Although the arts in the United States are predominantly nonprofit, policy analyses concerning the nonprofit sector and the arts field have largely followed separate trajectories. Thus, key policy challenges that have recently been identified for the nonprofit sector at large have found little resonance in the arts. This article reviews the implications of commercialization as one of the key issues in the nonprofit field for the arts, discusses the reasons why this issue has not gained greater prominence in arts policy, and concludes by outlining alternative policy research options.
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