• In fiscal year 2012, state arts agencies invested $269 million in creating and sustaining arts infrastructures in communities across the nation.
  Source: National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Legislative Appropriations Preview.

• America's nonprofit arts industry generates $166.2 billion in economic activity every year, resulting in $29.6 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues.
  Source: Americans for the Arts, Arts & Economic Prosperity III: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations and Their Audiences, 2007.

• In 2005, the creative sector, whose economic function is to create new ideas or creative content, employed nearly 40 million Americans, or more than 30% of all employed people, and generated half of all wages and salaries.
  Source: Richard Florida, Who's Your City, 2008.

• In 2008, 1.97 million identified an artist occupation as their primary job. This sector is projected to grow faster than the overall labor force through 2018.
  Source: National Endowment for the Arts, Artist Employment Projections through 2018, 2011.

• In 2011, 756,007 U.S. businesses participate in the production or distribution of art and employ nearly 3 million people.
  Source: Americans for the Arts, Creative Industries: Business & Employment in the Arts, 2011.

• 97% of employers say creativity is of increasing importance, but 85% of employers concerned with hiring creative people are unable to find the applicants they seek.
  Source: The Conference Board, Ready to Innovate, 2008.

• Americans donated $13.28 billion to the arts and humanities in 2010 through individual giving, estate bequests, foundations and corporations.
  Source: Giving USA Foundation, Giving USA, 2011 Executive Summary.

• Seventy-eight percent of all American leisure travelers (118 million adults) participate in cultural and/or heritage activities while traveling, contributing more than $192 billion annually to the U.S. economy. Cultural/heritage travelers, compared to non-cultural/heritage travelers, take more trips (five per year compared to four per year) and spend more money on each trip ($994 average compared to $611 average).
  Source: Mandala Research, Cultural Heritage Tourism News, Winter 2010.

• American consumers spent $14.5 billion on admissions to performing arts events in 2009.
  Source: National Endowment for the Arts, Time and Money: Using Federal Data to Measure the Value of Performing Arts Activities, 2011.

• More people are attending live performing arts events than professional sporting events in 10 major communities across the United States.
  Source: Performing Arts Research Coalition, 2004.

• Spending by arts audiences on non-admission-related goods and services such as food, lodging and gifts generates more than $100 billion in revenue annually.
  Source: Americans for the Arts, Spending by Arts Audiences, 2007.

• Copyright industries (businesses that rely on copyrights and produce computer software, films, television programs, and other audio, visual and printed media) accounted for 11.1% of U.S. gross domestic product ($1.63 trillion).
  Source: International Intellectual Property Alliance, Copyright Industries in the U.S. Economy: The 2007-2010 Report, 2011.

For additional information, visit the Creative Economy Resource Center or contact Henry Clapp at NASAA.