Cities that replaced federal COVID arts funding with local money kept sectors growing, SMU DataArts finds

SMU DataArts in Dallas studied 4,400-plus nonprofit arts organisations across ten US cities (2019–2024). Where municipal arts agency funding rose, sectors showed stronger finances and higher attendance; where it fell, revenue contracted. Phoenix's local support rose fourfold to 4.2% of organisational budgets. Philadelphia's dropped from 7% to 1%. Executive director Jen Benoit-Bryan linked Phoenix's rebound to local support.