Featured News | January 6, 2014
The official economic news is in — the arts and cultural sector contributes a significant amount to the gross domestic product (GDP). According to the new Arts and Cultural (ACP) measure, 3.2 percent — $504 billion — of current-dollar GDP in 2011 was attributed to arts and culture. In comparison, the Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated value of the U.S. travel and tourism industry was 2.8 percent of GDP.
This is the first time that the federal government has measured the arts industries as a separate category.
The leading contributing industries were motion picture and video production, advertising services, cable television production and distribution, publishing, and the performing arts.
Valuable arts commodities, from advertising to arts education — For 2011, the gross output of ACP was $916 billion.
Advertising (creative content only) output held the largest share of ACP with an output of $200 billion, or 20 percent of all arts and cultural commodities.
The second largest share was arts education (including post-secondary fine arts schools, fine arts and performing arts departments, and academic performing arts centers) with an ACP output of $104 billion. Cable television production and distribution with $100 billion in output and “motion picture and video goods and services” with $83 billion in output had the third and fourth largest shares.
ACP employment — In 2011, the production of arts and cultural goods and services employed 2.0 million workers and generated $289.5 billion in employee compensation in the form of wages, salaries, and supplements. The largest share worked in the motion picture and video industry, which employed nearly 310,000 workers at $25 billion in compensation.
Museums and performing arts industries each employed roughly 100,000 workers who earned $6 billion and $8 billion, respectively. The 2007-2009 recession took a heavy toll on arts and cultural employment. In 2009 alone, ACPSA-related employment declined by more than 170,000.
The Wyoming Arts Council believes that experiencing the arts should be accessible for all, including people with mental and/or physical disabilities, older adults, military/veterans, people living in institutions and those who lack access to the arts due to geographic isolation, cultural difference and economic hardship.
