National Arts Index

Some good numbers in the National Arts Index (via Artful Manager):

• The percentage of college-bound seniors with four years of arts or music has grown, despite wide complaints of the loss of public arts education.
• College arts degrees conferred have continued to rise (partly because of an increase in design degrees, and the growth of double majors that include the arts).
• The number of Americans who personally participated in an artistic activity (making art themselves) is also on the rise, up five percent between 2005 and 2009.
• The number of nonprofit arts organizations and arts businesses also rose, despite the poor economy. According to the study, between 2003 and 2009, a new nonprofit arts organization was created every three hours in the U.S.

I'm not surprised that nonprofit arts organizations are on the rise -- after all, if people aren't making any profits anyways, why not make a gamble on a nonprofit arts organization?

Anyways, most of it appears to be the usual gloom and doom, but it's nice to know that in a decade or so, we might have a culture that's more arts-infused than we are today.