Executive Summary

Arts and culture are powerful tools in the economic and cultural development of public spaces. Numerous economic impact studies have shown that the arts can have a strong positive influence on the development and revitalization of downtown areas, as well as contributing to the tax revenue base, the public image of an area, and the business and cultural diversity in a community. Consequently, an economic impact evaluation is an important tool to highlighting the continued success and positive effect of the arts in any given area. This represents information from October 1, 2000 through September 30, 2001. In order to investigate the economic impact of the arts in Jacksonville, the Northeast Florida Center for Community Initiatives, at the request of the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, conducted such an economic impact study of a number of arts organizations located within the Greater Jacksonville area. These organizations provided data about their operations, such as how many employees they have, how much income they generate and how this income is used. The results indicate: • In all, these organizations reported more than 1.3 million admissions, a number that is almost 2 times the number of people living in the city of Jacksonville and its Beaches (2000 census); • During the last fiscal year, these arts organizations in Jacksonville had incomes of over $34.5 million; • Over $35.8 million of expenses were reported by these arts organizations, most of which was spent in the local economy; • Using a final spending multiplier of 2.0, and subtracting out funds not spent locally, this translates to an economic impact of over $70.4 million; • These arts organizations directly supported 355 full-time and 388 part-time jobs in Jacksonville; • 7,658 volunteers donated more than 195,000 hours to these arts organizations, an economic equivalent of over $3 million. 2 I