Is Art a Reasonable Investment?

Michigan: For Every $1 State Investment in Arts, $51 Returned
Crain's Detroit Business, 1/18/12
"For every $1 the state invested in nonprofit arts and cultural groups in 2009, those organizations pumped more than $51 into Michigan's economy through spending on rent, programs, travel, and salaries. The sector employed 15,560 people that year, paying them a total of $152 million in salaries. Creative State Michigan, a new report from the Wixom-based advocacy group ArtServe Michigan, reinforces what ArtServe has known all along, said the group's director of public policy, Mike Latvis. 'For a long time, we've heard that state funding to the arts is a handout, but it's not. This report shows that investment is returned multiple times over to the state's economy'...The 210 participants in the inaugural report represent just ten percent of Michigan's estimated 2,000 nonprofit arts and cultural groups. They span 45 of Michigan's 83 counties."http://bit.ly/xIIAsT