WALI JAMAL, A PITTSBURGH ACTOR, COMEDIAN AND PLAYWRIGHT WHO HAS BUILT HIS NAME ON AUGUST WILSON’S WORK | PHOTOS COURTESY AUGUST WILSON AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER

Don’t underestimate the power of the local arts.

That’s the underlying message of the latest Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 report, which  documents the economic and social contributions of arts and culture in 373 diverse communities and regions in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

For Allegheny County — between June 2022 and June 2023 — that power resulted in $1.3 billion in economic activity. 

That’s more than twice the economic impact experienced over that same time period in Cuyahoga County, home of Cleveland; both Allegheny and Cuyahoga counties have a similar population of 1.2 million.

The report, presented in a webinar by Morgan Kasprowicz, director of Research and Cultural Policy at the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, identified other local highlights:

• The arts is a driver of tourism: 29% of respondents were visitors and 56.2% of those reported “the primary purpose was to specifically attend a performance, event, exhibit, venue or facility.”
• The arts supported 18,538 jobs and contributed $267 million in tax revenue to local, state and federal governments.
• Beyond the cost of admission, attendees in Allegheny County spent an average of $54.19 per person per event for such things as food and drink, overnight accommodations, child care and transportation. Tourists spent on average $91.45 per person.

“The arts significantly contribute both directly and indirectly to Allegheny County’s economy, quality of life and a sense of pride in our local community,” said Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council CEO Patrick Fisher in the report.

These reports, known as AEP6, are conducted every five years by the national Americans for the Arts in collaboration with the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. Kasprowicz directed the local research.

To compile the data – which involved new methodology compared with what was used in past reports – local researchers received input from 169 participating nonprofits and 768 audience members.

The study was conducted as the nation was coming out of the pandemic — a time when 99% of producing and presenting organizations canceled their events. 

“By every measure, the arts and culture industry was among the most devastated economic sectors,” according to the report.

Overall in 2022, in-person attendance in cultural activities in Allegheny County was down by 21% compared with numbers in a similar 2017 report, going from 16.6 million to 13.1 million.

Still, the Pittsburgh area has snapped back from the pandemic faster than some of the “benchmark” communities with similar populations. For example, Philadelphia County, with a 1.5 million population, recorded that audiences spent $472 million for the cultural arts in 2022; audiences in Allegheny spent $711 million.

Kristen Vinh, a data analyst with the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance who sat in on the webinar, said the Philadelphia audience was slow to return to its cultural amenities after the height of the pandemic.

With this information, art advocates hope to lobby the federal government for more arts funding.

In March, WESA reported that a state bipartisan Arts and Culture Caucus called for a more than 50% increase in federal arts funding. Currently, Pennsylvania is ranked 33rd in the country in arts funding, at $0.82 per resident, according to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. Since 2015, the arts have received a flat $9.59 million per year in grants.