New Report Checks Boston Arts Funding With Major American Cities

With Boston’s Mayor having just announced new funding for the city’s arts community, a new report — commissioned by The Boston Foundation and prepared by the consulting and research firm TDC — examines the current state of Boston’s arts community in places it in the context of 10 other cities. “How Boston and Other American Cities Support and Sustain the Arts” finds that Boston had a very broad and deep arts community for a region of its size. On a per capita basis, Boston shows the highest number of arts and cultural nonprofit organizations of the 11 cities involved in the study. As a result, Boston’s cultural sector had a significant impact on the state’s economy. And in terms of funding, Boston was second only to New York in per capita contributed revenue for the arts. The majority of these contributions came from individual donors — and most of it went to large cultural institutions.