Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

Arts, Culture & Economic Prosperity in Greater Philadelphia (2012)

Philadelphia’s arts and cultural sector has a profound $3.3 billion impact on the region’s economy and is outperforming the nation as a whole.  The Arts, Culture and Economic Prosperity in Greater Philadelphia report details how spending by cultural organizations and their audiences ripples through the economy, generating revenues for businesses, families and local governments. Click here to download the full report.

Highlights of the report:

Southeastern Pennsylvania’s cultural organizations and their audiences have a combined impact of $3.3 billion on the region’s economy.

Arts and culture supports 44,000 full-time equivalent jobs throughout the region.

Arts and culture returns $1.04 billion in household income to Southeastern Pennsylvania residents.

Cultural tourism is a valuable asset for the region, injecting nearly $230 million in direct spending into the economy.

The report also breaks down economic impact by cultural discipline.

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Media coverage:

In preparing this report, the Cultural Alliance gathered data on spending, employment, attendance, and other relevant areas for 345 local arts and cultural organizations through the Pennsylvania Cultural Data Project. Additionally, the Alliance collected 2,039 audience spending surveys from patrons at 78 arts and cultural events held by 53 organizations throughout 2011. This effort was part of the Cultural Alliance’s participation in American’s for the Arts’ national Arts and Economic Prosperity IV study, which measured the impact of arts and culture in 182 different communities throughout the country.

This edition of Arts, Culture and Economic Prosperity in Greater Philadelphia was made possible by funding from the William Penn Foundation and the Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation. It was also supported in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Design, printing and distribution of Arts, Culture and Economic Prosperity in Greater Philadelphia were generously underwritten by Bank of America.