This morning, ArtServe released its second Creative State Michigan report that details the impact Michigan’s arts and cultural nonprofit organizations have on the state’s economy and citizens. The report represents Fiscal Year 2010 data from 346 nonprofit arts and cultural organizations – representing an estimated 17% of the sector.

Creative State Michigan shows that these 346 organizations contributed over half a billion dollars ($553,599,668) in direct expenditures to the economy of Michigan in Fiscal Year 2010. Further, it affirms the creative economy as a significant growth sector and strategic opportunity for Michigan’s economy. From 2006 to 2011, the number of arts-related jobs increased by 15 percent to 85,656 jobs in Michigan, while arts-related businesses increased by 65 percent to 28,072. From 2010-2011 alone, jobs increased by 11 percent, while businesses increased by 16 percent. Highlights of the report (346 arts nonprofit organizations from FY 2010):

• $553,599,668 in annual direct expenditures (e.g. rent, programs, travel and salaries)
• Organizations paid $193,987,699 in salaries, supporting 22,335 jobs.
• Organizations contributed $13.9 million in the employer portion of the payroll tax and nearly $1 million in state sales tax revenues.
• 15,731,784 people made visits to arts and cultural venues and events – of which 54% were FREE
• Arts and cultural destinations generated more than $2 billion in state tourism revenues in FY 2011 – 16% of the state’s total tourism revenues and more than golf, boating and sailing, hunting and fishing, and hiking and biking combined.

To learn more, please visit www.creativestatemi.org. To download a digital copy of the full report please click here. Last year’s report offered our first look at the tremendous impact that Michigan’s arts and cultural organizations have on the state’s economy and its citizens. That report helped us make the case for increased funding for the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA). In 2012, Governor Snyder proposed and the Legislature approved a budget of $6.15 million for the MCACA – the first meaningful increase in state arts funding since 2001.  This allocation has supported 312 grants to organizations, educational institutions and municipalities across 47 counties statewide – serving people and communities of all sizes through the arts, culture and arts education. With this year’s data in hand, we seek continued support for an appropriation of at least $10 million for FY 2014 in recognition of the powerful role that Michigan’s creative economy contributes to the state’s reinvention – and a significant step forward to returning the state’s investment in creativity to at least $25 million for the future – a level appropriate to the sector’s strategic growth potential. We will be distributing hard copies of the report to more than 1,000 elected officials, community leaders, media outlets, participating organizations and many more. Additional hard copies of the report are also available and can be ordered at a nominal fee to help cover printing and mailing costs. To request additional copies of the report, please contact Mike Latvis at mike@artservemichigan.org. As always, if you have any questions or comments please feel free to reply to Mike Latvis directly at 248-379-5897.