Flagstaff Cultural Partners (FCP) recently unveiled the Flagstaff portion of the study in local presentations to the Boards of Directors of FCP and the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce.
The $73 million in spending by non-profit arts and culture organizations and their audiences had far-reaching effects. The 37 participating organizations pay employees, purchase supplies, contract for services and acquire assets within the community. Those dollars, in turn, generated $56 million in household income for local residents. The City of Flagstaff invests approximately $360,000 annually into non-profit arts and science agencies; this report shows that its return on this investment equals $3.7 million annually in city and county tax revenue.
Audiences who attend arts and science events pump over $35 million into the local economy, with tourist audiences (attendees who live outside of Coconino County) accounting for nearly 65% of that total, $22.8 million. Data was tallied from 1,332 audience-intercept surveys collected at nonprofit arts, culture and science events throughout 2011.
“The non-profits arts sector is an economic force that can’t be ignored,” says John Tannous, Executive Director of Flagstaff Cultural Partners. “We already know art feeds the soul and enriches lives; this report shows that it also puts food on the table for the families of Flagstaff.”
“Finally, an economic impact study that confirms what many of us felt for so long,” remarked Julie Pastrick, president and CEO of the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce, funders of the study. “Arts and culture is a huge economic driver in our local economy. A rich cultural environment is integral to long term business and community longevity.”
Nationally, the Arts & Economic Prosperity IV study reveals that the nonprofit arts industry produced $135.2 billion in economic activity during 2010. This spending—$61.1 billion by nonprofit arts and culture organizations plus an additional $74.1 billion by their audiences—supported 4.1 million full-time equivalent jobs and generated $22.3 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues.
The Arts & Economic Prosperity IV study was conducted nationally with data from 182 regions. It is considered to be the most comprehensive economic impact study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry ever conducted in the United States.
The Flagstaff Arts & Economic Prosperity IV study was conducted by Americans for the Arts with local data collection by Flagstaff Cultural Partners. The Flagstaff study was funded locally by the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce, with additional support from Coconino County, the City of Flagstaff and NAU’s College of Arts and Letters.
For more information and to download the full Flagstaff report, please visit http://culturalpartners.org/EconomicImpact.htm .