The ARTS: Say it like you mean it!

• Arts mean business. Arts businesses contribute to the local economy through salaries, taxes (payroll, sales and property), contracted services and facility maintenance. In addition, the arts create vibrant communities that attract new businesses and individuals to the area.
  
  
• Arts mean tourism. A thriving arts scene draws cultural tourists who stay longer and spend more money at hotels and restaurants than other tourists.
  
  
• Arts mean success. Arts education engages students and helps them work collaboratively, think flexibly and solve problems, which prepares them for the modern workforce.

"I want to be employing people in areas where I think they are going to have a great quality of life," Petterson said, noting [Lexington's] arts, history and sports activities. "That's important to us at Tiffany."

John Petterson, senior vice president of operations and manufacturing
Tiffany & Co.
Lexington Herald Leader
November 4, 2010

The Kentucky Arts Council creates opportunities for Kentuckians to value, benefit from and participate in the arts. More than facilitating experiences, though, we work to create opportunity and support growth in the Commonwealth through the thousands of creative businesses and entrepreneurs across Kentucky. One way we work to create that value is through our partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. As the state arts agency, the arts council is the only entity in Kentucky authorized to distribute NEA funds, and since 1986 we have brought more than $17.25 million in federal funding to the state.

Key to both our culture and economy, the creative industries are an integral part of Kentucky’s:

Past The culture and character of Kentucky have defined the Commonwealth from its earliest days. Kentucky’s living artistic heritage, steeped in music and myth and cured in the shadow of the Appalachians, makes Kentucky a major tourism destination for fans of bluegrass, storytelling, craft and a wide range of visual and performing arts. As much as the rivers, as much as the land and what we planted in it or found under it, the arts shaped who we are as a people.

Present The creative industries have grown from the early days of pickin’ on the porch to become one of the largest economic drivers in Kentucky. In 2008, performing arts, museums and related activities made up some $427 million of Kentucky’s Gross State Product. According to Dun & Bradstreet, as of January 2011 Kentucky is home to 6,733 arts related businesses that employ 24,404 people – nearly four times as many as Toyota or Ford. Today, the arts are big business in Kentucky – but we do still enjoy a good jam session on the porch.

Future Every day in Kentucky the arts are contributing to a brighter, more prosperous future. As the creative industries grow and thrive, they create a climate that spurs further investment and attracts new employers to the Commonwealth. Employers, families and tourists overwhelmingly cite quality of life and the availability of cultural attractions and industry as a driving factor in where they choose to live, work and play. The arts council brings teaching artists to schools for hands-on residencies that to date have engaged more than 18,000 students, bolstering the critical and creative-thinking skills employers seek in a workforce. Through our Kentucky Arts Partners, the lives of 2.2 million more students are shaped each year through the arts and arts in education.