Arts & Economic Prosperity 5

The nonprofit arts and culture industry generates $69.8 million in annual economic activity in the City of Boulder, Colorado – supporting 1,832 full-time equivalent jobs and generating $4.6 million in local and state government revenues, according to the Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 national economic impact study. The most comprehensive economic impact study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry ever conducted in the United States, Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 (AEP5) was conducted by Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading industry group committed to advancing the arts and arts education.

Results show that nonprofit arts and culture organizations in Boulder spent $35.5 million during fiscal year 2015, the most recent year included in the study. This spending is far-reaching: organizations pay employees, purchase supplies, contract for services and acquire assets within their community. Those dollars, in turn, generated $47.6 million in household income for local residents, and $4.6 million in local and state government revenues. In addition, during 2015, a total of 5,087 volunteers donated a total of 265,505 hours to the nonprofit arts and cultural organizations that participated in the study about Boulder. This represents a donation of time with an estimated aggregate value of $6,255,298 and shows a deep engagement with the city’s arts and culture.

“Our community invests in the arts for the social vibrancy and personal creative fulfilment we value” says Boulder Mayor Suzanne Jones. “Now we see that the arts are also a good return on the investment! With under $2M that we spend on cultural affairs, plus investments like the Community, Culture, and Safety Tax, the $69.8 million in economic activity we get back is a great benefit to our city. And, every artist and cultural organization in Boulder contributes a portion of that activity. Our Community Cultural Plan seems to be already having an impact; our goal should be to make sure that the arts continue to contribute to this prosperity into the future.”

Nationwide, the Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 study reveals that the nonprofit arts industry produces $166.3 billion in economic activity every year, resulting in $27.5 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues. In addition, it supports 4.6 million full-time equivalent jobs and generates $27.5 billion in revenue to local, state, and federal governments (a yield well beyond their collective $5 billion in arts allocations).

In addition to spending by organizations, the country’s nonprofit arts and culture industry leverages $102.5 billion in event-related spending by its audiences. When attending a cultural event, attendees often eat dinner in local restaurants, pay for parking, buy gifts and souvenirs, and pay a babysitter. What’s more, attendees from out of town often stay overnight in a local hotel.

“The residents of Boulder told us their vision for culture” says Matt Chasansky, manager of the City of Boulder’s Office of Arts and Culture. “In the Community Cultural Plan, they wanted all our cultural leaders to ‘craft Boulder’s social, physical, and cultural environment to include creativity as an essential ingredient for the wellbeing, prosperity, and joy of everyone in the community.’ With AEP5, we can now see that ‘prosperity’ component in striking and convincing detail. Creativity, our community’s artists, and the cultural venues that draw people to visit Boulder, all have a critical impact on the health of our economy.”

For a full list of the communities who participated in the Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 study, visit www.AmericansForTheArts.org/AEP5Partners.

The City of Boulder’s Office of Arts and Culture is currently implementing Boulder’s Community Cultural Plan. Through a set of programs including cultural grants, public art, initiatives that support artists and the creative economy, and research, the office supports the community-created Vision for Culture: Together, we will craft Boulder’s social, physical, and cultural environment to include creativity as an essential ingredient for the wellbeing, prosperity, and joy of everyone in the community.

For more information, visit our Community Cultural Plan website page.

For any questions about the City of Boulder’s participation, please contact Arts Program Manager Lauren Click at clickl@bouldercolorado.gov or 720-564-2355.