In Friday’s (6/1) Buffalo Business First (New York; subscription required), James Fink writes, “The positive notes coming from the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra onstage at Kleinhans Music Hall produce a ripple effect felt across the region. Statistics in the just-released “2012 Report to the Community” indicate the BPO has a $25 million economic impact on the community. That includes $7.7 million paid in wages to 400 full- and part-time workers who run the gamut from musicians to janitors working at Kleinhans. An estimated 92 percent of the annual $10 million budget is recycled through the local economy, according to the report. … ‘While we are an orchestra and a major cultural institution, people forget we are also a business—and not a small one at that,’ said Cindy Abbott Letro, chairman of the board of trustees. ‘We really do have an economic impact on the community.’ … In the hours before a BPO concert, restaurants in Elmwood Village and Allentown typically are filled with people bound for the downtown music hall, said Daniel Hart, orchestra executive director. … The 2012 report adds a new layer to the overall impact of major cultural attractions. A report from the University at Buffalo’s Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth in 2006, meanwhile, found that the region’s 22 major cultural groups and attractions generated $264 million in economic impact.”
Posted June 1, 2012
