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A Growing Arts Economy Highlights Creative Economy Week

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While the arts are fun and creative, a state arts leader says the arts are also a growing component of an areas economy.

The League of Wisconsin Municipalities and Arts Wisconsin are partnering to make this Creative Economy Week. Director Anne Katz of Arts Wisconsin says this is the third year the two organizations have teamed up to shine a spotlight on the creative economy. Katz says Wisconsin's economy centers on manufacturing and agriculture and that isn't likely to change, but the future economy will have a creative component...

 "....People and organizations need to keep coming up with good ideas and keep staying ahead of those good ideas. So the arts, as a generator of those ideas and the creative economy as the kind of work where people are using those ideas is really an important facet of the economy now, not just in Wisconsin but around the world...."

She outlines the impact the arts community already has.... 

"....the non-profit arts industry in Wisconsin has a $651 million impact on our economy. The arts industry overall has a $9.1 billion impact on the impact according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Things like that hopefully make us sit up and say, 'hey, the arts are important because the arts make us human, that's the fundamental reason the arts are important,' and it's also good for the economy...."

Wisconsin's creative sector currently encompasses almost 10,000 businesses and employs nearly 43,000 people in full-time jobs. More information is available at artswisconsin.org

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