Arts and culture generated more than $300 million for Long Island last year, according to a recent report from the Long Island Arts Alliance.
It is also estimated that the arts have created nearly 5,000 jobs and $15 million in sales, property and income taxes.
Lauren Wagner, executive director of the alliance, said the report bodes well for the future of arts and culture on Long Island; It acts as the main advocacy tool to secure funding.
“The arts are serious,” she said. “It’s not just fun. It’s not just irrelevant. The arts are a living, breathing life [economy] from Long Island.”
Wagner highlighted the report’s estimate of how much an arts visitor contributes each time they attend an event.
“The average arts visitor on Long Island spends $37.31 per person per event beyond the price of admission,” she explained.
“And not only that, the average foreign attendee spends $66 per person per event over and above the cost of entry. And 70% of non-local participants said they were in town specifically for these arts and cultural events.”
Wagner led the effort to produce the report. She cited surveying over 900 participants to gather information about Long Island.
The Long Island arts and culture information is part of a larger national study conducted by the national nonprofit Americans for the Arts with more than 16,000 participating organizations in nearly 400 regions of the country.
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