Where's the Money? US Arts and Culture Economy By the Numbers

Where's the Money? US Arts and Culture Economy By the Numbers hyperallergic.com - An unprecedented survey of the role of the arts in the larger economy, last week's breakdown of the GDP contribution of America's creative industries in 2011 is illuminating and depressing, if not entirely surprising in its conclusions. The preliminary report, a joint effort of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and National Endowment for the Arts, reveals that advertising dwarfs the economic clout of every single other creative endeavor, followed by arts education in a distant second place. The report finds that the total size of the arts and culture economy is 3.2 percent of GDP, coming in at $504 billion. Among the leisure economy, the report notes, this sector supplants travel and tourism, which clocks in at 2.8 percent of GDP. The report also finds that the national economic recovery has lagged, jobs-wise, in the culture sector. Available on the App Store.