According to a report recently released by Arts Fort Worth, nonprofit arts and culture have more than a half of billion dollar impact in Fort Worth. Arts Fort Worth advocates for the arts by partnering with community members, stakeholders and other advocacy organizations to ensure that Fort Worth is a thriving place for the arts.
The report was conducted by Arts Fort Worth in partnership with Americans for the Arts to show the impact that nonprofit arts and culture industries have on the national and local economy.
Nationally, the sector generated $151.7 billion of economic activity in 2022—$73.3 billion in spending by arts and culture organizations and an additional $78.4 billion in event-related expenditures by their audiences. What was the impact of this economic activity? It supported 2.6 million jobs, provided $101 billion in personal income to residents, and generated $29.1 billion in tax revenue to local, state, and federal governments.
Locally, Fort Worth nonprofit arts and cultural organizations provide over $300M in employment wages to more than 7,000 individuals. With nearly 6M attendees to in-person events totaling more than $258M in spending. On average attendees spend $43.98 per person per event beyond the cost of admission to the event.
“When we think about nonprofit arts organizations—ballet companies, galleries, children’s musical theater, glass-blowing studios, poetry collectives, film societies, just to name a few examples—the first thoughts that come to mind are usually feelings of joy, togetherness, curiosity, accomplishment, awe.
In fact, Arts Fort Worth recently found through the Arts and Economic Prosperity 6 study that 92% of the Fort Worth residents surveyed felt pride in their neighborhood or community because of a specific nonprofit arts and culture event or venue. That same study showed us something else we don’t normally consider: these nonprofit businesses are also a major driver of our local economy, creating jobs, generating tax revenue and keeping hard-earned dollars in the hands of Fort Worth residents longer than many other industries, said Wesley Gentle, Executive Director of Arts Fort Worth.