New Creative Minnesota Study of Rock County Shows Large Impact of the Arts

CONTACTS: Sheila Smith, 651.251.0868
Executive Director, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts
Louella Voigt, 507.283.9237
President, Blue Mound Area Theater, Inc.

SAINT PAUL, MN: Creative Minnesota, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, Luverne Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB, and Palace Theater released a new study today indicating that the arts have a large impact on Rock County.

“Nonprofit arts and culture organizations contribute to the vibrancy of Minnesota’s economy and quality of life and make our state a magnet for jobs and businesses. Now we can quantify that in Rock County said Sheila Smith, Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts. “In addition to providing life changing experiences, educational opportunities and accessibility to audiences of all ages in their stages and museums, arts and culture organizations are important employers and economic engines.”

As the most comprehensive report ever done of the state’s creative sector, Creative Minnesota 2017 fills in the gaps of available information about Minnesota’s cultural field and seeks to improve our understanding of its importance to our quality of life and economy. Creative Minnesota 2017 quantifies the impact and needs of Minnesota’s artists and creative workers and nonprofit arts and culture organizations. The report includes both new, original research and analysis of data created by others. All Creative Minnesota research is available for free at CreativeMN.org.

“The arts are such a vital part of a community. They give us a better quality of life, said LaDonna Van Aartsen, Blue Mound Area Theater Treasurer and Officer at First Farmers and Merchant Bank.

“Museums capture our history and preserve collections, theatres provide us with live entertainment, music and dance, and artists create poetry, paintings, drawings and sculptures. All of these things provide us with enjoyment and enrichment of life. I have lived in Luverne for over 36 years. From the time I moved to the community, and continuing on to the current time, I have appreciated the vibrancy with which arts and cultural activities have flourished. It has afforded me with a quality of life which surpasses most small, rural communities. This cultural sophistication permeates all levels of our community, from arts education in the schools, to a high caliber of music in our churches, to a plethora of visual and performing artists in the community. Our growing history centers and museums strengthen our cultural reflection and thoughtful living.”
ROCK COUNTY HIGHLIGHTS:

Click here to view the pdf report.

• Rock County’s 19 arts and cultural organizations generate over $2 million in economic impact from audience spending, nonprofit arts and culture organizational spending and artist spending.
• Nonprofit arts and culture audiences alone are bringing over $1 million annually to local Rock County businesses that would not be there if it weren’t for cultural events.
• With a county population of only 9,601, the nonprofit arts and culture organizations here are serving an astonishing annual audience of over 55,000 people including over 6,000 youth with arts and cultural activities.
• Rock County benefited from over $350,000 in positive economic impact based on the spending of its 85 artists and creative workers alone – and those creatives earn an average hourly wage that is higher than the county average hourly wage.

“Our city and county government have shown outstanding support for these arts & cultural organizations with direct assistance from public employees and strategic funding, making these organizations viable in our small community,” continued La Donna.

“Now, more than ever, we can see how a vibrant environment, filled with art & culture, draws people to a community and is an integral part of community development.  When I learned of the opportunity to quantify the economic impact of arts and cultural in our communities, I felt it would be a worthwhile endeavor. This vital component to our quality of life is dependent upon multiple layers of support. I am hopeful this study will reveal it is a significant aspect of our community, justifying an ongoing investment from both the public and private sector.”
OTHER LOCAL FINDINGS:
ECONOMIC IMPACT OF NONPROFIT ARTS AND CULTURE SECTOR:

• In Rock County the study found that the combined economic impact of nonprofit arts organizations, their audiences and artists and creative workers in is $2 million annually.
• This includes:
  • $599,618 spent by nonprofit arts organizations,
  • $1 million spent by 55,576 attendees,
  • and the direct spending of artists in their communities, on things such as art supplies and studio rental, of $348,455.
• This economic impact represents an infusion of $213.19 per county resident into the local economy from the arts and culture.

IMPACT AND NUMBER OF NONPROFIT ARTS AND CULTURE ORGANIZATIONS:

• 19 nonprofit arts and culture organizations in Rock County served 55,576 attendees at arts and cultural events in 2014. This number includes 6,402 K-12 students served annually.

*OTHER includes science and children’s museums, zoos, and arts and culture programs housed in non-arts nonprofits and local governments.

• The economic impact of just nonprofit arts and culture audiences in this region totaled $1,098,738. This spending at local businesses is above and separate from the cost of the ticket to the event, and includes spending in restaurants, gas stations, and other local businesses by attendees on the way to and on the way home from an event. The average spent by an attendee is $19.77, (per person, per event, not including the cost of the ticket) and is money that would not have been spent in the community unless the event had occurred. Nonlocals spend even more, bringing dollars to the community that would otherwise not be there.
• Finally, the  nonprofit arts and culture organizations, attendees and artists in Rock County generate  $209,107 in state and local government revenues.

LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS PARTICIPATING IN THE STUDY INCLUDED:

Blue Mound Area Theatre, Brandenburg Prairie Foundation (Brandenburg Gallery and Herreid War Museum), Luverne Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, Green Earth Players, Rock County Historical Society, American Reformed Church, Grace Lutheran Church, Hardwick Community Club, Hills Community Theatre, Luverne Area Community Foundation, Luverne Community Education, Luverne Sr Citizen’s Center, Luverne Street Music, Rock County, Rock County 4-H, Rock County Ag Society, Rock County Community Library,Rock County Fine Arts Association, Rock County Opportunities

LOCAL ARTISTS AND CREATIVE WORKERS:

• Creative Minnesota 2017 found that there are 85 artists and creative workers in Rock County. Creative workers are defined as people who make their living wholly, or in part, by working for for-profits, non-profits, or self-employed, in 41 creative occupations
• These occupations include:

architects, choir directors, curators, librarians, art directors, craft artists, fine artists including painters, sculptors and illustrators, multimedia artists and animators, commercial and industrial designers, fashion, graphic and interior designers, set and exhibition designers, actors, producers and directors, dancers, choreographers, music directors and composers, musicians and singers, editors, writers and authors, sound engineering technicians, photographers, camera operators

• The most common creative worker jobs in the county are in Photography, Music, and Writing.
• Surprisingly, the average hourly wage for creative workers in Rock County is $17.22, which is above the average worker wage of $16.60.
• The direct spending of just artists and creative workers in the community generates $42,310 in state and local government revenues.

OTHER STATEWIDE HIGHLIGHTS:
STATEWIDE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF NONPROFIT ARTS AND CULTURE SECTOR:

• Statewide, the study found that the combined economic impact of nonprofit arts organizations, their audiences and artists and creative workers is over $2 billion annually. This includes $819 million spent by nonprofit arts organizations, $564 million spent by audiences, and the direct spending of artists in their communities, on things such as art supplies and studio rental, of $644 million.
• Just looking at the economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture organizations, Minnesota has double the arts economy of Wisconsin even though we have nearly the same population, ten and a half times the arts economy of Kansas and twelve and a half times the arts economy of South Dakota.
• Statewide, state and local government revenue from the arts sector exceeded $222 million, including income and sales taxes.

STATEWIDE IMPACT AND DEMOGRAPHICS OF ARTISTS AND CREATIVE WORKERS:

• Creative Minnesota 2017 found that there are over 104,000 artists and creative workers in Minnesota whose spending in the state totals $644 million annually.

• 24 percent of self-identified artists in Minnesota are employed full-time as artists, 42 percent are employed part-time, and the rest, 34 percent, are retired, hobbyists or students.

STRONGEST NEEDS FOR ALL MINNESOTA ARTISTS:

• SPACE TO WORK: Artists desire spaces and tools of their own to do their work – but not in solitude.
• Artists have strong interest in opportunities to form connections and serve communities.
• Artists embrace and are seeking more learning experiences, experienced artists would like to pass on their skills, younger artists are looking for mentors.
• Artists remain ambitious about developing paying audiences and generating income from their work, but their identities as artists and the non-monetary value they derive from their practice are strong regardless of earnings.
• Artists desire to reach wider audiences and markets.

STATEWIDE IMPACT AND NUMBER OF NONPROFIT ARTS AND CULTURE ORGANIZATIONS:

•  1601 nonprofit arts and culture organizations in Minnesota served 22 million attendees at arts and cultural events in 2014.

• These organizations serve 3.8 million K-12 students, hosting 29,318 school group visits each year. There are approximately 900,000 K-12 students in Minnesota, so on average every student is participating four times a year in arts and culture activities provided by these nonprofits.

• The economic impact of just the participating organizations and their audiences totaled $1.4 billion, an increase of $185 million since our previous study in 2015. This is primarily due to an additional 332 participating organizations, but also includes a 1.5 percent increase in impact by the organizations participating in both studies.

STATEWIDE PUBLIC OPINION POLLING ON THE ARTS:
Minnesotans strongly believe the arts and culture are important to their quality of life, and Minnesotans attend and participate in the arts more than other Americans:

• of Minnesotans, compared to 68% of all Americans, attend arts and culture events
• of Minnesotans, compared to 49% of all Americans, are personally involved in creative activity in their everyday life
• 91% of Minnesotans believe that people who create art are contributing something important to their communities
• 90% of Minnesotans believe that arts & cultural activities help make Minnesota an attractive place to live and work
• 82% of Minnesotans believe it’s important to have the opportunity to express themselves creatively or to experience the creativity of others every day

ABOUT CREATIVE MINNESOTA

Creative Minnesota is a long-term collaborative initiative of statewide arts and culture supporting organizations in partnership with Minnesota Citizens for the Arts (MCA). Creative Minnesota’s first round of studies, released in February 2015, looked at the economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture organizations in the state’s 11 arts regions and at the state as a whole. The second round in October 2015 looked at the economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture organizations in 17 Minnesota cities and counties. The 2017 study expanded its scope to look at the impact and needs of Minnesota’s artists and creative workers. All Creative Minnesota research is available for free at CREATIVEMN.ORG.

The Creative Minnesota team includes Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, The McKnight Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Forum of Regional Arts Councils of Minnesota, Target, Bush Foundation, Mardag Foundation, and Jerome Foundation, with in-kind support from the Minnesota Historical Society and others.

The Creative Minnesota team includes:

• Minnesota Citizens for the Arts (MCA) is a statewide arts advocacy organization whose mission is to ensure opportunity for all people to have access to and involvement in the arts. MCA organizes the arts community and lobbies the Minnesota State Legislature and Congress on issues pertaining to the nonprofit arts and conducts original research. MCA works with over 40,000 arts advocates in Minnesota. 651-251-0868, www.artsMN.org @MNCitizen
• The McKnight Foundation: www.mcknight.org
• Target: https://corporate.target.com/corporate-responsibility
• Bush Foundation: www.bushfoundation.org
• Mardag Foundation: http://www.mardag.org/
• Jerome Foundation: http://www.jeromefdn.org/
• The Minnesota State Arts Board: http://www.arts.state.mn.us/
• Forum of Regional Arts Councils of Minnesota: http://www.arts.state.mn.us/racs/forum.htm
• Ideas that Kick: www.ideasthatkick.com
• Americans for the Arts: www.AmericansForTheArts.org
• CURA Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota: http://www.cura.umn.edu/
• Minnesota Compass: http://www.mncompass.org
• Luverne Area Chamber of Commerce and CVB: http://luvernechamber.com
• Palace Theater: http://www.palacetheatre.us

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Highlights of Creative Minnesota 2017’s Data Sources:
ORIGINAL RESEARCH:

• “Artists Count” Survey of 2100 Minnesota artists by Creative Minnesota done with 194 organizational partners in 2016.
• “Artists Thrive” Survey of 800 Minnesota artists by the Minnesota State Arts Board in 2015.
• Analysis and Update of economic impact data of 1601 nonprofit arts and culture organizations

ANALYSIS OF OTHER DATA SETS WITH MANY PARTNERS:

• Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), University of Minnesota analysis and mapping of “Artists and Arts Workers in the United States” from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
• Minnesota Compass analysis of Integrated Public Use Microdata Series from the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2010-2014, on arts participation
• Minnesota Center for Survey Research, University of Minnesota, Public Opinion Polling, 2014 and 2015 State Surveys
• Center for the Study of Art and Community, literature review, synthesis and analysis by Bill Cleveland.
• For a full list, download the report at www.creativeMN.org

The Legacy Amendment

The Legacy Amendment was passed by a statewide vote of the people of Minnesota in 2008 to dedicate a portion of the state’s sales tax to create four new funds for 1. land conservation, 2. water conservation, 3. parks and trails, and 4. arts and culture. The legislature appropriates the dollars from the Legacy Arts and Culture Fund to the Minnesota State Arts Board, Regional Arts Councils, Minnesota Historical Society and other entities to provide access to the arts and culture for all Minnesotans.
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