This is the Dance Data project® sixth annual study on The largest American ballet and classical music companies. Following the precedent of previous reports, this report examines the financial scope of the The biggest 150 American ballet and professional classical companies. These companies are divided into three categories: The 50 greatest (#1-50), the next 50 (#51-100), and the 50 extra (#101-150) for a more in-depth analysis. This report is based on total business spending from 990 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) records for the fiscal year ending in 2022, includes preliminary data from fiscal year 2023, and provides information on overall spending, the contribution of each category to the ballet economy, as well as changes compared to previous years.
During the 2022 financial year, the The biggest 150 Ballet and classically inspired companies operated with a total overall expenditure of $719,228,871, a significant increase of 62.76% from the FY 2021 total of $441,886,534. The 50 greatest businesses operated with a total of $640,960,698, representing 89.12% of total FY2022 expenses. The 10 biggest (#1-10) accounted for 59.30% of spending among the top 50 with $380,115,421 in FY2022.
THE The 50 greatest companies remain relatively stable in their ranks compared to the next 50 And 50 extracomparing ranking changes between FY21 and FY23. Only three companies have established themselves in the The 50 greatest since FY21 (Cleveland Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, and Los Angeles Ballet), and all companies in this group have changed only a few positions.
“The lack of movement within the The 50 greatest shows that these companies consistently produce budgets that remain relatively similar to each other, even when the ballet industry as a whole is in financial decline (as shown by overall FY21 spending),” said Junyla Silmon, DDP Senior Research Consultant. “This discovery also demonstrates that ‘it’s good to be big,’ as the The 50 greatest continue to garner an overwhelming percentage of available funding and resources. This has immense implications for the national arts and culture scene in the United States and should be one of the most pressing topics of discussion at arts gatherings.
For the first time ever, this year’s report expands the DDP survey to include rankings based on revenue, fiscal year surplus/deficit and business size based on number of dancers.
Among the The 50 greatest companies, each company’s revenue in fiscal year 2022 exceeded the revenue in fiscal year 2021, with total revenue in fiscal year 2022. The 50 greatest increasing from $626,504,139 in fiscal 2021 to $738,667,545 in fiscal 2022. Like expenses, the company’s revenue in fiscal 2022 reached comparable or slightly higher levels to those before the pandemic, for the 2019 financial year.
For FY 2023, among the 145 companies with FY 2023 results available, 69 (47.6%) ended with a surplus, while 76 (52.4%) ended with a deficit. For FY22, of the 150 companies examined, 122 (81.3%) ended with a surplus, while 29 (18.7%) ended with a deficit.
“Looking at revenue and expenses, and the difference between the two, provides a more complete view of a company’s financial situation and the overall scope of the ballet industry’s economic landscape,” said Isabelle Ramey, director of external affairs at DDP. “Company size, defined by the number of dancers, further informs the scale at which different companies operate, providing deeper insights into their finances and how companies with similar financial resources support different levels of personnel in dancers.”
Within the The 50 greatestthe number of dancers within these companies ranges from 9 to 104, with a median number of dancers of 40.5. Within the The 10 biggestthe number of dancers within these companies ranges from 55 to 104, with a median number of dancers at 61.
In another notable expansion of this report, DDP has captured the annual budgets of companies that fall outside of the The biggest 150 companies, giving a deeper picture of this sector of the U.S. dance economy and highlighting organizations that are doing good work with limited resources. This deepening of the analysis was carried out with multiple data verification protocols. Over the past three months, the DDP team has launched rounds of data verification and outreach to the national ballet community.
“In a monumental step forward, the DDP team personally contacted 205 businesses across the country to gather the most current information possible, reducing IRS delays and engaging in important conversations with staff regarding their business structure , filing extensions and salary benchmarking,” said Elizabeth Yntema, founder and president of DDP. “The comments received underscore the importance of this information, emphasizing its essential role in developing industry standards. It is imperative that dance companies understand the need to provide this data to ensure continued progress and transparency in the field, as outlined in my recent opinion piece with Dance Magazine: Why transparency is vital to the health of the dance world.”
“This report will serve as the basis for subsequent comparative analyzes throughout the year. With these companies participating, we are encouraged to see how many organizations rely on DDP reporting to inform their decision-making,” said Jenna Magrath, DDP Research Manager. “Dancers, journalists, grant writers, artistic and executive staff, and audience members can benefit from having this information at their fingertips, without payment.”
DDP used proprietary software to obtain information directly from publicly available 990 forms on the IRS website for the purposes of this report. This innovative tool was supplemented by direct verification with companies to account for organizational accounting discrepancies or amended tax returns that were not publicly available at the time of data collection.
To inquire about sources, operational definitions or other classifications for the Big 150, or to learn more about DDPs research in general, please contact Research Manager Jenna Magrath at jmagrath@dancedataproject.com.
