Ways the Arts Contribute to California’s Economy

• California’s creative economy ranks 3rd out of all 50 states.
• Creative economic activity is roughly 44% higher in California than the nation as a whole.
• Art galleries and individual artists, writers, and performers in California earned over $12 billion in 2008. Photography, music, book, and record store sales totaled over $3.2 billion.
• Creative job growth was most prevalent in California among multimedia artists and animators, fine artists, sound engineer technicians, and agents.

*These figures are derived from California’s Creative Vitality™ Index, a service of the Western States Arts Federation.
Click here to access the summary report.

The fast facts about the creative sector around Los Angeles (from the 2009 Report on The Creative Economy of the Los Angeles Region):

• The creative sector is one of the largest business sectors in the region.
• Nearly 1 million direct and indirect jobs—one in every six in the area—are creative-sector jobs.
• $121 billion in creative-sector sales/receipts were generated in Los Angeles County and $18 billion in Orange County.
• Over $5.1 billion in state and local tax revenues were generated from the creative sector.
• Excluding the declining manufacturing segments (apparel, furniture, toys), employment in the service-oriented creative industries of Los Angeles grew by +21,500 jobs, or by +9.9%, between 2003 and 2008, and by an estimated 2% in Orange County.
• The biggest challenges to the creative sector:
  • • • • A lack of recognition in the region of just how important these activities are. A key driver of the region’s economy, the creative sector is a serious business generating good quality jobs and significant tax revenue streams.
        • One result of this attitude is that many creative industries are ignored by government agencies in planning and support.
        • The region’s talent pool, which is unique, is not fully used in the area’s economic development efforts. Business and government leaders should consider how to partner with colleges and university programs to promote innovation and utilize the region’s creative assets more effectively.

  * This data was prepared by the Otis College of Art and Design by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.
  Click here to access the full report.

  • In 2005 foreign sales of motion-picture and video products were at $10.4 billion, up from $1.91 billion in 1986.¹
  • The money made in Hollywood continues to be astronomical, transcending even the aerospace industry as the largest export industry the U.S. has.²
  • Hollywood is hurting. A July 2010 study sponsored by the Milken Institute’s California Center found that the state lost 36,000 jobs, $2.4 billion in wages, and $4.2 billion in total economic output due to film industry flight to other locations.³
  • The motion picture and television industry is responsible for more than 209,946 direct jobs and more than $16.7 billion in wages in California. ⁴

  
  1. http://www.newsweek.com/2008/12/31/the-return-of-cultural-diplomacy.html
  2. http://bit.ly/aDGxZ1
  3. http://california.uschamber.com/jobs/
  4. http://www.mpaa.org/policy/state-by-state