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The Arts Mean Business By Robert L. Lynch, President and CEO, Americans for the Arts In my travels, I meet business and government leaders who speak passionately about the value the arts bring to their communities—fueling creativity, beautifying downtowns, and providing joy. Many also share with me the challenge of balancing arts funding with the demands to support jobs and grow their economy. To these community leaders, Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 offers a clear and welcome message: the arts are an investment that delivers both community well-being and economic vitality. Arts& Economic Prosperity 5 (AEP5) is Americans transportation,tourism,agriculture,and construction). for the Arts' fifth economic impact study of the As another example, many state and local governments nation's nonprofit arts and cultural organizations and have established agencies to track and grow their their audiences. By every measure,the results are creative economy. impressive.Nationally,the nonprofit arts industry generated$166.3 billion of economic activity in What continues to set AEP5 apart from other studies is 2015—$63.8 billion in spending by arts and cultural exactly why it is so useful: it uses localized research organizations and an additional $102.5 billion in event- that not only focuses on arts organizations—but also related expenditures by their audiences.This activity incorporates the event-related spending by their supported 4.6 million jobs and generated$27.5 billion audiences. When patrons attend an arts event,they may in revenue to local,state,and federal governments(a pay for parking,eat dinner at a restaurant,enjoy dessert yield well beyond their collective$5 billion in arts after the show,and return home to pay the babysitter. allocations). AEP5 is the most comprehensive study of The study found that the typical attendee spends$31.47 its kind ever conducted. It provides detailed economic per person,per event beyond the cost of admission. impact findings on 341 study regions representing all AEP5 also shows that one-third of attendees(34 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data was percent)traveled from outside the county in which the gathered from 14,439 organizations and 212,691 arts arts event took place.Their event-related spending was event attendees,and our project economists customized more than twice that of their local counterparts($47.57 input-output models for each and every study region to vs. $23.44). What brought those visitors to town?Two- ensure reliable and actionable localized results. thirds(69 percent) indicated that the primary purpose for their visit was to attend that arts event.The message When Americans for the Arts published its first is clear:a vibrant arts community not only keeps economic impact study in 1994, it worked with 33 residents and their discretionary spending close to local communities. As evidence of the value of these home,it also attracts visitors who spend money and studies,AEP5 has grown this local participation ten- help local businesses thrive. fold. We also have witnessed a corresponding growth in the understanding of the economic value of the arts. AEP5 demonstrates that the arts provide both cultural The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis,for example, and economic benefits.No longer do community now publishes an annual Arts& Cultural Production leaders need to feel that a choice must be made Satellite Account,which extends beyond the nonprofit between arts funding and economic development. sector to include the full breadth of commercial and Arts& Economic Prosperity 5 proves that they can for-profit arts,education,and individual artists,and choose both.Nationally as well as locally,the arts lists the sector as a$730 billion industry(4.2 percent of mean business. the nation's GDP—a larger share of the economy than AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS I Arts&Economic Prosperity 5 1