Paperwork about to increase for R.I. arts groups

Arts and cultural organizations in Rhode Island are sure to grumble, at least initially, about the Cultural Data Project, a complex, Web-based data collection system that requires nonprofits to collect and report a wide range of data on such everyday activities as attendance, utility costs and complimentary admissions.
However, just like tax returns that must be filed every year, filling out the paperwork involved in the Cultural Data Project will become an accepted practice, because participation will be required later this year for arts and cultural organizations that seek certain financial support from two major funding sources in the state.
The R.I. State Council on the Arts will require project participation from any organization that “applies for general operating support” or for project grants, according to Randall Rosenbaum, executive director of the council. Only individuals and schools will be exempt.
At The Rhode Island Foundation, participation will be necessary for organizations that apply for “strategy grants in the arts” or for “small, organizational development grants in the arts,” said Daniel Kertzner, grant programs officer for the foundation. “Our hope is that other funding sources in Rhode Island will jump on board [and also require CDP participation] because many of our constituents are the same,” Rosenbaum said.
Developed and operated by the Pew Charitable Trusts, a national philanthropic and research group, the Cultural Data Project is now in place in nine states. Vermont is slated to join in July and Rhode Island funding groups have set an October deadline. Pew plans are for 22 states to be part of the Cultural Data Project by 2014, Rosenbaum said. No fee is involved.
Individuals in charge of arts organizations – from the smallest that relies on volunteers to the largest symphony, museum and theater groups – are asked to fill out a 15-page questionnaire covering just about every aspect of their operations from the most basic, such as year the organization was incorporated, to more refined queries about advertising revenue earned, in-kind contributions and proceeds from gallery, food and gift-shop sales. On the expenditure side, the project looks for data on such costs as rent, legal fees and equipment rental, as well as bank fees, professional-development sessions and even depreciation.
Assets, liabilities, net assets, endowments, investments, credit lines, mortgages and loans are all covered in the Cultural Data Project form, along with questions related to physical space, attendance, website activity, subscribers and members, pricing, program activities, staff, capital and endowment fundraising contributions.
For the first round, Rosenbaum said, arts organizations will be asked to provide data for the previous two years of operation, with one-year updates after that. The information will be “strictly secure,” he said, available to researchers, advocates and funding sources who must file requests for access to a local task force comprised of Rosenbaum and Kertzner. The data will not be available to the general public.
Rosenbaum expects 350 to 400 arts and cultural groups in the state to take part before the Oct. 1 deadline. Seminars are scheduled to be held statewide to explain the Cultural Data Project system to stakeholders, and webinars on the Internet will be offered in the months ahead, according to Rosenbaum and Kertzner.
The advantage to funding agencies such as the state council and the foundation of having comprehensive, accurate data about groups they support is obvious, but advocates stressed that the data, perhaps for the first time, also will provide a reliable picture of the state’s arts and cultural environment as a whole.
The National Endowment for the Arts and the New England Foundation for the Arts already have systems to collect data related to arts organizations, but as Rosenbaum noted, these efforts rely on figures compiled by the U.S. Census and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Some sectors of the arts world, Rosenbaum said, just don’t fit into the census or commerce department categories.
Yet perhaps the best and highest use of the data will see the arts organizations themselves develop a more analytical approach to what they do. The project “will provide arts organizations with the tools they need to operate in a business-like way,” Rosenbaum said. “Organizations can use this data to better understand their operations and improve their activities.” Caitlin Strokosch, executive director of the Providence-based Alliance for Artists Communities, a national group that supports and advocates for artists-in-residency programs, and Anita Walker, executive director of the Mass. Cultural Council, have each been using the Cultural Data Project system for several years. Both said that completing the initial Cultural Data Project data form can be daunting, but both insisted that the rewards are well-worth the effort.
“Organizations should think of this as an opportunity for them to develop solid assessment tools for their own use,” said Strokosch, who employs just three paid staffers. Working on the project “allowed us to identify what information we should be collecting and we’ve incorporated that into our own in-house assessment and data collection,” she said.
As a result, the Cultural Data Project can provide more than simply quantitative information. “It’s not just for the bean-counters,” Strokosch said. “We were able to pull out qualitative information, to identify trends, priorities, where to invest.” The Alliance for Artists Communities has signed onto the Cultural Data Project because it is required in some states from which the alliance receives funding.
At the Mass. Cultural Council, a larger version of the R.I. State Council on the Arts, Walker said the project has been in use since mid-2009 and the council has replaced its own funding-application form with the project. More than 400 arts groups participate as of this year.
Within days of inputting the information for the first time, she said she began using the Cultural Data Project, which she noted is capable of producing reports in 77 different formats with data presented “in a way that people can readily understand,” with charts, tables and graphs optional. &#8226