New study shows the arts have a large impact on Big Stone County!

New Creative Minnesota Report about Big Stone County Shows Big Impact from Arts and Culture

SAINT PAUL, MN: Creative Minnesota, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, Big Stone Arts Council, and the Ortonville Economic Development Authority released a new study today indicating that the arts have a large impact on Big Stone 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 Big Stone 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 a rural community seeking opportunities, we see the strength of arts and culture as a whole new period of our journey. This impact study should provide a look into the economy we can experience as we embrace the arts to brand our area, defining it as a desirable place to not only visit, but to live,” said Becky Parker, President of Big Stone Arts Council and President of the Ortonville Economic Development Authority Board.

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.

BIG STONE COUNTY HIGHLIGHTS:

• Big Stone County is served by six nonprofit arts and culture organizations drawing 4564 audience members annually.
• These attendees generate close to $100,000 in audience spending above and beyond the cost of the when visiting arts and cultural activities and events in the county.
• And an equally impressive effort is made by Big Stone County’s nonprofit arts and cultural organizations whose spending in the county amounts to $70,820 annually.
• Big Stone County’s artists and creative workers contribute almost a quarter million dollars to the local economy.
• Further, creative workers in Big Stone County are earning an hourly wage that is higher than the county average wage.
• The total economic impact of nearly $400,000, generated by nonprofit arts and culture organizations, their audiences, and artists and creative workers within a county population of just over 5,000 is something that Big Stone County can truly celebrate.

“The arts are an important part of every aspect of today’s life,” said Gene Hausauer, Mayor of Ortonville. “The arts are part of lives every day, from artists providing us with beautiful pictures to class plays. Art not only enriches us culturally but also financially. Hundreds of visitors were spending time and money in Ortonville for this year’s Meander. This not only helps local businesses with their incomes but it puts our area in the spot light. If we expect to grow we need to continue to have people visit us. The arts are very essential to this.”

Khadija, of Lingonberry’s Pastry and Coffee in downtown Ortonville, said, “In a world of sports and other competitive activities, it’s always a refreshing experience to also have the option of enjoying the creative side. In small towns without easy access to big city opportunities, having a quality event like the Upper Minnesota River Arts Meander is not only a huge boost to our local economy, but an inspiration as to the possibilities that lie within each of us when we have the courage to express our unique creativity and share it with the world.” 

OTHER LOCAL FINDINGS:

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF NONPROFIT ARTS AND CULTURE SECTOR:

• In Big Stone County the study found that the combined economic impact of nonprofit arts organizations, their audiences and artists and creative workers is $400,000 annually. This includes:
  • spent by nonprofit arts organizations,
  • spent by 4,564 attendees,
  • and the direct spending of artists in their communities, on things such as art supplies and studio rental, of $238,455.
• This economic impact represents an infusion of $79.05 per county resident into the local economy from the arts and culture.

IMPACT AND NUMBER OF NONPROFIT ARTS AND CULTURE ORGANIZATIONS:

• 6 nonprofit arts and culture organizations in Big Stone County served 4,564 attendees at arts and cultural events in 2014, including K-12 students

*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 $90,230. 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, 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 in Big Stone County generate $15,723 in state and local government revenues and support 4 FTE jobs which generate $94,000 in resident household income annually.

LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS PARTICIPATING IN THE STUDY INCLUDED:

• Big Stone Arts Council
• Big Stone County Museum
• Clinton Depot
• 4-H
• Chautauqua Community Concert Association
• Ortonville and Graceville Friends of the Library

LOCAL ARTISTS AND CREATIVE WORKERS:

• Creative Minnesota 2017 found that there are over 58 artists and creative workers in Big Stone 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 Big Stone County is $17.07, which is above the average worker wage of $16.23.
• The direct spending of artists and creative workers in the community generates $28,954 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.
• CONNECT: Artists have strong interest in opportunities to form connections and serve communities.
• LEARN: Artists embrace and are seeking more learning experiences, experienced artists would like to pass on their skills, younger artists are looking for mentors.
• EARN: 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.
• AUDIENCE: 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:

• 76% of Minnesotans, compared to 68% of all Americans, attend arts and culture events
• 63% 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.

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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. Most of the organizations included in this study are grantees of one of these organizations.

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
• Big Stone Arts Council: https://bigstonearts.wordpress.com/
• Ortonville Economic Development Authority: https://ortonvilleeda.wordpress.com/

Sheila Smith (Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts and Chair, Creative Minnesota) presented the Big Stone County Report on March 22nd at the Ortonville Community Center.

Creative Minnesota, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, Big Stone Arts Council, Big Stone Area Growth and the Ortonville EDA released a new study indicating that the arts have a large impact on Big Stone 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 Big Stone County,”  said Sheila Smith “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.

$400,000 = Economic impact of art and culture organizations, audiences and artists in Big Stone County.  To note, the impacts of the arts in Big Stone County do not include the annual Meander Upper Minnesota River Art Crawl which brings a large number of people to our County each year – Becky Stattelman of the Red Barn noted the tracking for 2017 reflects about 1,000 people stopped at their location.  The impacts of the Meander would be reflected in the County that houses the managing organization.  The 2016 Meander Economic Impact report is posted on the UMVRDC website – check it out on this link!

… and thanks to Kristi Fernholz of UMVRDC, here is the 2017 Meander Economic Impacts!

Details from the Big Stone County Creative Minnesota report can be found on the ArtsMN.org Website:  Link to report

Click to see the link for the video, which is the complete presentation including the questions & answers at the end.