The National Endowment for the Arts has released economic data on the performing arts between 1998 and 2013, in partnership with the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Among the findings (with numbers adjusted for inflation): in 2013, arts and cultural production contributed $704.2 billion to the U.S. economy, a 32.5 percent increase since 1998, and spending on the performing arts grew 10 percent in the same fifteen-year period. The annual growth rate for arts and culture as a whole was 1.8 percent, on par with that of the total U.S. economy (1.9 percent), but outpacing other sectors such as accommodation and food services (1.4 percent), retail trade (1.3 percent), and transportation and warehousing (1.1 percent). The NEA has posted an online Arts Data Profile that offers brief analyses of key findings and provides tables for 1998-2013, as well as links to other federal data resources.
Posted February 19, 2016
