Cultural Connection-The Art of Business (part 2):

Now you may have learned something new about culture in Colorado-but what does it mean in economic terms?  Every other year, the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA -www.cbca.org) works with SCFD on collecting information from over 90% of SCFD grant recipients.  Deloitte and DualDraw then analyze and interpret the data in terms of economic impact.  Here are some key findings from the 2008 study (based on 2007 figures): 

·         Denver's arts and cultural community created $1.69 billion in total economic activity in 2007 up 19% from 2005.

·         $330 million was generated from cultural tourism.

·         Metro Denver cultural and scientific organizations enjoyed attendance of over 16.4 million in 2007, an increase of 17% over 2005.

o    This includes 3.5 million contacts with school children in 2007.

·         Combined payroll, seat and sales taxes paid in 2007 by arts, cultural and scientific nonprofits were $21.3 million, up 31% over 2005.

·         40,000 people contributed their time and talent by volunteering in arts, cultural and scientific nonprofits.

I could go on and on about the importance of culture-but I don't want to bore you.  If you would like to have a list of more resources, please e-mail me at Heather.Owens@colorado.edu. 

Thanks for reading.

-Heather

I have to provide a disclaimer...I love culture-especially art-related.  Since living in Colorado (fall 2007-present) my volunteer work includes being on the Denver Art Museum's junior board (CultureHaus) and Boulder 2140 social & cultural committee.  I'm a member of the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, the Kirkland Museum, and a few art associations of the Denver Art Museum along with being an alumni of Leadership Arts which is organized by CBCA.  When I lived in Chicago, I volunteered and worked for the Art Institute for more than 5 years and was very active on the cultural scene as a member of various young professionals groups.  I have also been very fortunate to travel extensively and have visited at least 100 museums in North America, Europe and Japan.  The art medium I work with is photography.