On July 27, Americans for the Arts and Arts Action Fund brought grassroots activists to lobby members of Congress on behalf of arts funding. Arts leaders from seven states, including musician Ben Folds, Artist Committee member of Americans for the Arts, met to share stories of the arts industry’s successes and to persuade Congress to increase the budget allocations to arts programs. The meeting was scheduled to take place during the Congressional appropriations process, before the August recess. Speaking to the gathered activists, Ben Folds said, “If we’ve just elected to run the country as a business, let’s run it as a good business.”

The activists shared the results of the Arts and Economic Prosperity 5 report. The AEP 5 report is “the most comprehensive economic impact study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry ever conducted,” states Americans for the Arts. The study looked at the industry on both a national and a local level, and found that in 2015, the arts “generated $166.3 billion in economic activity in 2015—$63.8 billion in spending by arts and cultural organizations and an additional $102.5 billion in event-related spending by their audiences.”

The report has been endorsed by the Conference of Mayors, and Mayor Allison Silberberg of Alexandria, Virginia, was among the group of activists to represent the Conference, which unanimously voted to pass a policy resolution urging Congress to increase funding for the NEA to $155 million.

Other participants included Randy Cohen, Vice-President of Research and Policy, Americans for the Arts; Robert Lynch, President And CEO, Americans for the Arts & Arts Action Fund; Tom Werder of New Jersey; Wayne Andrews of Mississippi; Dan Bowers of Tennessee; Julie Richard of Maine; Alexis Hill of Nevada; and Tom Bensen of Montana.

Some other key findings in the report:

• This industry supported 4.6 million jobs and generated $27.5 billion in revenue to local, state, and federal governments—a yield well beyond their collective $5 billion in arts allocations.
• Money spent by nonprofit arts and cultural organizations supported a larger share of the US workforce—0.83 percent—than the legal or public safety sectors.
• Based on the 212,691 audience surveys conducted, the typical arts attendee spent $31.47 per person, per event, beyond the cost of admission.
• The economic impact of the arts is greater than the monies spent in communities. Cultural tourists spend money, as well. Thirty-four percent of attendees traveled from outside of the county in which the event took place. Their event-related spending was more than twice that of their local counterparts ($47.57 vs. $23.44).

Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, said, “Leaders who care about community and economic vitality, growing tourism, attracting an innovative workforce, and community engagement can feel good about choosing to invest in the arts.”

AWP is a part of this economic generation, too. “The AWP Conference & Bookfair annually generates over twenty million dollars for its host city that for 2017 included 1.7 million in federal and local tax revenue,” said Christian Teresi, Director of Conferences. “Our attendees carouse with friends in bars and restaurants, with perhaps a preference for the bars, as well as take in a wealth of cultural offerings, which provides three million in food and beverage revenue and over a million for local retail and recreation outlets. The conference supports over 3,000 local jobs.”

AWP members have the option to join Americans for the Arts and receive updates from the Arts Action Fund through their member account page. If you are interested in knowing more about Americans for the Arts and/or contributing to the cause, find out more on their website.

Photo: Ben Folds and Bob Lynch at the roll out for Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 report. (Courtesy David Fenza)

Graphs: Americans for the Arts