, almost every area of arts funding then declined from 2021 to 2022
General Operating Support grants in the arts increased by 1,100 grants from 2018 to 2021 but also declined in 2022
Grants for “BIPOC” arts is consistently around 20% of total arts giving.
Key Takeaways
Performing Arts grants declined by more than 1,000 from 2019 to 2022
While General Operating grants went up, Arts Education grants declined.
Some arts groups used Education as a substitute for Gen Op, is there a correlation?
A closer look at BIPOC arts grants is revealing. For example, in 2021:
Total # of BIPOC arts grants: 825
# of grants to BIPOC-led groups: 515
Latin, African Descent & Asian American arts groups are particularly under-represented in Minnesota arts grantmaking. (See specific tables below.)
Cultural Awareness grants are a relatively new area of arts grantmaking, growing from 80 grants in 2014 to 273 in 2022.
Surprisingly, grants for Visual Arts nearly doubled from 2018 to 2022.
We imagined Arts Services grants would go up during Covid, but they declined by nearly 200 grants in 2020
Grants to Museums declined by 201 grants from 2018 to 2022. Certainly, Covid affected this but grants did not recover in 2022. Dominance of a few museums did decline. A ratio of 6 grants for every recipient in 2018 to 4 grants for every recipient in 2022.