“Two recent studies provide a fresh look and new data on … the contribution of the arts to state and local economies,” writes Richard Florida on Thursday (6/22) at The Atlantic’s CityLab blog. “The first by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis provides data on the contributions of arts and cultural employment to the U.S. economy and tracks the geographic distribution of arts and cultural employment across metros…. Almost half of all states, 24 of them, saw growth in arts and cultural employment. There are some surprises here [including] higher rates of growth out West and in parts of the South…. Another recent report from the National Center for Arts Research measures an Arts Vibrancy Index. It calculates the number of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations, their revenue earnings, and government support per capita in a metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas (and metro divisions) in 2015. The report also tracks the diversity across 11 arts and cultural sectors…. Both studies show the increasing importance of the arts to local economies and to local attractiveness and quality of life…. You don’t have to be New York or Los Angeles to benefit from the arts.” Interactive maps incorporate data from both studies.
Posted June 26, 2017
