For the first time, the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis are releasing arts industry data for individual states. The numbers show government-funded arts programs accounted for more than four percent of the U.S. economy.
The new report looks at 35 industries that make up the arts and cultural sector of the U.S. economy.
The latest numbers are from 2014, when Ohio was one of the top ten arts and culture employers in the nation. It was also one of the top employers in industrial design, which includes automobile and furniture design services. Within Ohio, public museums and government-funded school music programs are among the biggest arts-sector employers.
Ohio ranked tenth in terms of compensation.
NEA research director Sunil Iyengar says having numbers for each state can help inform future decisions about arts funding.
“Getting it down to the state level will allow local policymakers, local funders, local decision-makers to ascribe more value to the arts in their communities, but also to understand which trends to monitor over time to enable a healthy and vital arts ecosystem," he says.
Iyengar says arts and culture jobs contributed more to the U.S. economy than either transportation or agriculture. He also notes the data did not include freelance or self-employed artists.
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