enlarge Doug Jones/Staff Photographer

Maine College of Art President Jim Baker hands out student awards. MECA is the state’s largest nonprofit arts organization

enlarge Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Tracy Michaud-Stutzman, standing in Center Theatre in Dover-Foxcroft, is head of a re-formed Maine Crafts Association, which, with the Maine Turnpike Authority, plans to open a Center for Maine Craft along the turnpike next year.

Nonprofit funding trends

Nonprofit groups in Maine by field

THE NEXT STAGE: THE FUTURE OF THE ARTS IN MAINE

TODAY: As the number of arts and cultural nonprofit groups grows, leaders in the field are urging groups to collaborate, coordinate and merge. We examine the factions driving the nonprofit arts sector toward financial crisis and explore possible solutions.

MONDAY: For many arts and cultural nonprofit groups, success lies squarely in the hands of those who serve on their boards. We'll look at the challenges faced by board members today and what some members are doing to increase their usefulness.

Two years ago, a group of Maine's art leaders brainstormed a better way for artists to get their work out in public view.

Among those at the table were Stu Kestenbaum, Lynn Thompson and Tracy Michaud-Stutzman, representing Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Newcastle and the Maine Highlands Guild in Dover- Foxcroft.

Because this meeting was all about big ideas, someone threw out the suggestion that the state should open a center for Maine crafts, where artisans could demonstrate their work and the public could buy it.

Everyone agreed that the idea had merit, but the notion of opening a retail store for artists felt daunting. Who would run it? How would they pay for it? And where would it be located?

During a lull in the conversation, Kestenbaum leaned over to Thompson and whispered, "You know, the Maine Crafts Association should lead this, and Tracy should work with the MCA to do it."

From that small aside was born an alliance between the Maine Crafts Association and the Maine Highlands Guild, two nonprofit arts groups with distinct missions, geographic focuses and histories. After two years of courtship, the two will merge operations effective Tuesday. In doing so, they may provide a blueprint for other nonprofit arts groups in Maine.

As community arts and cultural organizations struggle to balance their budgets, those who support them financially are encouraging collaborations and mergers to improve efficiencies and reduce overlapping services.

While the issue for arts groups involves finding enough money, the driving factor for what some are calling a financial crisis in the arts is sheer volume. Put simply, too many arts and cultural groups in Maine provide overlapping services, say those who specialize in nonprofit management and sustainability.

From 2000 to 2005, the number of Maine nonprofit organizations across all sectors grew by more than 500, from 1,805 to 2,333, according to the Maine Association for Nonprofits. At 1.77 per 1,000 people, Maine has more nonprofit groups per capita than all but Vermont, Alaska and Montana, according to the nonprofit association.

Of those 2,333 nonprofit groups in Maine, about 280, or 12 percent, are related to arts and culture. In 2000, there were about 215 arts and cultural nonprofit groups, or 65 fewer than in 2005.

The surge – which some people believe grew, in part, in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and a desire for deeper community ties – has strained the financial backbone that supports the arts infrastructure.

During that same time, the amount of money provided by foundations to support arts and cultural nonprofit groups remained level.

FUNDING GOES FLAT

In 2003, foundations gave $6.89 million in grants to arts and cultural organizations in Maine. In 2005, the figure was $6.75 million, according to the Maine Philanthropy Center.

Measured another way, about 5 percent of foundation grant dollars in Maine goes to arts and cultural organizations.

Those figures do not represent the complete funding picture of nonprofit arts groups in Maine, because they do not include monetary gifts from individuals or corporations, nor do they include income that groups earn through ticket sales, admissions, membership, fees, fundraising events and other sources. At the statewide level, earned income and individual gifts are not tracked, and a reliable measure of them does not exist.

Anecdotally, arts leaders say gifts from corporations are more difficult to come by these days, because meaningful relationships with corporate decision-makers are harder to sow with companies based out of state.

Government support, in the form of grants from the Maine Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, has fluctuated year to year since 2000, from a high of $1.54 million in 2004 to a low of $963,625...