Arts & Cultural Activities Bring $44 Million To Local Economy?

A recent letter the editor by Lee Williams the director of the Lotus Foundation in the October 8th 2005 edition of the Herald Times included several thought provoking statements. He made the statement that the arts and culture scene add a huge amount to the quality of life to the residents of Bloomington; I think most people would have to agree with that. Another statement included thanks to Mayor Kruzan for his efforts championing for the arts in our community as an “economic growth engine.” He went on to indicate the arts contributes over $44 million dollars to the local economy. This is where I must admit I have a little trouble with the figures. I don’t fault him for repeating what he has heard but the information has been derived from some pretty interesting studies on the financial impact by tourism and travel on Monroe County.

The suggestion that the arts and cultural activities in Monroe County bring in such huge financial dividends is derived in part from the annual report offered by the Monroe County Convention and Visitors Bureau. This same report indicated that in 2004 the Monroe County economy benefited to the tune of $258 million from tourism and travel. According to the Herald Times a recently “completed economic impact study of tourism and travel in Monroe County during 2004 shows that most of the $178.8 million dollars spent by tourists - 34 percent - was for food and beverages. Shopping accounted for 27 percent, lodging for 14 percent, transportation for 13 percent, attractions for 7 percent and souvenirs, 5 percent.” In a February 15th 2003 Herald Times article it was reported that restaurants in Monroe County grossed over a $194 million in sales for the previous year. The most recent report indicated 34% or $61 million of the $178.8 million was for food and beverages. Have food and beverage sales dropped by two thirds since the 2003 report or are the numbers cooked?

Essentially this leaves us with the understanding the $44 million arts related figure represents one-sixth of the County’s total tourism and travel economic impact amount. I guess if you believe the other numbers this one fits right in. It’s obviously easy to question the results of these extrapolated figures however I think very few would question the benefits that arts and culture brings to Bloomington. The reality is that everyone has a different cultural meter scale. Some for instance may rate the cultural importance of the Lotus festival as a one or two on their scale of ten when others may choose to rate it a nine or ten. Some might rank the entertainment importance of Bloomington Raceway’s Friday night races as very high when others see absolutely no socially redeeming value in the events. Bloomington Raceway doesn’t benefit from subsidies from our local government and yet they too bring hundreds of people to the area over the course of several summer weekends. I must admit this is a strange comparison and yet a very valid comparison of how we choose to spend our tax money locally. People can make the impact numbers read any way they want them to read when they reflect positively on the type of programs and entertainment venues that they support. There are many “economic growth engines” within Monroe County and we should remember they are all equally important and make Monroe County a very unique place to live. Fortunately for the taxpayers of Monroe County we don’t have to fuel all the economic growth engines with tax dollars.