Let us count the ways art pays

Tuesday, June 5, 2007 | 6:54 a.m.

Americans for the Arts released its nationwide report on the economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture. The survey was conducted in 156 communities, including the Las Vegas Valley. It collected information from 6,080 arts organizations. More than 94,000 audiences were surveyed. Here's how it looks in Las Vegas:

Source: Arts and Economic Prosperity III survey , Americans for the Arts

Bob Lynch could talk about the positive influence that the arts have on personal growth, education and community until he's blue in the face. But when reality hits, he talks numbers. It's his formidable tool.

"People love numbers. Politicians love numbers. Bankers love numbers," says Lynch, president and chief executive of the national organization Americans for the Arts. "People know the power of economic impact and jobs data and how that can be translated into dollars."

Americans for the Arts released its third Economic Impact Report on Friday at its annual conference at the Flamingo. The report, a result of a nationwide survey of 156 communities, states that the nonprofit arts industry generates more than $166.2 billion annually and produces 5.7 million jobs. In Las Vegas $204 million is generated by the nonprofit arts industry, according to the report.

The numbers help prove that art is not a luxury, he says. The report is taken to Congress, mayors and presidential candidates.

The report was used this weekend by Nevada Arts Advocates to argue for increased spending for the Nevada Arts Commission.

"It's not about love of arts. It's why - from a politics and policy standpoint - they should support the arts," Lynch says. "A lot of people in the arts don't want to think of the arts from a financial perspective. This isn't what the arts are about.

"There's what we would like the world to be like versus what the world is like. There is a misconception that the arts are free, that artists are all volunteering their time. But it's not all charity. Musicians are actually small businesses."

Fifty percent of funding for nonprofit groups is earned income, Lynch says. Ten percent is federal, state and local government support, another 10 percent from corporations and the other 30 percent from individual donors.

Americans for the Arts began the surveys in 1992. This is the third and most comprehensive, canvassing more than 94,000 attendees at various events. Randy Cohen, vice president of policy and research at Americans for the Arts, says the report is conservative because it measures only nonprofit groups.

Richard Hooker, senior cultural specialist for Las Vegas' cultural affairs office, says that's especially true in Las Vegas , where art thrives commercially on the Strip. "There are musicians, performers, costume artists, scenic artists."

The cultural affairs office assisted in the survey. Hooker says it's the first comprehensive nonprofit-arts survey of its kind in Las Vegas.

In addition to quantifying economic effect, Americans for the Arts researches and provides information on arts' effect on youth, crime, SAT scores and downtown redevelopment. But its economic study has the most effect among decision makers, Lynch says.

Cohen says the arts stimulate other businesses by supporting jobs, generating income and serving as a cornerstone of tourism.

Tom Cochran, executive director of the Conference of Mayors, sees the arts as a tool for promoting tourism and plans to use the report at its next meeting.

But convincing Americans that art is beneficial is tough, given that art is not traditionally a part of family and community lives, Lynch says. "Many countries couldn't imagine an economic impact study because it's already a part of their lives."

Conference attendee Barbara Derix of Berkeley, Calif., agrees. Born near Frankfurt, Germany, she was shocked to find that public art in America is 30 to 40 years behind Europe.

"In terms of history it's not surprising. It's a young country," Derix says. "People who founded this country were dead poor and they were trying to survive by just growing their food. Art didn't play a role.

"But, with all this pioneering thinking, why in all these 400 years did it not develop that people have a need for art ? Why is art something special? Why is art not a part of people's lives?"