The Value of Arts & Culture

We all know that arts and culture organizations contribute much to the quality of life in our region. What some may find surprising is these organizations also contribute to the economic vitality of the communities they are located in.

According to a new study by Concord-based Carlisle & Company, commissioned by the MetroWest Visitors Bureau and funded, in part, by the Sudbury Foundation, the overall economic impact of just 21 participating MetroWest cultural organizations totaled nearly $375 million and almost 4,000 full-time-equivalent jobs projected over five years.

The dollar figure represents what these organizations have put back into the economy: what they’re paying their employees, what they’ve earned through ticket sales and what they’ve generated through the “ripple effect,” money spent at area hotels and restaurants by people coming to the region to visit the cultural organization.

“These findings are very good news, indeed, and a reminder of the importance of our region’s arts and cultural institutions, said Susan Nicholl, Executive Director of the MetroWest Visitors Bureau.  “Although these numbers only reflect a portion of the region’s cultural assets, the trend is clear: all arts/cultural organizations large and small are critical to our region’s total economic impact in a very measurable way.”

Nicholl noted that the impact would have been much greater if all the area’s organizations, large and small, were included. More weren’t because they either didn’t participate in the study or wouldn’t have fit the two models used by Carlisle & Company for the study.

Participants included Amazing Things Arts Center, The Center for Arts in Natick, Commonwealth Ballet, Concord Museum, Danforth Museum of Art, The Discovery Museums, Five Crows, Fountain Street Fine Art, Framingham History Center, Franklin Performing Arts Company, Franklin School for the Performing Arts, Hopkinton Center for the Arts, Mass Audubon, Museum of Russian Icons, Natick Center Associates, Natick Historical Society, New England Wildflower Society, Palettes, Spellman Museum of Stamps & Postal History, Tower Hill Botanic Garden and The Wayside Inn.

Read more here.