Published: December 26, 2007 11:12 pm      

Study: Somerset arts industry generates $2.3M a year

SOMERSET — Somerset County may never rise as a cultural mecca, but its arts-and-culture industry creates jobs and pulls in millions of dollars annually, a national study shows.

Americans for the Arts reported the industry generates $2.3 million yearly in Somerset County including 53 full-time equivalent jobs, said Michael Knecht, executive director for Laurel Arts in Somerset.

The study is billed as the most comprehensive economic impact study of the nonprofit arts-and-culture sector in the U.S.

“So often people think of non-profits as nice and important to the community, but don’t do much for the economics of the county,” Knecht said Wednesday.

“It’s significant when you look at the economic numbers they contribute.”

The $2.3 million includes $975,000 in spending by arts organizations and $1.35 million in event-related spending by arts audiences, excluding the cost of admission.

Nationally, the nonprofit artsindustry generates 5.7 million jobs – pumping $166.2 billion into the economy every year, according to Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit with offices in Washington and New York.

Somerset County is one of 156 communities and regions participating in the study titled Arts & Economic Prosperity III.

Laurel Arts gathered data from 10 local arts organizations – creating an economic profile of Somerset County.

The study is important for the county to find how it compares with similar communities, Knecht said.

And in that comparison, he added, Somerset is “a little bit behind.”

Bradford County has a slightly smaller population of 62,537 compared with 80,000 in Somerset County, yet its arts industry creates more jobs and makes more money, he said.

Knecht said he will speak with the Bradford County Regional Arts Council, which also participated in the study, to gather ideas.

“We need to see what we can be doing to grow our sector of the economy a little bit more,” he said.