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During Economic Highs and Lows, the Arts Are Key Segment of U.S. Economy

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According to data issued by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (March 17, 2020) and the National Endowment for the Arts, the arts remain a vital component of the U.S. economy. As the United States navigates a time of economic uncertainty due to the spread of COVID-19, it is important to recognize and champion the economic contributions of the arts to all 50 states, the U.S. territories, and the nation as a whole.

The sixth edition of the “Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account” (ACPSA) finds that arts and culture contributed $877.8 billion (or 4.5%) to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017. That same year, there were over 5 million wage‐and‐salary workers employed in the arts and cultural sector, earning a total of $405 billion. Complete national findings are available including an interactive infographic and data tables.

Arts and cultural production accounts for $44,302,905,650 and 8.4% of the Washington STATE economy, contributing 167,004 jobs.

The ACPSA tracks the annual economic impact of arts and cultural production from 35 industries, both commercial and nonprofit. The 35 industries that are tracked range from architectural services to sound recording and are considered a distinct sector of the nation’s economy. With the outbreak of COVID-19, many arts organizations and venues like Whidbey Island Center for the Arts — theaters, concert halls, museums, studios, festivals, and galleries — have shut their doors until further notice from public health officials.

“Earned income accounts for a substantial share of the bottom line of most nonprofit arts organizations,” Sunil Iyengar, director of Research & Analysis at the Arts Endowment, said. “During economic downturns, the sector is acutely vulnerable — in terms of earned income, but also in fundraising. Given the lean operating budgets of such organizations, these losses can have an outsized impact, leading to fewer jobs in arts industries, and in the businesses that supply them.”

Key National Findings

As arts venues close, it will be important to monitor the impact on ticket sales.

  • In 2017, consumers spent $26.5 billion on admissions to performing arts events, including $17 billion on theater/musical theater/opera performances and $3.7 billion on music groups and artists (e.g., jazz, rock, and country music performances).

Arts industries that contribute the most value to the nation’s GDP are also highly reactive to swings in business cycles including:

  • Performing arts companies

  • Independent artists, writers, and performers

  • Arts‐related retail trade (for example museum stores and art galleries)

Even as the sector continues to respond to market forces, it is worth noting that arts and culture contribute significantly to the U.S. economy.

The arts and cultural sector add more to the economy than do construction, transportation, and warehousing combined.

  • The value added by arts and culture to the U.S. economy is five times greater than the value from the agricultural sector.

  • Arts and culture added more to the U.S. economy than construction, transportation, and warehousing by $87 billion and $265 billion respectively.

The sector has shown capacity for rapid growth.

  • Between 2015 and 2017, the arts and cultural sector grew at more than twice the rate of the total U.S. economy—at nearly 4.45 percent, in terms of annual average growth rate.

  • Among high-growth arts industries are performing arts presenters, arts-related construction, and publishing.

Key State Findings

On a state level, the arts and cultural sector added $72.8 billion to the economies of rural states—i.e., states in which 30 percent or more of the population live in rural areas, equaling 18 states.

Six states significantly surpassed the average national growth rate of 5.6 percent for the period 2015-2017: Washington, California, Nevada, Utah, Georgia, and Massachusetts.

United States             $877,809** 5.6%***

Washington                 $44,303 13.7%

California                   $230,298 9.9%

Nevada                          $8,738 9.4%

Utah                              $7,214 8.6%

Georgia                       $24,407 7.6%

Massachusetts           $25,805 7.2%

** Arts and cultural value added for 2017 (in millions)

*** Average annual growth rate of value added: 2015-2017

SOURCE: National Endowment for the Arts

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts would like to begin by acknowledging that we gather on the ancestral homelands, originally known as Tscha-kole-chy (SHA-KOL-CHI) in Lushootseed (LU-SHOOT-SEED), of the Coastal Salish Peoples, on the lands of the lower Skagit, Tulalip (tuh·lay·luhp), Swinomish (SWIN-ə-mish), Snohomish (snō-hō-mish), Stillaguamish (still-uh-GWAH-mish), and Suquamish (soo-kwah-mish), who have lived in the Salish Sea basin since time immemorial and have hunted, fished, gathered, and taken care of these lands.

We respect their sovereignty, their right to self-determination, and we honor their sacred spiritual connection with the land and water.

Please join us in expressing our deepest respect and gratitude to the indigenous people of this territory and for their enduring care and protection of the land in which we currently occupy and share through the Treaty of Point Elliott signed by 82 tribes in Múckl-te-óh (Mukilteo) on January 22, 1855.