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Media Contact: CHICAGO, December 2003. Cultural leaders surveyed recently in Chicago appear to have a renewed optimism about the future of the industry. The most recent DHR International Cultural Confidence Index has increased to 62 for the industry (the index is based on a scale of 1 to 100, with 50 as neutral and 100 as most optimistic). This is in comparison to six months ago, when the majority of the cultural leaders expressed a more pessimistic view for the future of the industry, and the index was at an all time low of 40. Their confidence in the future is directly related to the improvement of specific indicators over the last six months, during which nearly half of organizations reported an increase in attendance and over 60 percent said their fundraising had improved. The majority of those surveyed believe that these improvements are directly related to the increase strength of the Chicago economy. “This is the first time, since immediately after September 11th of 2001, that the arts leaders in Chicago are optimistic, although their optimism has not reached that level of two years ago,” said James Abruzzo, Managing Director of DHR’s Nonprofit Practice and author of the survey. “The two year trend of increasing pessimism has finally been reversed, and with that, there is a sense of hope for renewed growth in the industry.” Many organizations indicated that they were building contingency and flexibility into their year-to-year strategy and were continuing to diversify funding streams to strengthen their organizations. “We believe that the difficult situation of the last two years has strengthened the management of the cultural industry in Chicago. We are recommending to our clients, that even though the economy is improving, the management discipline that was necessary to survive will now be critical for organizations to thrive,” said Abruzzo, whose practice provides executive search and management consulting to nonprofit organizations in Chicago, throughout the US and in Europe. The DHR Metropolitan Cultural Index, which has been conducted semi-annually for the last six years in New York City, began in Chicago in 2002 and will survey cultural institutions in Berlin, Germany beginning this month. The index measures the confidence of the cultural executives representing for-profit and nonprofit cultural organizations. The group represents small to large organizations in all disciplines throughout Chicago. According to Abruzzo, “Cultural institutions must plan months and years in advance for new productions, buildings or exhibitions. Without an optimistic outlook, those plans are cut or diminished, and those actions have a long term negative effect on the industry. With this new optimism expressed by the cultural leaders, the city’s already thriving cultural life should improve.” The Nonprofit Practice is management consulting and executive search group of DHR International, an international retained executive search firm. The Nonprofit practice provides executive search and strategic consulting to cultural, social service and educational institutions. www.dhrinternational.com. ##### Click for Printer-Friendly Version (.pdf)
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