3. Organizational Setup

Discover insights into staff composition, leadership structures, benefits offered, and challenges faced by staff members. 

A woman with a headress of roses poses on stage with her right hand outstretched
Artwork of a young girl with her head cradled in her hands wearing a headdress
Key Findings

Latinx/é arts and culture organizations mobilize a large and diverse human workforce, driven primarily by volunteers and board leadership. Across missions and disciplines, most organizations operate with limited full-time staff and rely heavily on volunteers for staffing support.

Key Findings

Latinx/é arts and culture organizations are largely comprised of Latinx/é individuals: 78% of staff within each staffing category identified as Latinx/é, whereas 88% of full-time staff and 82% of part-time staff identified as Latinx/é.

Key Findings

A substantial portion of Latinx/é arts and culture organizations are led by Latinx/é leaders, reflecting strong representation within the field.

Key Findings

Latinx/é arts and culture organizations tend to prioritize flexibility and basic paid time off benefits for full-time employees.

Key Findings

The data show that staffing challenges are widespread, structural, and persistent across budgets and disciplines, shaping how organizations operate and grow.

3.4 Organization and Staffing

The majority of Latinx/é arts and culture organizations employ enough staff to complete the organization's work (56%) and offer competitive pay for staff (53%).

Explore the Data

Highlight

The data show that staffing challenges are widespread, structural, and persistent across budgets and disciplines, shaping how organizations operate and grow.

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Artistic Disciplines

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Data Summary

  • When asked, all organizations reported their top staffing challenges are Employing Enough Staff.
  • The average tenure for all leaders is 13.67 years.
  • On average, all organizations reported having 4.56 full-time staff and 4.40 part-time staff.

Successes

  • 4.2% of organizations mentioned they did not face any staffing challenges.

Opportunities

  • Invest in Latinx/é arts organizations with unrestricted, general operating, or workforce funding that helps to increase staffing levels, offer competitive compensation, support workforce development, and reduce chronic understaffing and turnover pressures.

Challenges

  • 36.6% of organizations mentioned high cost of living as a challenge.
  • 56.6% of organizations mentioned employing enough staff as a challenge.
  • 53.7% of organizations mentioned offering competitive pay as a challenge.

Staffing Challenges

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Leader Tenure

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Primary Activity

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Total Full-time Staff

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Total Part-time Staff

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Image Credits

  • Image #1: CONTRA-TIEMPO, 2017 NALAC Fund for the Arts Organization Project Grantee
  • Image #2: Juan Hernandez, 2023 NALAC Fund for the Arts Grantee
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