Arts create economic powerhouse for N.C. city

Assembly lines that made blankets, brakes, electronics, furniture and other goods used to create paychecks. But as many of those jobs slipped away to overseas competition, Asheville, N.C., has come to depend on a more creative economy.

By Dale Neal, The (Asheville, N.C.) Citizen-Times in USA Today

Now, making music, showing paintings, dancing, acting and other arts may be just as likely to create a living for residents and attract new business to Asheville.

"We’re running a business here, not a charity," said Steve Hageman, executive director of the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. "I might not be making a product that you can load into a truck. Our product may be intangible, but it adds to the quality of life. And I’m not polluting either."

Nonprofit organizations like the symphony have become a significant moneymaker for Asheville and other communities nationwide, according to a new report from Americans for the Arts.

All told, nonprofit arts groups and the audiences that attend their events pump some $61 million a year into Asheville’s economy alone, supporting an estimated 2,100 jobs and delivering $5.6 million in tax revenue to local and state government.

Asheville was among 91 communities in 33 states and the District of Columbia surveyed in "Arts and Economic Prosperity." http://www.artsusa.org/EconomicImpact/

"The arts aren’t just the icing on the cake," said Steve Steinert, executive director of the Asheville Area Arts Council. "The arts give a city a unique sense of itself. People want to come here. People who are young and just out of college want to come here. People who are retired want to come here. The city feels very accessible to you."

The arts not only encourage individuals to move to a city, but they can attract new businesses as well, a popular sociologist argues. The research of Richard Florida, a Carnegie Mellon University professor and author of "The Rise of the Creative Class," has become required reading at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and for many elected and civic leaders.

Florida argues that lifestyle matters to the talented core of workers sought by the high-tech biotech and Internet industries. Members of that "creative class" can afford to live and work where they want to, and they often pick a location for its quality of life.

If a community can foster what Florida bills as the three T’s — talent, technology and tolerance — that appeal to the creative class, that city stands to benefit as the economy moves from manufacturing to information industries.

"You can’t just go out, clear cut and bulldoze a lot, build a box and hope someone will come with a factory," Hageman said. "We’re not going to get the BMW plant, but we do have a rare opportunity in Asheville. We can be an arts mecca that draws intellectual business. I sense the Chamber, the City Council and the county are realizing that we have a real jewel here."

The arts have not only gained in respectability with economic impact. Dance teacher Ann Dunn believes the arts make the city safer. As more people flock downtown after hours to attend art walks, theater or music events, they make once-deserted and even threatening streets feel safer.

Asheville shows more arts activity than other cities of its size, according to the study. The $61 million generated by Asheville’s nonprofits and arts audiences nearly doubles the $35 million spent in other communities with populations of 50,000 to 100,000 people.

"We’re not talking small potatoes. This is an industry," said Dan Ray, a consultant with the Institute at Biltmore.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2003-06-27-n.c.-arts_x.htm