October 12, 2011 | 8:00 AM | By

“Report finds art funding serves wealthy audience, is out of touch with diversity”

D.C.-based watchdog group National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy issued a report finding the vast majority of arts funding goes to organizations that attract disproportionately wealthy and white audiences [PDF].

The group suggests targeting funding to grassroots and community based arts organizations with explicit missions to benefit racial minorities, the poor and the elderly. Report authors also write that funders should ensure arts organizations focused on promoting the Western European canon do more to attract diverse audiences.

“It is a problem because it means that — in the arts — philanthropy is using its tax-exempt status primarily to benefit wealthier, more privileged institutions and populations,” wrote the report’s author, Holly Sidford.

… Current arts funding patterns have roots that date back to the 19th century, the report found. Early cultural philanthropists focused on building institutions to preserve the Western European high arts to validate America’s position as a world power and serve an elite audience.

Funding patterns have been slow to change, even though attendance at such institutions is down.

— www.washingtonpost.com