The time period covered by this report, fiscal year 2009 for the 211 organizations with review complete data in the Michigan Cultural Data Project, was the lowest point in Michigan’s economy since the 1930s, as investment income dropped with the fall in the stock market and the banking crisis. As Michigan’s economy slowly rebounds and evolves going forward, tracking working capital will an important measure of the arts and cultural sector financial capacity.
These 211 organizations face ongoing challenges of maintaining and growing operating capital to sustain their programs and services – maintaining an average operating reserve to support only 9 days of operations. Working capital is the amount of funds an organization has left after paying its bills or reserving funds to meet obligations. It is a measure of short-term financial capacity and health. Because of the great range in budget sizes of the organizations in the report, the working capital amount was converted to the time it would take to deplete reserves.
