The Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA) has announced the results of a study touting a big economic impact from the arts and culture sector. Supporting nearly 20,000 jobs and with an impact of at least $1.27 billion, the study featured 400 participating organizations to look at the sector’s impact on state revenue. The Georgia Department of Economic Development, GCA’s parent department, also announced a new tool to help local organizations and communities find their arts and culture impacts.
Spending by nonprofit arts and culture organizations, and the spending by their audiences, totaled $49.4 million in state and local taxes. The Arts and Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6) study was conducted by Americans for the Arts and facilitated by GCA and is an attempt to use a formula developed for the U.S Forest Service, and now in common use for business, industry and government to look at economic impact.
“Arts and creativity are an economic engine for Georgia,” said Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson. “Employers seek creativity and problem solving as a critical skillset, and the arts strengthen economic health by creating jobs in multiple industries, driving tourism, and providing workforce solutions. Georgia’s thriving arts sector means the state is not only the best place to do business, but also an amazing place to live and visit.”
Some 16.6 million people attended events hosted by nonprofit arts and culture organizations in 2022. Furthermore, more than 90 percent of them that were surveyed agreed that the activity or venue where they were surveyed “is inspiring a sense of pride in this neighborhood or community.” For communities working to restore downtowns and attract new businesses, a successful arts or cultural organization can act as an anchor to drive investment and bring back visitors. GCA awarded nearly $5 million in grants last year to 344 organizations, helping to boost these nonprofits. Those grants supported nearly 4,000 jobs and touched nearly every county in the state, 149 of them. Nearly the entire population of the state participated in some GCA-funded program from July of 2022 through of June 2023, more than 8.2 million people.
“By investing in this first-of-its-kind study for the state, the AEP6 results reinforce the arts’ significant contributions to our economic prosperity and community enrichment. We hope these new insights will be leveraged to further cultivate Georgia’s thriving arts sector,” said Georgia Council for the Arts Executive Director Tina Lilly. “We thank Governor Brian Kemp and the Georgia General Assembly for the funding that allowed Georgia to participate and the organizations across the state that contributed their time and efforts.”
