Studies measure the financial impact of arts in KC - KansasCity.com

Arts organizations and arts consumers in the Kansas City area spent as much as $273 million in 2010, according to the results of two national studies being released today.

The studies provide the most detailed economic snapshot of the city?s cultural scene in years as civic leaders and others focus on the growing importance of the arts downtown and in points beyond.Harlan Brownlee, president and chief executive officer of the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City, said the specific information in the studies will help arts leaders form a strategy for the Kansas City area. ?One of our projects is the idea of a regional cultural plan,? Brownlee said. ?We really think it?s important that, as a region, we have a better sense of vision for the arts.?The studies, Brownlee said, will provide ?a clear assessment of where you are. If you know where you are, you know where you want to go.?The opening last fall of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and the heightened visibility of the area?s visual and performing arts scenes have prompted the arts council and other organizations to develop strategies for growth.The studies were conducted by Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit organization that supports the arts and arts education. The local arts council partnered with the national group to gather information on spending by local arts institutions, spending by audiences, and tax revenues generated by the arts, among other factors. Council officials were expected to discuss the results this morning in a forum at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. One study called the Local Arts Index measured audience participation in cultural and entertainment events as well as visits to zoos and art museums. Brownlee said Kansas City audiences were among the most active in the country, according to the arts index. The other study, Arts & Economic Prosperity IV, assessed the direct effect of arts-related spending on businesses and individuals. The Kansas City area (defined as Johnson, Wyandotte, Jackson, Clay and Platte counties) was one of 182 ?study regions? in the Arts & Prosperity survey, which reflects 2010 data. Although some of the final numbers are estimates, they are based as accurately as possible on attendance figures, money spent by audience members and arts organizations, taxes collected and other factors. Almost 60 organizations, including major performing organizations, community orchestras, municipal art commissions and theater companies, participated in the study. The Kansas City area ? the study counted a 2010 population of more than 1.7 million ? registered more than $203 million in spending by organizations and $69 million by audiences, or more than $273 million spent by the ?arts industry.? According to the research, arts and cultural organizations supported 8,346 full-time jobs and generated more than $237 million in household income. Arts activity also generated more than $9 million in revenue for local governments in the Kansas City area, as well as more than $12.8 million in revenue for the states of Missouri and Kansas. The St. Louis area, to which the study assigned a smaller population, generated stronger economic activity across the board. Spending generated by the arts industry in St. Louis, for example, totaled more than $582 million ? more than twice the amount in Kansas City. Brownlee said he believed the difference reflected in part the support the arts council in St. Louis receives from a motel/hotel tax in the city and county. But Brownlee said the study results will allow a direct, apples-to-apples comparison of Kansas City to other metropolitan areas. ?It becomes an important part of the planning process,? he said. ?That?s why this information has other implications down the road for us. The next challenge will be how we use that data.? Brownlee also pointed out that the 2010 information gathered included costs connected with the construction of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Of the more than $203 million spent by arts organizations in the study period, about $100 million represented capital expenditures. And about 90 percent of that represented the Kauffman Center construction, Brownlee said.?So when there?s not that kind of capital building going on, we might see a different figure,? Brownlee said. The council paid about $30,000 to participate in the studies, which does not include hours worked by council staff, gathering information. Part of the fee was covered by a grant from the Mid-America Regional Council.?It wasn?t cheap,? Brownlee said, ?but we thought it was vital.? Allan Gray, chairman of the council board, said the studies simply underscore what arts advocates have been saying for years: That the arts are an important part of the economy. ?As the arts go, they are quite often looked upon as an adjunct or something that is less than important in the makeup of the community,? said Gray, who will speak during a program on the studies beginning at 8 a.m. today in the Nelson?s Atkins Auditorium. ?The arts are an industry. They provide jobs, they provide taxes for local, state and national governments, and they position communities to grow and attract development and the best and brightest in workers.?Profile in numbersTwo newly released studies of the Kansas City area arts economy give cultural organizations and government planners fresh data on the significance of the creative sector.Among the findings, as released Thursday by the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City:??The five-county metro area includes 253 arts and culture non-profit organizations. By county: Jackson, 143; Johnson, 70; Clay, 22; Platte, 10; Wyandotte, 8.??The area counts 359 locally owned businesses that are arts related; among them: 88 private art galleries; 80 dance studios; 73 nightlife music venues and and comedy clubs; 34 private music schools, 29 recording studios; 26 bookstores.??Arts-related businesses and creative industries account for 4.7 percent of all businesses in the studied region, a significantly higher share than the national average of 2.5 percent.??Among 15 multi-county regions in the Local Arts Index study, Kansas City ranked third in a comparison of audience participation in arts and cultural activities -- behind St. Louis and Washington D.C. and ahead of Minneapolis-St. Paul and New York City.Steve Paul, The Star

To reach Robert Trussell, call 816-234-4765 or send email to rtrussell@kcstar.com.

Source: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/07/19/3712404/studies-measure-the-financial.html

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