The Arts and Economic Development

The Twin Cities rank highly in a new University of Minnesota study analyzing the economic impact of artists. The study looks at the concentration of artists in the 29 largest metro areas in the United States. Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco topped the list, while the Minneapolis-St. Paul area was ranked eighth.

Professor Ann Markusen of the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs says artists are not getting enough recognition for their contribution to the economy.

"It used to be that people thought that artists were local-serving, and were supported by whoever is in the region patronizing their work -- and that's just less and less true all the time," says Markusen.

Increasingly, Markusen says, artists are selling their work outside the region. Playwrights get their money from theaters across the country, artists show at galleries in other states, and dance companies take their work on tour. As a result, the artists are drawing in money from elsewhere, and spending it locally.

Markusen says typical economic studies gauge the impact of the arts based on ticket sales, parking revenues and whether or not arts patrons went out for dinner as a part of their evening. Instead, Markusen's study looks at the number of artists employed in a community.

Markusen says she is troubled by one thing in her report. The top three arts cities -- Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco -- are surging ahead of the rest of the country. She says these high profile hubs of the media industry are drawing younger artists away from smaller communities.

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