Access to the Arts

Let's Break It Down

While Douglas County has the highest representation of arts organizations in the region, we do not have an understanding of how accessible these organizations are to lower income residents.

In Douglas County, there are 57 arts nonprofits per every 100,000 — significantly more than in neighboring Pottawattamie (34 per capita) and Sarpy (27 per capita) Counties. However, the arts organizations are predominantly located in central and downtown Omaha and, not surprisingly, clustered in some of the more high-income pockets of the city; comparatively very few arts and culture organizations are found in North and South Omaha.

While we can breakdown the number of arts nonprofits by county — we currently do not have data that gives a clear understanding of how well individuals and families in our region are able to access the arts. We heard through The Landscape Listening Report that many local arts and cultural organizations are inaccessible to some residents due to high admission and/or program costs.

Access can come through many points — through schools and educational institutions, through low-cost or free programming, and both formally and informally. While geographic location can give us some sense of how well communities are accessing arts and culture, we need more data to tell us whether the arts in Omaha-Council Bluffs are truly accessible to all.