Randy Cohen of Americans for the Arts visited Northwest CT to talk about the economic impact of the arts.

On Thursday, April 4, 2024, the NWCT Arts Council, Warner Theatre, CT Office of the Arts, and Americans for the Arts partnered to present The Art of Thriving.  The event featured an overview of the economic impact of the arts industry in NWCT by Randy Cohen (Americans for the Arts) and an analysis of regional needs and next steps for development by Steph Burr (NWCT Arts Council).

The Northwest Connecticut Arts Council announced that region’s nonprofit arts and culture industry generated $30,275,630 in economic activity in 2022, according to the newly released Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6), an economic and social impact study conducted in partnership with Americans for the Arts. 

Beginning in May of 2022, the NWCT Arts Council staff, volunteers, and partner nonprofits worked for over a year to collect 800+ audience surveys at arts events across Litchfield County. Additionally, 70 nonprofit arts organizations took the time to complete the AEP6 survey and report the data used to compile these findings. 

Here is an overview of the findings:

In 2022, nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences generated $30.3 million in economic activity in Northwest Connecticut—$19.5 million in spending by the organizations, which leveraged an additional $10.8 million in event-related spending by their audiences. This economic activity supported 650 jobs and generated $9.1 million in tax revenue.

The arts are also vital to bringing the community together for a greater purpose. During 2022, 2,671 volunteers donated a total of 193,418 hours to Northwest Connecticut’s 70 participating organizations.

Click here to see Randy's full presentation.

Additionally, Steph Burr of the NWCT Arts Council debuted the finding of the council's Regional Needs Assessment.  This was a year-long research project comprising three major phases to collect both quantitative and qualitative data.  The goal was to collect comprehensive data about the short and long term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts & culture sector in order to propose solutions and inform advocacy, regional strategy, and decision making.

NWCT Regional Needs Assessment- Full Study

NWCT Regional Needs Assessment- Presentation Slides