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| Report: Arts bring state $5.4 billion Funding is an investment, not a subsidy, says the director of the agency that produced the study. By Patricia Beach Smith -- Sacramento Bee Arts Critic California's arts can finally define themselves in a way that even Wall Street will understand: As an "economic engine," California's nonprofit arts groups pump $5.4 billion annually into the state's economy, according to an economic impact study released Thursday by the California Arts Council. This represents a 152 percent increase since the last study was done in 1994. "Funding the arts is not a subsidy, it's an investment," said Barry Hessenius, director of the California Arts Council, at a news conference Thursday at the California Chamber of Commerce office to unveil the study, "The Arts: A Competitive Advantage for California II." The study shows that California's nonprofit arts organizations contribute to the state's economy through tourism, the employment of 160,000 people, and state and local sales and income taxes totaling $300 million. The new study was conducted by Diane L. Matarza and funded by the California Arts Council, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Arts & Business Council of Sacramento and Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley. The results of the 15-month study designed to "calculate the value of California's cultural sector" are based on surveys of the activities of 3,200 of the state's nonprofit arts organizations -the performing and visual arts and arts councils, plus arts-related fairs and festivals, and arts activities in colleges and universities in urban and rural settings. The study showed that the nonprofit arts in California attract 71.2 million people (including 6 million tourists) to activities ranging from dance and art lessons to attending cultural presentations. "Nonprofits arts groups are in reality small businesses," Hessenius said. "In California, one in every eight businesses is arts-related." The study concluded that nonprofit groups spend $2.2 billion annually on such things as leasing property, purchasing music scores and arts materials, and also pay out $2.7 billion in wages to employees. The arts are a factor in the state's economy in other subtle ways as well, Hessenius said. "Ask the CEOs in Silicon Valley and they will tell you that what they look for in employees is not necessarily people who are the most computer savvy, but ... people who have skills such as team problem-solving, 'out of the box' thinking, people who are risk takers - the very skills the arts impart. The arts need to be a core subject to prepare our kids to be competitive in the job market in the 21st century," Hessenius said. In addition, the 71.2 million patrons of the state's nonprofit arts organizations spend $1 billion annually, the study showed, in "off-site expenditures" above the cost of entry to events and exhibitions. Sacramento restaurateur Randy Paragary said the economic impact of the arts on his restaurants represents about a 30 percent increase in business every time the Sacramento Ballet, Philharmonic or Opera perform at the Community Center Theatre across the street from his Esquire Grill. "It has a tremendous effect in revenue, and with that increase in business you have to hire more servers, bartenders ... more people with a paycheck to spend in the economy," Paragary said at the news conference. "It has worked out so well for us here that we are building another restaurant on L Street next to the Community Center Theater where we'll hire another 100 people. I also happen to have a restaurant in Davis that is near the Mondavi Center in Davis that is doing well because of it." Buck Busfield, artistic director of Sacramento's B Street Theatre, Fantasy Theatre and California Children's Theatre, also commented on the relationship between arts productions and other businesses. "When people call for tickets, they ask what's playing, how much it costs, if there's parking -and they are willing to pay for parking - and if there are restaurants nearby," Busfield said Thursday. "So there is a synergy that's created whenever business interfaces with nonprofits." Busfield also pointed to the educational value of California's arts organizations. "We (nonprofit arts groups) supplement the public school system in California by bringing arts to kids, in outreach programs in the performing and visual arts," he said. He estimated his theater companies reach about 350,000 schoolchildren each year. Another subtle, but not insignificant, contribution to the economy is California's volunteers for the arts. "Californians volunteer more than 10 million hours yearly for various arts organizations," said Muriel Johnson, a Sacramento County supervisor and an ardent arts supporter. "That represents a $165.4 million contribution to the arts." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This article is courtesy of the Sacramento Bee Newspaper. The Bee's Patricia Beach Smith can be reached at (916) 321-1145 or pbsmith@sacbee.com. |
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