The Arts in Kansas: A Return on Investment
The arts build prosperity.
Kansas nonprofit arts and cultural sector is a $153.5 million industry, supporting over 4,000 full-time equivalent jobs and generating over $15 million in state and local government revenues.*
The creative arts industry in Kansas employs over 37,000 people.***
Cities thrive, grow, attract and retain businesses when the arts are supported. Investment in the arts increases the capacity of Kansas cities to build tourism and broaden their tax base.
The arts build our future workforce.
Arts education is proven to keep students in school, increase high school graduation rates and prepare students for college and for the careers of the 21st century economy.
The new economy requires a workforce that will be highly disciplined, innovative, creative and focused. These are the traits the arts teach.
The Kansas Arts Commission supports art educations programs throughout the state.
The arts enrich us all.
Kansas is a national leader in personal artistic creation.**
Kansans value the arts, and they understand how the arts contribute to their lives, to their communities and to their children.
People who are involved in the arts are also more civically engaged – they volunteer and they vote.
State funding leverages local and private funding, but many communities, particularly in rural areas, are unable to raise enough private dollars to sustain arts programs without state support.
Kansas commits 85% of state general fund dollars annually to education and Medicaid. The arts significantly increase the return on this investment by addressing issues such as workforce development and childhood poverty and health, while broadening the tax base statewide.
* 2007 Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations and Their Audiences in the State of Kansas, Americans for the Arts
** 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts
*** 2009 Creative Vitality Index, State of Kansas, Western States Arts Federation |
