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The Business Journal of Phoenix
May 9, 2003
My View
Phoenix support for the arts is a good investment
Greg Stanton
There is a growing awareness in Phoenix of the importance of the arts in terms of economic impact, downtown and neighborhood revitalization, tourism, business attraction and retention, and enhancing our community's overall quality of life.
As chair of the Phoenix Council Education, Culture and Genomics Subcommittee, which oversees the city's relationship with our arts and cultural organizations, I am a strong advocate for the value of investing in the arts.
Few Phoenix residents are fully aware of the scope of the city of Phoenix 's commitment to supporting arts and culture.
Even during these challenging economic times, the City Council approved a 2002-03 budget that includes almost $50 million for support of arts programs and cultural facilities.
Matching grants provided by the city of Phoenix support the growth and stability of our city's cultural institutions and help ensure that the arts will be available to under-served constituencies, to school students and a broad range of community residents.
The city's nationally recognized public art program provides opportunities for visual artists to work with architects, engineers and landscape architects to create artwork to enhance public spaces and buildings.
The city also operates or supports several city-owned cultural facilities that provide space for performances, exhibits and related activities. Funding for these arts programs and cultural facility operating costs is an annual recurring budget commitment.
The $66 million Cultural Bond Program approved by voters in 2001 is supporting the expansion, renovation or acquisition of quality city-owned facilities for the Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona Science Center, Phoenix Museum of History, Phoenix Theatre, Phoenix Family Museum , Valley Youth Theatre and Museo Chicano.
Funding also is provided for renovations to the Carver Museum and Cultural Center and for two new multiuse performing arts spaces. These facilities will help maintain our city's position as a regional cultural destination.
A Valleywide arts economic impact study conducted by the city of Phoenix found that nonprofit arts organizations and their audiences have a total annual economic impact of nearly $344 million, support more than 11,000 jobs and generate $245 million in household income. Local spending on the arts generates more than $34 million in annual tax revenue for local and state government.
In short, support for the arts is good for business.
Tourism is the largest industry in our state and the study demonstrated the essential role the arts play in generating tourist dollars.
In fiscal 2000, more than 1.2 million non-local residents (15 percent of total audiences) attended Valley arts events and contributed more than $64 million to the local economy.
Tourists spend nearly three times as much as local attendees, $40 on average above the cost of admission.
We should continue to work to increase the growth of cultural tourism in the Valley for the benefits it can bring to our economy.
In addition to recognizing the economic impact of the arts, the arts play an important role in attracting "knowledge workers" to our community.
Our community made a smart investment in our future with the attraction of the International Genomics Consortium and the development of the Translational Genomics Research Institute.
A flourishing arts community is critical to our efforts to attract and retain the world class scientists and other high-wage professional "knowledge workers" who will be employed by IGC/TGen and the related high-tech businesses.
The arts are a major industry that contributes a great amount of local economic activity, jobs and tax revenues. We must continue to be vigilant in our support of the arts, and to the inclusion of arts and culture in the city's ongoing planning and economic development initiatives.
Vice-Mayor Greg Stanton represents District 6 and chairs the Phoenix City Council's Education, Culture and Genomics Subcommittee.
As always, if you have comments or questions about this or any other issue, please feel free to call me anytime at 602-262-7491, send e-mail to greg.stanton@phoenix.gov or visit my Web site at phoenix.gov/DISTRICT6.
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