“The Cleveland Orchestra isn’t just a source of great music. It’s also a powerful economic engine,” writes Zachary Lewis in Thursday’s (9/26) Plain Dealer (Cleveland). “In a study commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra and conducted during the 2017-18 centennial season, researchers at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland firm Kleinhenz & Associates found that the orchestra and Cleveland Institute of Music, where many orchestra members teach, together contributed $172.1 million to the regional economy. The orchestra alone generated $135.4 million in spending at both at Severance Hall and Blossom Music Center…. Of that, $19.4 million came from visitors outside Northeast Ohio, primarily in the form of dining, travel, and lodging…. Activities at Severance Hall and Blossom Music Center during the 2017-18 season created 1,292 jobs and a total payroll of $60.8 million. André Gremillet, the orchestra’s president and chief executive [said] the goal [of the impact study] was to encourage people to think of the Cleveland Orchestra not only as an artistic entity.… ‘Although many Clevelanders possess a deep and enduring appreciation for the orchestra’s musical and cultural significance,’ Gremillet wrote, ‘we hope this study also helps people understand the organization’s economic value to Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.’ ”
Posted September 27, 2019
In photo: Severance Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra’s longtime Cleveland performance home. Photo by Roger Mastroianni
