Economic impact of art

[texaslawchick]

Every now and then I get shit for living in Houston. Apparently, we're an backwards redneck ugly city with no culture. I dunno about the backwards redneck ugly stuff, but I'm happy to see that we're not without culture. Yesterday, at a sold out luncheon downtown, the Houston Partnership (our chamber of commerce) released the findings a cultural impact study regarding the arts. Among their findings:

• Economic Impact
  
  • The nonprofit arts are a $626.3 million industry in Houston-one that supports 14,115 full-time jobs and generates $69.5 million in local and state government revenue.
    
  • Nonprofit arts organizations in Houston, which spend $270 million annually, leverage a remarkable $356.3 million in additional spending by arts audiences-spending that pumps vital revenue into local restaurants, hotels, retail stores, parking garages, and other businesses.
    
  • A total of 12,192 professional artists are estimated to live in the Houston area, and are responsible for total annual spending of $147.6 million. Spending by artists supports 3,422 full-time jobs and generates $10.5 million in local and state government revenue.
    
  • The total economic impact of the city’s nonprofit arts industry ($626.3 million) is:
    
    • Nearly two-and-a-half times (2.41) the economic impact of the city’s convention industry in 2005 ($258.9 million).
      
    • More than ten times the total economic impact of film and video projects in the city in 2004 ($58 million)
      
    • Equal to the estimated economic impact of almost four Superbowls ($165.5 million)
      
    • More than twice that of similar communities (populations over 1 million) studied by Americans for the Arts
• Audiences
  
  • Arts are not just for the wealthy: the audience is diverse and broad-based, with nearly equal representation among age cohorts from 18 to 65+, and every income category from under $25,000 to $150,000+.
    
  • Arts are accessible to all: In the most comprehensive survey of audiences and visitors ever undertaken in Houston, 40% of responses came from audiences attending free events.
    
  • The 9.2 million people reported as having attended arts and cultural events and exhibitions in 2004 is:
    
    • More than twice the number of people who attended Houston’s three major league professional sports teams in 2005 (4.3 million total, 3.1 million at Astros; 663,000 Rockets; 562,000 Texans)
      
    • More than twenty times the number of people who attended conventions (459,000 in 2005)
      
    • Almost half the number of total annual visitors to the city (23.1 million in 2002)
      
    • Almost half the number of annual shoppers at the Galleria (20 million)
• Employment
  • The number of jobs created by the city’s nonprofit arts industry (14,115) is:
    
    • Nearly the size of the city’s 6th largest employer, the MD Anderson Cancer Center with 14,437 employees (2005)
      
    • Greater than the number of NASA contractors at Johnson Space Center (13,768)
      
  • The number of jobs created by the total economic impact of the city’s nonprofit arts industry, including professional individual artists and the impact of their spending, is 29,729
• Volunteerism
  • Some 34,000 individuals volunteered for arts and cultural organizations in 2004. They contribute more than 650,000 hours, worth more than $11.2 million.

Houston's one of those towns where all you have to do is show that you're not wasting anyone's money and everyone's on board. This is a good thing, because showing the buisness leaders that the arts are a) profitable, and b) relatively self-sustaining will encourage them to continue to help out and support the arts. I've been involved in the various arts organizations in Houston for years now, and I'm always impressed at the diversity of people, the array of creativity, and the innovation going on here. With places like the Menil and Diverseworks and the Orange Show having milestone anniversaries in the last two years or so, I think that we're showing that these smaller venues can be long lasting and self-sustainable.