There’s been a lot of emphasis on creating industrial, service, retail, healthcare and manufacturing jobs in Minnesota.
But what many Minnesotans don’t think of when they look at jobs are creative careers.
Tuesday, Sheila Smith, executive director of the MN Citizens for The Arts, gave a presentation before about 45 officials and community representatives from Sherburne, Stearns, Wright and Benton counties about the economic impact of the arts in Minnesota.
The discussion was the third segment in a series of meetings in an effort to create a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for the 7W Region.
A CEDS is designed to bring together the public and private sectors in the creation of an economic roadmap to diversify and strengthen regional economies.
Smith said one of the biggest issues about the creative sector was trying to gauge how much impact the arts has on the state and local economy.
“If we were talking about construction, we’d know how many people were employed, how many plumbers and construction workers there are and the economic impact,” she said. “But there was no good data about the arts and cultural sector in Minnesota. In order to do policy making, education and advocacy, you have to know what you’re talking about.”
She said that’s when a group of artists and art advocates started the Creative Minnesota Project. They did a survey in 2015-2016 to find out all about the arts in Minnesota and in the different regions.
The survey showed there were 104,148 artists and creative people in the state and almost 5,000 in the 7W Region.
Smith said there is a misconception that an artist is just someone who paints pictures and can’t make a living doing it.
But in fact, she said, there are 41 different occupations in the arts, including architects, librarians, art directors, painters, sculptors and illustrators, animators, commercial and industrial designers, fashion workers, actors, producers and directors, dancers, choreographers, musicians and singers, radio and television announcers and public relations specialists, editors, technical writers, writers and authors, photographers, camera operators, video editors, media and communication equipment workers, theatrical and performance makeup artists, musical instrument repairers and tuners, merchandise displayers, advertising and promotions managers, public relations and fundraising managers, agents and business managers of artists and performers.
And the survey showed people in the creative and arts sector made as much as, or more than other occupations.
“There’s all these folks who when their kids turn out to be a talented artist, they tell them to study something else because they’re not going to support themselves in the arts,” she said.
“In fact, creative occupations are paying pretty well, so maybe parents should not be discouraging their kids from pursuing that as a career.”
The survey showed Minnesota has the largest arts economy in the Midwest - about twice as much as Wisconsin. The total economic impact of the arts in Minnesota is $2 billion, which includes $819 million in spending by the state’s 1,601 non-profit arts organizations, $644 million spent by artists and $564 million spent by audiences at art-related events.
Smith said about 22 million people attend arts-related events across the state. That number is about $650,000 in Region 7W, which is about double the population.
When Smith finished her presentation, the attendees were split into discussion groups to talk about different opportunities and barriers in the arts in Minnesota.
The group listed 22 different types of projects to help promote the arts as a local and statewide resource. The top three by vote were:
• Educating elected officials on the impact of arts and tourism;
• Connecting artists to different finance opportunities;
• Integrating the arts into public infrastructure or public space.
Those bits of information, along with all the projects mentioned, will be incorporated into the CEDS plan.
That plan will be used to apply for Federal EDA money.
