Elsewhere...: Study Reveals Arts Have Strong Presence in Nation

Posted by: Staffon 2004/7/15 7:24:50 2194 reads Americans for the Arts, the 40year nonprofit organization for advancement of the arts in the States, has released its first national Creative Industries Study. The survey conducted analyzed in detail the locations of arts-related businesses, institutions, and organizations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The study was created by evaluating six industry categories including: performing arts; museums/collections; visual/photography; film, radio, TV, design/publishing; and schools/services. The Creative Industries Study reveals that 11 standard metropolitan statistical areas have more than 10,000 arts-related businesses, institutions, and organizations (both for-profit and nonprofit) each. Where did Houston fall on the list?…



The 11 Metropolitan Areas that have more than 10,000 Arts-Related Businesses:
1. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA: 54,895
2. Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA: 48,862
3. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA: 21,232
4. Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV: 16,360
5. Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, IL-IN-WI: 16,261
6. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX: 14,202
7. Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT: 13,060
8. Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA: 12,138
9. Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-DE-MD: 11,328
10. Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, TX: 10,834
11. Atlanta: 10,567

The Remaining Metro Areas that Make the top 20 of the List:

12. Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint, MI: 9,209
13. Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL: 9,166
14. Denver-Boulder-Greeley, CO: 7,221
15. San Diego: 6,886
16. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI: 6,791
17. Phoenix-Mesa, AZ: 6,007
18. Cleveland-Akron, OH: 4,870
19. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL: 4,406
20. St. Louis, MO-IL: 4,294

When ranked by number of arts-related businesses, institutions and organizations per capita, the top 20 metropolitan areas are:
1. Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA: 3.415 per thousand
2. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA: 3.016
3. Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA: 2.984
4. Denver-Boulder-Greeley, CO: 2.797
5. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX: 2.720
6. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA: 2.589
7. Atlanta: 2.570
8. San Diego: 2.447
9. Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL: 2.365
10. Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, TX: 2.320
11. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI: 2.287
12. Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT: 2.244
13. Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV: 2.150
14. Phoenix-Mesa, AZ: 1.847
15. Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-DE-MD: 1.831
16. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL: 1.798
17. Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, IL-IN-WI: 1.776
18. Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint, MI: 1.688
19. Cleveland-Akron, OH: 1.653
20. St. Louis, MO-IL: 1.649

The creative industries are composed of arts-centric businesses, institutions, and organizations that range from museums, symphonies, and theaters to film, architecture, and advertising companies. Nationally, creative industry businesses number 548,000 (4.3 percent of all U.S. businesses) and they employ 2.99 million people (2.2 percent of all employees). The creative industries also provide the essential fuel that drives the "information economy"-the fastest growing segment of the nation’s economy.

With the Creative Industries Study, Americans for the Arts has the capacity to analyze data and provide mapping for virtually any city, county, state or Congressional legislative district, and state in the nation. For each such area the statistics can include the name of the business sector, the number of companies-including nonprofits-within the sector, and the number of people employed by those companies. The data can be sorted by population, number of arts businesses, number of employees, and on a per capita basis.

“This study reveals, for the first time, the extraordinary presence of the creative industries throughout our nation,” said Robert L. Lynch, President and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “With the growth of the information age, the arts are now a fundamental component of the U.S. economy, and one in which every state and virtually every community has a stake.”

*Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America. With offices in Washington, DC, and New York City, it has a record of more than 40 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts.

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