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Creative Minnesota Study of Kanabec County

Authored on
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Reveals Large Impact of the Arts on Local Economy

Contacts:
Sheila Smith, 651.251.0868
Executive Director, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts

Heidi Steinmetz, 320.209.5031
Economic Development Director,
Kanabec County Economic Development Authority


SAINT PAUL, MN: Creative Minnesota, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts and the Kanabec CountyEconomic Development Authority released a new study today indicating that the arts have a large impact on Kanabec County.
 
“Nonprofit arts and culture organizations contribute to the vibrancy of Minnesota’s economy and quality of life and make our state a magnet for jobs and businesses. Now we can quantify that inKanabec County.” said Sheila Smith, Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts. “In addition to providing life changing experiences, educational opportunities and accessibility to audiences of all ages in their stages and museums, arts and culture organizations are important employers and economic engines.”
 
"The Kanabec County Economic Development Authority (EDA) asked Creative Minnesota to complete a study to summarize the economic impact of arts & culture in Kanabec County, Minnesota. The Kanabec County EDA sees the tremendous value that our arts community provides to our local economy," said Heidi Steinmetz, Economic Development Director of the KanabecCounty Economic Development Authority. 
 
As the most comprehensive report ever done of the state’s creative sector, Creative Minnesota 2017 fills in the gaps of available information about Minnesota’s cultural field and seeks to improve our understanding of its importance to our quality of life and economy. Creative Minnesota 2017 quantifies the impact and needs of Minnesota’s artists and creative workers and nonprofit arts and culture organizations. The report includes both new, original research and analysis of data created by others.
 
All Creative Minnesota research is available for free at CreativeMN.org. 


 KANABEC COUNTY HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Kanabec County's arts & cultural organizations attract close to 32,000 attendees every year to arts and cultural activities and events. Almost 40% of attendees are non-local, bringing new dollars to the local economy and local businesses that would not otherwise be there.
  • In fact, Kanabec County’s organizations and audiences alone generate over $1.1 million in economic impact to the local economy.
  • Almost 7,000 K-12 Students are also served by local arts and culture nonprofit organizations.
  • Kanabec County’s 170 creative workers are generating over $800K in additional annual economic impact.
  • Moreover, they are earning close to $1 an hour more than the average worker wage forKanabec County.
  • Their efforts, when combined with the economic impact of arts and cultural organizations and their audiences, generate a total of $2 million in economic impact annually inKanabec County.

 “Art comes from the soul,” said Terri Huro, Kanabec County Artist. “It’s an amazing feeling to be able to create. Art is vital to all communities. Kanabec County has a very high artist population that should be utilized. Art events bring people and income to our county; as well as bringing the community together. Art events and activities can grow communities is so many ways. They are vital to a healthy community. To me, art is freedom and it is passion. It is one-of-a-kind creations that have been produced in love.”


OTHER LOCAL FINDINGS: 


ECONOMIC IMPACT OF NONPROFIT ARTS AND CULTURE SECTOR:

  • In Kanabec County the study found that the combined economic impact of nonprofit arts organizations, their audiences and artists and creative workers in is $2 million annually. This includes:
    • $326,197 spent by nonprofit arts organizations,
    • $816,547 spent by 31,797 attendees,
    • and the direct spending of artists in their communities, on things such as art supplies and studio rental, of $847,477.
  • This economic impact represents an infusion of $125.10 per county resident into the local economy from the arts and culture.

IMPACT AND NUMBER OF NONPROFIT ARTS AND CULTURE ORGANIZATIONS:

  • 11 nonprofit arts and culture organizations in Kanabec County served 31,797 attendees at arts and cultural events in 2014. This number includes 6,812 K-12 studentsserved annually.

NONPROFIT ARTS AND CULTURE ORGANIZATIONS IN KANABEC COUNTY MN BY DISCIPLINE:

  •  PERFORMING ARTS - 1
  • ARTS MULTIPURPOSE - 1
  • HISTORY & HISTORICAL PRESERVATION - 2
  • OTHER* - 2
  • VISUAL ARTS & ARCHITECTURE - 4
  • MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS - 1
  • LITERARY ARTS TOTAL11 

*OTHER includes science and children’s museums, zoos, and arts and culture programs housed in non-arts nonprofits and local governments.

  • The economic impact of just nonprofit arts and culture audiences in this region totaled $816,547. This spending at local businesses is above and separate from the cost of the ticket to the event, and includes spending in restaurants, gas stations, and other local businesses by attendees on the way to and on the way home from an event. The average spent by an attendee is $25.68, and is money that would not have been spent in the community unless the event had occurred. Nonlocals spend even more, bringing dollars to the community that would otherwise not be there.
  • Finally, the economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture organizations and audience’s spending in Kanabec County generates $108,650 in additional state and local government revenues and supports 19 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) jobs which generate $466,936 in resident household income annually.

 LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS PARTICIPATING IN THE STUDY INCLUDED:

  • Kanabec County Agricultural Society
  • Kanabec County Art Association
  • Kanabec History Center
  • Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe/History Project
  • Minnesota Goose Garden
  • Mora Area Farmers' Market
  • Mora CAPP/Mora Schools (Comprehensive Arts Planning Program)
  • Mora Music in the Park (Summer Concert Series)
  • Northern Exposures Photography Club
  • Paradise Community Theatre
  • Vasaloppet, Inc. (Many Faces ofVasaloppet)

LOCAL ARTISTS AND CREATIVE WORKERS:

  • Creative Minnesota 2017 found that there are over 170 artists and creative workers in Kanabec County. Creative workers are defined as people who make their living wholly, or in part, by working for for-profits, non-profits, or self-employed, in 41 creative occupations.
  • These occupations include:
    • architects, choir directors, curators, librarians, art directors, craft artists, fine artists including painters, sculptors and illustrators, multimedia artists and animators, commercial and industrial designers, fashion, graphic and interior designers, set and exhibition designers, actors, producers and directors, dancers, choreographers, music directors and composers, musicians and singers, editors, writers and authors, sound engineering technicians, photographers, camera operators
  • The most common creative worker jobs in the county are in Photography, Music, and Writing.
  • Surprisingly, the average hourly wage for creative workers in Kanabec County is $17.21, which is above the average worker wage of $16.50.
  • The direct spending of artists and creative workers in the community generates $104,386 in state and local government revenues.

OTHER STATEWIDE HIGHLIGHTS: 
STATEWIDE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF NONPROFIT ARTS AND CULTURE SECTOR:

  • Statewide, the study found that the combined economic impact of nonprofit arts organizations, their audiences and artists and creative workers is over $2 billion annually. This includes $819 million spent by nonprofit arts organizations, $564 million spent by audiences, and the direct spending of artists in their communities, on things such as art supplies and studio rental, of $644 million.
  • Just looking at the economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture organizations, Minnesota has double the arts economy of Wisconsin even though we have nearly the same population, ten and a half times the arts economy of Kansas and twelve and a half times the arts economy of South Dakota.
  • Statewide, state and local government revenue from the arts sector exceeded $222 million, including income and sales taxes.

 
STATEWIDE IMPACT AND DEMOGRAPHICS OF ARTISTS AND CREATIVE WORKERS:

  • Creative Minnesota 2017 found that there are over 104,000 artists and creative workersin Minnesota whose spending in the state totals $644 million annually.
  • 24 percent of self-identified artists in Minnesota are employed full-time as artists, 42 percent are employed part-time, and the rest, 34 percent, are retired, hobbyists or students.

 
STRONGEST NEEDS FOR ALL MINNESOTA ARTISTS:

  • SPACE TO WORK: Artists desire spaces and tools of their own to do their work – but not in solitude.
  • CONNECT: Artists have strong interest in opportunities to form connections and serve communities.
  • LEARN: Artists embrace and are seeking more learning experiences, experienced artists would like to pass on their skills, younger artists are looking for mentors.
  • EARN: Artists remain ambitious about developing paying audiences and generating income from their work, but their identities as artists and the non-monetary value they derive from their practice are strong regardless of earnings.
  • AUDIENCE: Artists desire to reach wider audiences and markets.

 
STATEWIDE IMPACT AND NUMBER OF NONPROFIT ARTS AND CULTURE ORGANIZATIONS:

  • 1601 nonprofit arts and culture organizations in Minnesota served 22 million attendees at arts and cultural events in 2014.
  • These organizations serve 3.8 million K-12 students, hosting 29,318 school group visits each year. There are approximately 900,000 K-12 students in Minnesota, so on average every student is participating four times a year in arts and culture activities provided by these nonprofits.
  • The economic impact of just the participating organizations and their audiences totaled $1.4 billion, an increase of $185 million since our previous study in 2015. This is primarily due to an additional 332 participating organizations, but also includes a 1.5 percent increase in impact by the organizations participating in both studies.

 
STATEWIDE PUBLIC OPINION POLLING ON THE ARTS:
 Minnesotans strongly believe the arts and culture are important to their quality of life, and Minnesotans attend and participate in the arts more than other Americans:

  • 76% of Minnesotans, compared to 68% of all Americans, attend arts and culture events
  • 63% of Minnesotans, compared to 49% of all Americans, are personally involved in creative activity in their everyday life
  • 91% of Minnesotans believe that people who create art are contributing something important to their communities
  • 90% of Minnesotans believe that arts & cultural activities help make Minnesota an attractive place to live and work
  • 82% of Minnesotans believe it’s important to have the opportunity to express themselves creatively or to experience the creativity of others every day

ABOUT CREATIVE MINNESOTA 
Creative Minnesota is a long-term collaborative initiative of statewide arts and culture supporting organizations in partnership with Minnesota Citizens for the Arts (MCA). Creative Minnesota’s first round of studies, released in February 2015, looked at the economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture organizations in the state’s 11 arts regions and at the state as a whole. The second round in October 2015 looked at the economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture organizations in 17 Minnesota cities and counties. The 2017 study expanded its scope to look at the impact and needs of Minnesota’s artists and creative workers. All Creative Minnesota research is available for free atCREATIVEMN.ORG.
 
The Creative Minnesota team includes Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, The McKnight Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Forum of Regional Arts Councils of Minnesota, Target, Bush Foundation, Mardag Foundation, and Jerome Foundation, with in-kind support from the Minnesota Historical Society and others.
 
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 Highlights of Creative Minnesota 2017’s Data Sources: 
ORIGINAL RESEARCH:

  • “Artists Count” Survey of 2100 Minnesota artists by Creative Minnesota done with 194 organizational partners in 2016.
  • “Artists Thrive” Survey of 800 Minnesota artists by the Minnesota State Arts Board in 2015.
  • Analysis and Update of economic impact data of 1601 nonprofit arts and culture organizations


ANALYSIS OF OTHER DATA SETS WITH MANY PARTNERS:

  • Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), University of Minnesota analysis and mapping of “Artists and Arts Workers in the United States” from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
  • Minnesota Compass analysis of Integrated Public Use Microdata Series from the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2010-2014, on arts participation
  • Minnesota Center for Survey Research, University of Minnesota, Public Opinion Polling, 2014 and 2015 State Surveys
  • Center for the Study of Art and Community, literature review, synthesis and analysis by Bill Cleveland.
  • For a full list, download the report at www.creativeMN.org

 
The Legacy Amendment
The Legacy Amendment was passed by a statewide vote of the people of Minnesota in 2008 to dedicate a portion of the state’s sales tax to create four new funds for 1. land conservation, 2. water conservation, 3. parks and trails, and 4. arts and culture. The legislature appropriates the dollars from the Legacy Arts and Culture Fund to the Minnesota State Arts Board, Regional Arts Councils, Minnesota Historical Society and other entities to provide access to the arts and culture for all Minnesotans.
 Major Sponsoring Organizations:

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