Hawaii Arts Alliance, DBEDT to participate in national study

HONOLULU, HI - Hawai‘i Arts Alliance (HAA) has announced its participation in a national research study, Arts & Economic Prosperity IV.  Partnering with State of Hawai‘i’s Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT), the Alliance will facilitate the study, which is being conducted by Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts. 

The study will evaluate the impact of spending by nonprofit arts organizations and their audiences on their local economies. In addition, Hawai‘i Arts Alliance will collaborate with the community’s other arts organizations to collect surveys from at least 800 arts and culture attendees in the State of Hawai‘i through 2011.

Arts & Economic Prosperity IV will allow HAA and DBEDT to evaluate the impact of the recession on employment and government revenues generated by the nonprofit arts industry. The findings are expected to demonstrate that the arts remain a formidable industry in spite of our country’s recent economic challenges.

Customized findings for the State of Hawai‘i will include:

•    Total dollars spent by Hawai‘i’s nonprofit arts and culture organizations.
•    Total dollars spent by audiences as a direct result of their attendance at arts and culture events in Hawaii.
•    Number of full-time equivalent jobs supported by arts spending.
•    Amount of resident, household income—including salaries and wages—generated by arts spending.
•    Amount of local and state government tax revenues generated by arts spending.

A 2005 study conducted by Americans for the Arts’ indicates that the nonprofit arts industry generated 5.7 million jobs and $166.2 billion in total economic activity during 2005, resulting in $29.6 billion in federal, state and local government revenues. Complete details about the 2005 study are available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org/EconomicImpact.

Founded in 1980, Hawai‘i Arts Alliance is a private non-profit that serves as the intermediary statewide organization for all the arts, with 100 organizational and over 400 individual members across the Islands.  The Alliance is part of the national Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network, a major program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.