The arts fuel economic growth in counties of all sizes

Key Takeaways

There’s often a misconception that arts are just for the “elite” or are only present in urban areas, said Jay Dick, Americans for the Arts’ director of equitable advocacy and partnerships. The industry brings in $1.2 trillion a year nationwide and a county doesn’t have to be Los Angeles or New York to see the economic benefits from the arts, he told county officials July 12 at a NACo Arts and Culture Innovation Council meeting. 

“You might have a skeptical county commissioner sitting next to you, like, ‘Why should we care about the arts?’” Dick said. “Well, the arts are a big industry, and if you invest in the arts, you’re going to improve the quality of life, you’re going to improve the economics of your county and all of the stuff that goes along with that.”

Lackawanna County, Pa. — a largely rural county with just over 216,000 people — is a local government that’s investing in, and prioritizing, the arts. The county has a dedicated tax that goes toward arts and culture programming and institutions, which has translated into $1.7 million. The county has awarded over $852,000 to 87 organizations and municipalities for the arts so far this year, according to Maureen McGuigan, Lackawanna County’s deputy director of arts and culture.

The county identified an opportunity to combine arts and culture with human services, so it launched an arts organization grant program using funding streams allocated for children and youth programming, and the data showed that self-esteem and peer-to-peer relationships improved. 

As a result, the county created an Arts Engage! Task Force to see how the arts could expand into, and benefit, other county departments. Roundtable discussions were held, including with county stakeholders in transportation, economic development and the environment, to start a dialogue, and now the task force has members from nearly every department and meets monthly to cultivate community projects, according to McGuigan.

One of the current programs is “Shelter for All,” where unhoused individuals sheltered at the county’s community intervention center decorate birdhouses; the 2,500 birdhouses that have been decorated through the initiative will be part of an installation at the Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science and Art located in the county. 

“People just love this,” McGuigan said. “They love decorating things, they like creativity. And it’s a way to engage other audiences … No matter how big or how small you are, you’re all doing great work in a county, and this is something you can scale up or down.

“You don’t have to pay for 2,500 birdhouses. You could start off small and do 50 and use that as an anchor. You could display them in the library — you don't have to necessarily build a huge installation.”

Lackawanna County is a home rule county, which allows for the flexibility needed to establish a dedicated arts tax at the local government level, but any county can implement low-cost programming, especially by creating partnerships with local arts organizations and non-profits, McGuigan said. 

“Building allies is super important, using your artists and arts organizations to be a voice for the arts, because politicians do listen to their constituents,” McGuigan said. “Everything takes time, and I know we’re all stretched, but there are a lot of things you can do between zero dollars and $500. There’s nothing too small in the arts.”