The National Arts Index is intended to function much like stock
indexes. By its measure, the recent, recession-strapped years have seen
big declines not just in nonprofit arts but pop concerts and movies as
well.[…]
Billed as ‘the largest data set ever assembled describing arts and
culture in America,’ the National Arts Index released Monday by the
advocacy group Americans for the Arts aims to capture in a single number
how the arts and entertainment sector has been doing – much as the Dow
Jones and S&P indices do for stocks. The news is not good.
