Anne Katz: Developing Wisconsin’s competitive edge through the arts

By Anne Katz

Wisconsin’s large and small arts and cultural opportunities not only help express ourselves, they are critical to our success as a competitor in the global economy. Arts and culture have a significant impact on Wisconsin’s economic development efforts, a boom involving small towns and rural areas as well as urban areas and featuring home-grown artists and arts groups of all sizes and disciplines.

Hundreds of programs, projects and activities featuring local artists, arts organizations and arts-related businesses are becoming the foundation of economic and community revitalization efforts throughout Wisconsin. Examples abound:

  • In addition to high-profile projects such as Madison’s Overture Center for the Arts and Appleton’s Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, nearly 100 Wisconsin communities, including Solon Springs, Hartford, and Chippewa Falls, have recently developed, or are currently developing, arts and cultural centers representing $500+ million in private investment. Over half of these centers are attached to schools in rural areas, making them comprehensive cultural centers used by the entire community.
  • A growing number of studio and gallery art tours in rural areas, such as the Fall Art Tour in southwestern Wisconsin and the Dunn County Artists Tour in northwestern Wisconsin, attract thousands of visitors to small communities to observe artists at work, and to make their mark on the local economy during their stay;
  • arts incubators are featured in downtown revitalization efforts in places such as Beloit and Mazomanie;
  • arts programs are enhancing education for students of all ages, training tomorrow’s workforce.

In the book "The Rise of the Creative Class," Dr. Richard Florida writes that the presence of arts and cultural opportunities make a community more attractive to an educated and creative workforce. A national survey conducted by an organization of top corporate officials that tracks economic trends found the availability of cultural activities ranked third among the concerns of large businesses. John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends and Megatrends 2000, says, “a vibrant arts community is critical when corporations decide where to locate and when people decide where to work.”

The arts, as an industry growing in importance to Wisconsin, deliver tremendously cost-effective results from relatively small investments:

  • Americans for the Arts recently released a study of the nation’s “creative industries”: for-profit and non-profit arts-related businesses, institutions, and organizations including museum/collections; performing arts; visual/photography; film, radio, TV; design/publishing; and schools/services. Wisconsin boasts over 8,000 “creative industry” businesses, supporting over 43,000 full-time jobs. In addition, a 2002 study conducted by AFTA and the Wisconsin Arts Board found that Wisconsin’s nonprofit arts industry generates $289.8 million in economic activity every year, including $38 million in local and state tax revenues, supporting nearly 9,500 full-time equivalent jobs.
  • In places such as Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward, Madison’s Schenks-Atwood neighborhood, and Green Bay’s Broadway District, the arts have revitalized neighborhoods and encouraged new investment by drawing restaurants and retailers; attracting and retaining residents, and creating jobs and tourist destinations.
  • The arts are a major factor in tourism, Wisconsin’s second largest industry. A 2001 National Travel Survey found that 65% of adult travelers included a cultural, arts, heritage or historic activity while on a trip of 50 miles or more, one-way. Research has found that tourists interested in the arts, culture, and history stay longer and spend more money on their trips. Mineral Point and Door County are just two of the many Wisconsin destinations known for arts and culture.
  • In-depth research shows that students who participate in the arts perform better in reading and math, think and organize ideas more clearly, behave better, and are more likely to stay in school. Engagement in the arts gives young people positive outlets for their energy and imagination, and helps to prepare them for their roles as productive, creative citizens and active participants in the workforce.
  • The arts are important facets in civic development, helping families share positive experiences, discover new talents and ideas, and grow together; enabling cultural groups to explore their heritage and share that heritage with others; and encouraging the expression, refinement and exchange of ideas.

Wisconsin’s efforts to develop and sustain our competitive edge by using the arts, culture, creativity and innovation as essential tools for economic development, downtown revitalization, educational advancement, and civic improvement have been impressive thus far, but there is much work to be done.

To shine a spotlight on the ways in which the arts can help “brand” Wisconsin as a great place to work, live and play, the Wisconsin Assembly for Local Arts, the state’s arts service and advocacy organization, and the Wisconsin Arts Board, the state agency dedicated to the arts, will present the first-ever Wisconsin Arts Congress, at the Overture Center for the Arts in downtown Madison, on Tuesday, October 12, 2004. Featuring national speakers, workshops and models from communities across the country, the Congress will bring together arts, business, education, government and civic leaders to envision and act on Wisconsin’s economic, educational and civic future. Go to www.wisconsinarts.org for more information.

–Katz is executive director of the Wisconsin Assembly for Local Arts.