Chorus Operations Survey and COVID-19 Impact Report (2020)

In the two decades that Chorus America has been collecting operations data on the choral field, 2020 is a year unlike any other. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a swift and significant impact on choruses and singing together, the long-term effects of which continue to develop across our field.

Because data collection for the 2020 Chorus Operations Survey had just ended when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the Chorus Operations Survey section of this report describes a very different reality from the one that choruses are facing today. This data provides an overview of the field and its pre-pandemic financial health and will be an important reference point as choruses begin to consider a future beyond the pandemic’s most immediate effects.

The COVID-19 Impact section of this report focuses on how choruses’ budgets and operations changed in the first few months of the pandemic, drawing on a separate survey that Chorus America fielded in April and May of 2020. This report is the second in our partnership with leading arts and culture research organization SMU DataArts.

While the numbers in this report present real challenges, the report also shows reasons to be hopeful. As our field continues to rise to meet these challenges, Chorus America will use data and research like the Chorus Operations Survey Report to shape our programs and services and to help choruses tell this important story of resilience.

Image by Mudassar Iqbal from Pixabay