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| | Issue #20.25 :: 06/20/2007 - 06/26/2007 | Local Arts Generate $56 Million
Study Measures Impact of Nonprofit Cultural Groups
| BY RON AIKEN
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| A new study puts a dollar figure on the impact of local arts groups. This Picasso is on view at the Columbia Museum of Art through July 17. |
As director of the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties, Andy Witt is on the front lines of educating the public on how the arts contribute more than just quality of life to a community. Now he has hard statistics to back up that argument: $56.2 million annually in the greater Columbia area, to be precise.
That’s the local economic impact figure generated by the report Arts & Economic Prosperity II released earlier this month. The study was commissioned by Americans for the Arts, a national nonprofit group that publishes the nationwide report every five years. The study covers nonprofit arts and culture organizations only.
The figure breaks down to $26.8 million in spending by nonprofit arts and cultural organizations and $29.45 million in event-related audience spending. According to the study, that $56 million in economic activity supports some 2,206 full-time equivalent jobs, generates $38.4 million in local household incomes and brings $6.5 million into state and local government coffers.
“What’s great about this study is it’s the first time we’ve had such hard numbers that were clearly substantiated,” Witt says. “These numbers are independently verified and statistically valid.”
The report, based on the most comprehensive nationwide study ever conducted, collected detailed expenditure and attendance data from 6,080 organizations and 94,478 audience members across the country. Locally, data were collected from 29 organizations in the greater Columbia area and 799 attendees.
Witt says one interesting aspect of the study was learning who is coming to performances. Results showed that Columbia-area arts audiences were comprised of approximately 81 percent locals and 19 percent non-locals, meaning those not from either Richland or Lexington counties.
“I think realizing that 19 percent of our audiences are from out of town is extremely important,” Witt says. “We’re in budget season here, and when the city is looking at how hospitality- and accommodations-tax monies are being used, we’re delivering the visitors.”
“And that’s not even factoring in the spending and attendance numbers that the recent Columbia Festival of the Arts brought in,” Witt says. “I’d speculate that with that data included, that 19 percent could only go up.
“Even as it is, one in five of every audience member in Columbia is coming from places such as Orangeburg, Camden, Newberry, Sumter and elsewhere.”
According to the study, which took in data from the fall of 2005 through February, visitors to Columbia spend an average of 2.5 times more than local residents do — $31.63 individually per event compared to $12.89, excluding the price of admission tickets. The out-of-towners are spending most of that money on meals and lodging. Overall, attendees spend $16.47 per event (not including admission), a figure that includes food, drinks, parking, babysitter and other related spending.
Beyond making the traditional appeals to governmental bodies, Witt says the study will help organizations with their individual fundraising.
“This concrete data can only help with private sector funding as well,” Witt says. “There are a lot of people and businesses who want to support the arts but who don’t understand how significant an economic impact it has on the local community.
“This study makes that point very clearly in a way only hard data can.” | |
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