Blog Post: The Value of Arts & Culture

Of the various sectors of our economy, the creative sector’s impact is the most difficult to pin down. As a result, the perception of the arts & culture industry palpably suffers. This reality became quite apparent for us through the beginnings of ReImagine Appalachia’s new arts & culture initiative.

ReImagine’s Landscape Analysis

To commence this project, we began with a landscape analysis to learn what is happening on the ground for artists and organizations in the creative sector. This landscape analysis so far has consisted of one on one outreach meetings to directors of these organizations, followed by a survey to assess their experiences. Through these means, we’ve learned a multitude about working in arts & culture in Appalachia today. More specifically, we’ve learned the most about what challenges lie in the path of such organizations. Through qualitative analysis of interview responses, we boiled down the unique responses of twenty-eight organizations to five main categories: funding, capacity, valuation of art, physical space, and accessibility. Going into the project, we had expected funding and capacity being the biggest problems, especially since they go hand in hand. What we didn’t expect, was the staggering amount of organizations mentioning that they identified a societal lack of value on arts and culture. Despite this, data has been released from The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) that asserts the power of this sector.

Arts & Culture By the Numbers

The NEA and BEA’s annual report “underscores that arts and culture are an essential part of the American economy,” according to NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD (National Endowment for the Arts 2023). For example, the total economic value added by arts and cultural industries grew by 13.7 between 2020 and 2021, a growth that exceeds the rate of the overall U.S. economy, which reported at 5.9% in the same period (National Endowment for the Arts 2023). Further, just under 4.9 million workers were employed to produce arts and cultural goods and services, for $504.2 billion in total compensation (National Endowment for the Arts 2023). Lastly, “the number of workers employed by performing arts-related industries . . . grew by 14.4% in 2020-2021,” which highlights that this statistic of 4.9 million workers gaining employment is not just a survey, but a sign of growth for the overall industry. These figures clearly demonstrate that even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the creative sector was still an absolute powerhouse for our economy. It’s safe to say that arts and culture has an important fiscal impact that works hand in hand with its monumental effect on our social world. And furthermore, these profound effects on our social world are even more important for our region to stay connected throughout their communities in the face of climate crisis and energy transitions.