Arts and Economic Prosperity - 6

We need your help!

Our experiences with arts and culture enrich our lives in infinite ways, and also impact society at large by contributing to the economy. The Arts & Economic Prosperity Report, conducted by the Americans for the Arts, surveys more than 300 communities across our nation every five years.

As we welcome the new arts season this fall, audience members at local cultural institutions and events may be asked to provide insights about their experiences. If you're prompted to complete a survey, we greatly appreciate your participation. These surveys allow us – as your local arts agency – to gain valuable insight and report on the financial return of our sector more accurately, which impacts the future of funding and development of arts and culture for our region.

The Arts & Economic Prosperity Report (AEP6) is the sixth economic impact study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry in the U.S. and will be conducted throughout Broward County through April 2023. The study is conducted by Americans for the Arts, the nation's leading industry group committed to advancing the arts and arts education. It is the largest and most inclusive study of its kind ever conducted, with a specific focus on 387 participating communities from across all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. The study is conducted approximately every five years to gauge the economic impact (on employment, government revenue, and household income) of spending by nonprofit arts and culture organizations and the event-related spending by their audiences.

CHANGE THE CONVERSATION ABOUT THE ARTS

The arts bring us inspiration and joy, and make our communities beautiful places to live and work.

But the arts do so much more.

From coast to coast and from our smallest rural towns to our largest urban cities, America's 100,000+ nonprofit arts and culture organizations make their communities more desirable places to live and work every day of the year. Nonprofit arts and culture organizations are also businesses and will be critical to our economic recovery. In 2017, the nonprofit arts industry generated $166.3 billion in economic activity, supporting 4.6 million jobs and generating $27.5 billion in government revenue.

While the arts have the potential to impact many aspects of a community, the truth is they also have power all on their own. The arts are an open invitation to engage in our history, our heritage, our politics, and the way we learn—in short, the arts are part of our daily lives, and play a role in all aspects of the human experience.

Economic impact studies like AEP6 will expand the conversation about how many people view the arts. While most appreciate the cultural benefit provided to our community, few realize that our local arts industry supports jobs, generates government revenue, and is a cornerstone of tourism.

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Let's change the conversation. The arts mean business.

MAKING CONNECTIONS WITH BIPOC & ALAANA ARTS & CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS

For the first time, AEP6 will require the collection of audience surveys from attendees at events hosted by arts and culture organizations that primarily represent BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Native American) identifying communities.

The AEP6 study will establish a benchmark of arts and culture organizations that primarily serve communities of color and the audiences that attend their events. It will also identify organizations that have a chief executive who identifies as BIPOC/ALAANA.

Researchers will use this data to calculate and report on the economic impact of the BIPOC/ALAANA arts sector in each of the participating communities.

The Audience Survey

Audience surveys will be collected from attendees at performances, events, exhibits, venues, and facilities during the 12 months from May 2022 through April 2023.

FORMATS AVAILABLE FOR THE AUDIENCE SURVEY:

PDF: to be printed and used as a traditional paper survey. All printed surveys should be physically mailed to Broward Cultural Division.

QR Code: This format allows attendees to participate electronically using their own smart devices while on-site attending an in-person activity

URL: A “Kiosk" version of the survey to be used on a tablet computer such as an iPad that is passed around to attendees while they are on-site attending the programming.

The Organizational Survey

Organizational surveys will be distributed to local nonprofit cultural organizations in Broward County from January through April 2023. The survey will collect information about each organization's revenues, expenditures, physical (in-person) attendance, virtual attendance, staff size, and volunteers.

The survey will also include a set of diversity and inclusion questions designed to identify organizations that primarily serve a community of color and organizations that have a chief executive who identifies as a person of color.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

To reach audiences, Broward County Cultural Division needs your help! We are looking to partner with arts and culture groups throughout our service area to both help raise awareness about AEP6 and to take part in survey collection. Commercial businesses and individual artists are NOT eligible to be partners in survey collection.

The following types of organizations ARE eligible:

Traditional nonprofit arts and culture organizations (e.g., museums, theaters, etc.)
Municipally owned and municipally operated presenting facilities or institutions (e.g., a city-operated facility)
Unincorporated community arts and culture organizations (e.g., a community theater)
Arts programs embedded in non-arts organizations (e.g., an arts program in a church, library, or senior center)
Living collections such as botanical gardens, zoos, and aquariums
Historical societies and other historical or historic preservation organizations
Private arts councils (and cultural alliances, etc.)
Municipal arts agencies (e.g., an arts commission or a department of cultural affairs

If your organization matches any of these descriptions and you would like to partner with us on collecting data, please contact Janet Ellison at jmellison@broward.org.

For more information and a full list of the communities participating in the AEP6 study, visit www.americansforthearts.org/AEP6.

Broward Cultural Division on social media

Twitter: twitter.com/browardarts

Facebook: facebook.com/browardarts

Instagram: @browardarts

Americans for the Arts on social media

Twitter: twitter.com/americans4arts

Facebook: facebook.com/americans4arts/

Instagram: @americans4arts, instagram.com/americans4arts