For artists, picture's pretty in jobs count

The financial industry gets a lot of respect as a source of North Carolina jobs. So try this on for size: The arts, humanities and design fields employ asmany people as banks do.

That's one of the discoveries in a study released Tuesday by the state departments of cultural resources and commerce. Using census information, state employment data and other information, researchers have counted jobs and dollars to prove the arts' importance to the economy.

"We all know that arts and culture feed the soul. But they also feed families across the state," said Linda Carlisle, state secretary of cultural resources.

The financial industry directly supplies 153,075 jobs, state figures show. The number of creative-industry jobs identified by the study: 164,325.

The salaries of creative jobs don't rival those in banking. But as a measure of the creative industry's value to the economy, the study says the industry generates $41billion worth of goods and services - nearly 6 percent of the state's total production.

Carlisle and Secretary of Commerce Keith Crisco released the report Tuesday at the McColl Center for Visual Art in Charlotte.

The McColl Center's executive director said the proof of the creative industry's scope - and especially the similarity to the number of financial jobs - was "staggering."

"Sometimes we [in arts organizations] struggle to be taken seriously as a vital economic infusion" to the state, Suzanne Fetscher said. The study "demonstrates the strength we have."

The study defines the creative industry broadly. It includes nonprofits such as museums, performing groups and historical sites; artists who work independently; and for-profit businesses that depend on creative work, such as film production companies, movie theaters, architectural firms, graphic-design companies and publishers.

The study expands on a 2007 report. That one counted jobs, within narrower boundaries. It took in less information on compensation, and it didn't look at the value of goods produced.

Industry contribution

This time, "We wanted to show the contribution of the industry rather than just, 'The industry is there,'" said Ardath Weaver, the cultural resources department's research director.

The study is based in part on employment information from July 2008. Since then, the recession has taken a toll on all segments of the economy. So some of the jobs counted in the report, Carlisle said, must have been eliminated.

Nevertheless, she said, "nothing changes" about the core message on the creative industry's contributions. "We need to acknowledge that and build on it," Carlisle said.

Toward that end, she said, the report will help make the case to the General Assembly for maintaining support of the arts despite tough economic times. Beyond that, Carlisle and her staff will take the findings to business leaders, educators and philanthropic groups across the state to explore "What can we do to help grow this creative economy?"

The possibilities, she said, include using "attractive tax rates" to aid in creating cultural districts, helping cultural groups turn old buildings into new homes, and encouraging the sale of handcrafted goods through sales tax breaks.

Cultural groups and their backers have long felt they add to the economic life of their hometowns and the state, said Bruce LaRowe, executive director of the Children's Theatre of Charlotte. He thinks the report will be a powerful tool in persuading others.

"Besides art for art's sake," LaRowe said, "it's art for jobs - art for business development."

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