A lot of attention has been focused on $50 million of funding included for the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) in the house stimulus package. The Wall Street Journal even highlighted it in an editorial on the stimulus package.
Hopefully the role of the arts as a creator of jobs will not get in lost in the debate over the stimulus package. According to an NEA study released last year, as of 2005 almost 2 million Americans identified artist as their primary job. The chart below is from the study and provides details.
This means there are more artists in America than doctors, lawyers or agricultural workers.
There are also roughly 3 million people working in jobs to support the arts and artists.
We've been following the growth of artist/entrepreneurs for several years and have posted on the topic quite a bit. And one thing we've learned is the arts produce jobs.
This goes back to the 2009 (and onward) trend in entrepreneurship of the artisan economy. Back to basics. If one notices, our society has come (or on its way) full circle to the ancients - green sustainable living off the land, knowledge-based progression, fellow artisan support and patronizing, and work-life balance. Only this time, technology has linked everything for instant/fast linkages, information dissemination, and efficiency. Exciting times. Now if we could only be a beacon of peace once more...
Posted by: Mark Bantigue | February 09, 2009 at 08:35 PM