Fulton County has joined a national study that will measure what nonprofit theaters, art galleries, dance and music groups — and their audiences — add to city, state and national economies.
So if you’re at a concert, a dance event or a play some day soon, and you’re asked how much you spent on dinner beforehand, how you got there and whether you did any shopping in conjunction with your outing, this might be why.
The Fulton County Department of Arts and Culture is one of about 300 study participants across the country taking part in the study, officially known as Arts & Economic Prosperity 5. It’s the fifth such study undertaken in the past 20 years by Americans for the Arts, a national nonprofit advocate for arts and arts education.
Fulton County is home to many of metro Atlanta’s big and small theater, music and dance companies, from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Alliance Theatre, to 7 Stages, Horizon, Actor’s Express, Synchronicity and Georgia Ensemble theaters, Atlanta Ballet to Moving in the Spirit, Atlanta Boy Choir to gloatl, and many more.
A similar Americans for the Arts study in 2010 showed that the nonprofit arts generated $135.2 billion in total economic activity and supported the equivalent of 1.4 million full-time jobs, adding $22.3 billion to federal, state and local government revenues.
The complete list of Georgia participants includes metro Atlanta (the Atlanta Regional Commission), the city of Atlanta (City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs); city of Savannah (City of Savannah Department of Cultural Affairs); greater Atlanta region (Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta); the greater Augusta area, Columbia and Richmond counties (Greater Augusta Arts Council); and Macon-Bibb County (Macon Arts Alliance).
Information will be collected throughout 2016. The results of Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 are expected in June 2017.
