The recent Super Bowl had a $250 million impact on the Tampa Bay economy. According to a Price-Waterhouse/Cooper survey, the arts have annual sales of $400 million.

In 1999, Professional and college sporting events in Tampa and St. Petersburg were attended by 3.3 million people; over the same period, arts attendance was 5.3 million -- a difference of 2 million.

Had the survey included Sarasota, which is only 60 miles away from Tampa and has no sports teams, many theatres, and a major museum (but, alas, little dance), the difference would have been even greater.

Read more here.

Theatre, museums and dance are often quoted as one of the main reasons that tourists come to London, but I haven't seen any data on the monetary value that it brings.<P>

Well, no offense, Stuart, but it's certainly not gonna be for the food. . . .

How long since you were in London Jeff? You might be surprised now. Some food critics say that the best Italian restaureant in Europe is the River Cafe In Hammersmith. One or two Italians might disagree, though.

By general consent the best Indian food worldwide is to had in London. Certainly, overall things are much better than they were 20 years ago.

What has this to do with Managing Dance I hear you all saying? A restaurant guide for decent (and dreadful) restaurants open after shows would be a real boon for touring companies.

When I was managing a theatre, I had a 12-page information packet which, besides the usual technical information on the venue (except that, unlike most, ours was complete and accurate), had info on banks, restaurants, theatrical supply houses, hardware stores, dancewear stores, restaurants, laundromats. . . .

Stuart,,,I can still taste the Indian dinner I had in Northampton, England in l984...Awesome! Of course, it was so hot, I had to drink three pitchers of water with it, but who's complaining....what does this have to do with dance he asks?! Dancers love a good meal just as much as the next person..maybe more!!!!!!!!!

Oh, yes. One of the most. . .interesting. . .experiences of my life was roaming Chicago one afternoon with 2 dancers in search of chili.

To bring this back on topic. . . .

The chili that we finally found (not very good, by the way) was, I assume, sold to us by someone who was paid to do so. The fact that three people who were in Chicago to mount a ballet were buying a meal is, in microcosm, an example of the arts' economic impact. It may have only been a few dollars, but those widow's mites add up.

Widow's mites! There's a phrase. Salzberg, I know how much you enjoy food. Could you share a recipe with us? There seems to be a lot of references to food abounding on various threads. (Ah, what foods these morsels be!)

My easy, three-step dinner recipe:

1. Take Budget Gourmet dinner out of the freezer.

2. microwave.

3. eat

In cases of severe hunger (or laziness), step 2 may be omitted.

As I understand it (hate to bring this back on subject) most of the economic impact of the arts - for those tourists that come into a city for the arts, is through the TOT. That is the Transient Occupancy Tax. This is the tax charged on the room rent at hotels.

Yes, of course, the people who cook the food in the restaurants and serve it, clean the hotel rooms, etc. have jobs. But for the community as a whole, people who have no connection to the tourist industry, the impact is through this tax.

The monies from this tax go for many things such as (in San Diego at least) the museums, arts organizations, a bit to the library (a very tiny, tiny bit). This tax money is usually used in ways that enhance the city to - you guessed it - bring in more tourists. But the rest of us benefit from it too.

Depending on the source from whom you get your statistics, the arts are supposed to generate between $7 and $19 in "trickle down" economics for every dollar invested by a local government in the arts.

According to a report issued by Americans for the Arts' National Arts Policy Clearinghouse (1999): Cultural tourists spend more money than the average traveler per trip; take longer trips; and shop more.

Nationally, the arts support 1.3 million full-time jobs. (Comparable to Building Construction industry, and more than Legal Services, Police and Firefighting, or Mining.)<P>Fiscal expenditures by non-profit arts orgs. total $36.8 billion per year; $25.2 billion of that in personal income to those involved. The arts generate $3.4 billion in federal income tax revenue for the govt.

Everyone that gets a paycheck from an arts group uses that income for food, clothes, entertainment, housing, etc. So all in all, its a pretty significant chunk.

If you are interested in Americans for the Arts publications, call: 1-800-321-4510, ext. 241

You can also check out their website at:
http://www.artsusa.org

Thanks for telling us about them, wordfox!

That's "average" in the third paragraph above. <P>Naturally, I was doing a mailing while posting the above, and with dozens of sheets of labels in front of me, "avery" came out.<P>Sorry

I can personally vouch for the "shop more" in your third paragraph, Wordfox.

Here's another perspective on the theme of this topic. European Capital of Culture is a much sought after annual title with a lot of EC grant funding attached for the winner. Not that it is spread about and the major cities like London and Paris don't feature.

'The race to be a Capital of Culture is a non-starter.' Deyan Sudjic in The Observer acknowledges the benefits of this Europe wide annual event, but feels it needs a new lease of life.



http://www.observer.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,473230,00.html