Category Archives: Research

Metro Detroit Arts and Culture Not-for-profit Sector Financial Overview Part 2 – Tax Returns

This report analyzes how economic and cultural capital circulates in the Metro Detroit not-for-profit arts and culture ecosystem by analyzing the tax returns of the 50 biggest art and culture nonprofit organizations. It asks questions such as how big is the sector? What % of it comes from philanthropic sources? What does this fund? What are the prevailing investment strategies?

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DIA Millage Mid-Term Scorecard – Executive Summary

This report provides a RYG scorecard for the first ten years of the DIA Millage (2013-2022). It addresses the impact of the millage on the DIA’s Finances (which we rated GREEN), the DIA’s Performance in converting resources into services and programming (which we rated RED/YELLOW), how effectively the Governance process (through the Art Institute Authorities) has operated (which we rated RED), and how effectively the Service Contract(s) have represented the interests of the residents of the Tri-County region (which we rated RED). Based on this analysis we present seven recommendations for the new Service Contract.

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Metro Detroit Arts and Culture Not-for-profit Sector Financial Overview Part 1 – Funding Streams

This report examines that the total publicly reported, ongoing philanthropic funding support for arts and culture in Metro Detroit based on an analysis of funding streams. It traces where the money comes from and where it goes, and hence establishes a baseline overview of the pipeline of transparent and repeatable year-over-year funding for arts and culture in the region.

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Overview of the Mural Painting Ecosystem

This report describes the ecology and economy of the mural painting ecosystem in Detroit. It includes six case studies of mural painting projects in the city and concludes with a SWOT analysis of the ecosystem. It recognizes, but does not investigate, the economic, social, and ethical issues raised by the relationship between public art and the property market.

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