Canadian Museum and Art Gallery Trends

'Business for the Arts' (www.businessforarts.org) regularly conducts surveys to monitor the operating situation and environment of Canada's non-profit museums and art galleries.

Hill Strategies has reviewed their work and provided an overview of trends from 1996/97 to 2005/06. Trend information existed for about 75 institutions - 29 public museums, 34 public art galleries, 11 university-affiliated museums or galleries, and one artist-run centre. Findings:

• total revenues increased by 15% over the 10 year period (after adjusting for inflation) - 68% of the institutions registering a real increase in revenues - of all revenue categories, private sector revenues grew the fastest (38% increase after adjusting for inflation)
• total expenses also grew by 15% after inflation
• art galleries experienced stronger revenue growth than museums - up 20% over the ten year period, compared to 12% for museums
• from 1996/97 to 2005/06, there were minor shifts in revenue sources: government funding decreased from 71% to 69% of total revenues; earned revenues increased from 20% to 22%; private sector funding increased from 7% to 9%
• attendance was relativelys stable over the decade (in spite of population growth) - 10.1 milion in 1996/97 to 10.2 million in 2005/06
• the smallest museums and galleries (revenues under $500,000 in 1996/97) experienced the highest growth in revenues (62% after adjusting for inflation) - and experienced the highest growth in private sector revenues (more than a threefold increase after inflation).

Source: http://artsresearchmonitor.com/article_details/php?artUID=50390

Heritage Institution Trends - Canada (1993/94 - 2002/03)

Statistics Canada publishes a Profile of Heritage Institutions. The first table below reports that the number of heritage institutions increased significantly in the ten year period from 1993/94 to 2002/03 - by 18.6%. During the same period, total attendance increased by 7%. The overall increase in participation must clearly be shared among a greater number of locations or competitors.

	93/94	95/96	97/98	99/00	02/03
number of institutions attendance (1000's)	2,122 54,928	2,390 54,482	2,357 53,825	2,436 56,299	2,517 58,759

Over the ten year period, costs have increased substantially, by 49%. The revenue mix is changing signficantly:

• unearned revenues (largely government grants) increased by 33%
• while earned revenues (membership, admission, sales/other) increased by 103%

1000's of dollars	93/94	95/96	97/98	99/00	02/03
Operating Revenue unearned revenues earned revenues Operating Expenses wages artifacts other	869,947 674,541 195,407 844,016 522,458 8,025 313,533	959,045 699,992 259,053 932,696 528,452 14,489 389,755	1,013,018 719,300 293,718 978,707 528,812 12,972 436,922	1,116,576 762,356 354,220 1,073,331 566,729 15,289 491,312	1,297,832 899,504 398,228 1,264,775 669,419 21,699 573,658

Total capital expenditures exceed related capital revenues by a large margin. Expenditures are shifting significantly towards renovation and restoration - to protect the heritage asset and increase its appeal to the visiting public.

1000's of dollars	93/94	95/96	97/98	99/00	02/03
Total Capital Revenues Total Capital Expenses purchase/construction renovations other capital	116,716 125,949 47,645 31,311 46,993	144,995 166,001 43,686 63,178 59,137	105,507 131,381 31.,321 47,799 52,261	110,405 131,849 25,259 60,082 46,508	164,448 254,016 135,972 60,360 57,684

In spite of the increase in both number of institutions and visitors, employment is plateaued (both full-time and part-time). Of greater concern is the significant loss of volunteers over the ten year period.

	93/94	95/96	97/98	99/00	02/03
full-time staff part-time staff volunteers	10,017 14,108 55,128	10,162 13,073 52,035	9,856 13,654 46,403	10,355 14,567 44,614	10,939 14,558 47,414

Source: www40.statcan.gc.ca/101/cst01/arts06-eng.htm

Historic Site Visitation Trends - Canada (1992 - 2005)

The General Social Survey (Statistics Canada) asks about visitation to historic sites - counting all adults over the age of 15 who indicate that they have visited a site at least once in the previous 12 months. The table below indicates a significant increase from 1992 to 1998 with a slight decline in visitation rates between 1998 and 2005.

	1992	1998	2005
% adults visiting at least once millions of adults visiting at least once	27.1% 5.8m	35.2%	33.4% 8.7m

Source: General Social Survey, Statistics Canada