The Wisconsin Arts Board is excited to partner with Americans for the Arts to announce the launch of Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6), the sixth national study of the economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture industry.
While the arts have the potential to impact many aspects of our community, the truth is they also have a power all on their own. The arts are an open invitation to engage in our history, our heritage, our politics, the way we learn—in short, the arts are part of our daily lives, and play a role in all aspects of the human experience.
Economic impact studies such as these will expand the conversation about the many ways people view the arts. While most appreciate the cultural benefit provided to Wisconsin's communities, few realize that our state's arts industry supports jobs, generates government revenue, and is a cornerstone of tourism.
Five years ago, AEP5 showed that our country's nonprofit arts industry generated $166.3 billion in economic activity, supporting 4.6 million jobs and generating $27.5 billion in government revenue. In Wisconsin, it showed that our nonprofit arts industry generated $657 million in economic activity, supporting 26,695 full-time equivalent jobs and generating nearly $75 million in local and state tax revenues. Our nonprofit arts and culture organizations have been and will continue to be critical to our economic recovery.
Now we need your help to collect this data for AEP6. In addition to contributing to the national study and its report, our data will help AFTA create a study and report just for Wisconsin. It will be based entirely on spending by Wisconsin's nonprofit arts and culture organizations as well as the event-related spending by their audiences (at local retail, parking, and restaurant establishments). We believe this important research tool will demonstrate that when we invest our dollars in the arts, we are not doing so at the expense of economic development. Rather, we are investing in an industry that strengthens local economies throughout Wisconsin.