This is Dance Data Project’s® sixth annual study of the Largest U.S. Ballet and Classically Based Companies. Following the precedent of previous reports, this report examines the financial scope of the Largest 150 U.S. ballet and classically based professional companies. These companies are divided into three categories: the Largest 50 (#1-50), the Next 50 (#51-100), and the Additional 50 (#101-150) companies for further analysis. This report is based on companies’ total expenditures from 990 filings from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the fiscal year ending 2022, includes preliminary data from FY 2023, and provides information on aggregate expenditures, each category’s contribution to the ballet economy, as well as changes from the previous years.

Dance Funding in Fiscal Year 2022

In Fiscal Year 2022, the Largest 150 ballet and classically inspired companies operated with a total aggregate expenditure of $719,228,871, a significant 62.76% increase from the $441,886,534 total for FY 2021. The Largest 50 companies operated with a total of $640,960,698, accounting for 89.12% of the total expenditures in FY 2022. The Largest 10 (#1-10) accounted for 59.30% of expenditures within the Largest 50 with $380,115,421 in FY 2022.

The Largest 50 companies remain relatively stable in their ranks compared to the Next 50 and Additional 50, when comparing the rank changes from FY21 – FY23. There are only three companies that have moved into the Largest 50 since FY21 (Cleveland Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, and Los Angeles Ballet), and all companies within this grouping have only shifted by a few positions.

Funding Favors Large Companies

“The lack of movement within the Largest 50 shows that these companies consistently produce budgets that remain relatively similar to each other, even when the ballet sector as a whole is in financial decline (as showcased in FY21 aggregate expenditures),” said DDP Senior Research Consultant Junyla Silmon. “This finding also demonstrates that ‘it’s good to be big,’ as the Largest 50 continue to garner an overwhelming percentage of available funding and resources. This has immense implications for the national arts & culture scene in the United States and should be one of the most urgent topics of discussion at arts convenings.”

Read the full article about arts and dance funding by Dance Data Project at Dance Data Project.