In Tuesday’s (6/11) Tribune Review (Pittsburgh), Alice T. Carter writes about the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, which “studied “the responses of 182 regions across the country contained in the Americans for the Arts 2012 Arts & Economics Prosperity IV Project. The results of that study [are] one of the reasons the Americans for the Arts … will convene in Pittsburgh for its annual convention June 12 through 16. When compared with nine other similar-size communities, the Pittsburgh/Allegheny County art-and-culture providers and audiences ranked No. 1 in audience and organizational spending, as well as job creation, household income and tax revenues. According to the study, which was based on data from 2010, arts and cultural events and offerings generated $1.17 billion in spending here, which generated the equivalent of 20,550 full-time jobs, $410 million in household income and $74 million in tax revenues.… A large slice of the economic impact comes … from indirect spending done in seemingly insignificant amounts by individuals—paying the baby sitter, having dinner or buying a bag of nuts at intermission. … ‘When I get the opportunity to tell stories about economic development and change through the arts, Pittsburgh is an example I use,’ says Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts.”
Posted June 14, 2013
