Gorge arts and culture organizations have begun participation in “Arts & Economic Prosperity 6” (AEP6), “the most comprehensive economic impact study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry ever conducted in the United States,” said a press release.
Administered by Americans for the Arts, AEP6 will examine the economic impact of the arts and culture in the Gorge and 386 additional communities representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The Arts & Economic Prosperity series is conducted approximately every five years to gauge the economic impact of spending by nonprofit arts and culture organizations and the event-related spending by their audiences.
Audience-intercept surveys will be collected from attendees to arts events in the Gorge from Sept 2022 through April 2023. To help support the arts in the Gorge, locals can look for the survey next time they attend a live performance, art gallery or museum. The survey takes two minutes to fill out and can be accessed by phone or by paper at any of the participating venues.
In addition, a study of the local nonprofit arts and culture organizations will also occur from January through April 2023. Both the national and local findings will be made public in September 2023. At that time, the Gorge will receive a customized report on the economic impact results including the number of jobs that are supported and the amount of revenue that is generated by the community’s nonprofit arts industry.
The Dalles Art Center is the lead organization for the project, coordinating with the Columbia Gorge Tourism Alliance and a wide range of local participating art organizations, including:
- Maryhill Museum of Art
- Columbia Gorge Orchestra Association
- Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center
- Gorge Artists Inc
- Cascade Singers
- Gorge Winds Concert Band
- Friends of the Cascade Locks Historical Museum
- Hood River County Historical Museum
- Empowered Movement Aerial
- Hood River County Library Foundation Inc
- And more
The fees for the study have been covered by donations from the Oregon Arts Commission and Travel Oregon.
“We are excited to include the Gorge in this national study and are looking forward to putting real numbers to the impact that arts have in our region,” said Scott Stephenson, executive director of The Dalles Art Center. “This study has the potential to capture the important role that our museums, art galleries and performing arts play both in our economy and in the shared culture of our communities.”
“Strengthening our cultural organizations is an important part of our work to protect the region from the negative impacts of tourism,” said Emily Reed, network director of the Columbia Gorge Tourism Alliance. “This project has also been a great example of the power of individual organizations working together to create a greater shared benefit for the region.”
This year, the Americans for the Arts is committed to addressing equity and inclusion as a critical component of the methodology, organizational participation, and collection of data for AEP6 by centering and representing BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Native American) identifying communities — a segment of the nonprofit arts and culture sector that has been underrepresented in past studies, said a press release.
