Arts Groups Lose Out in Fight for Funds

Arts groups garner about 40% of their income -- far more than other nonprofits -- from private donations, Mr. Salamon says. But private donors have cut back, and they tend to shift their money to human-services outfits during recessions, he says. "It's a double whammy."

Some cultural institutions have already folded. The Baltimore Opera's board voted to liquidate the organization last week. Brandeis University officials are mired in controversy over a decision to sell parts of its Rose Art Museum collection. In January, the Minnesota Museum of American Art in St. Paul, which had existed in various forms since 1927, closed indefinitely. The Milwaukee Shakespeare theater company shuttered in October, after its main funder, a local foundation, dropped support.