An economic impact study of Joplin’s arts and culture industry
Joplin, Missouri – Connect2Culture (C2C), Joplin’s community arts agency, is excited to partner with Americans for the Arts and announce its participation on behalf of the City of Joplin in Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6), the sixth national study of the economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture industry.
Since 1994, the Arts & Economic Prosperity® series has expanded how people view the arts in their community. The study, conducted approximately every five years, documents in unprecedented scope and detail how nonprofit arts and culture industries across the nation support jobs, generate government revenue, and drive tourism in their communities.
Having participated in the Arts & Economic Prosperity® series on behalf of the City of Joplin in 2015, C2C is no stranger to the study. Over the course of a year, C2C collected data about local nonprofit arts and culture organizations’ spending as well as event-related spending by their audiences. Results provide evidence that the nonprofit arts and culture sector is a significant industry in Joplin—one that generates $5.4 million in total economic activity. This spending—$1.8 million by nonprofit arts and cultural organizations and an additional $3.6 million in event-related spending by their audiences—supports 191 full-time equivalent jobs, generates $3.4 million in household income to local residents, and delivers $452,000 in local and state government revenue.
“We already know the arts mean business in Joplin,” says Emily Frankoski, Director of C2C. “This economic impact study sends a strong message that when we support the arts, we not only enhance our quality of life, but we also invest in the City of Joplin’s economic well-being. We are eager to see where we are now compared to 2015.”
AEP6 will not only reassess these areas to see how Joplin’s nonprofit arts and culture industry has grown, it will also strive for equity and inclusion. For the first time, AEP6 will require its local and state research partners collect a set portion of data from organizations that primarily serve 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.
With C2C’s help, Joplin will be one of 387 participating communities that demonstrates how vital the arts are to economic development, proving that an investment in the arts provides both cultural and economic benefits. Aided by area nonprofit arts and culture organizations, C2C will begin collecting data in June of 2022, with local and national findings being released in September 2023.