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Director’s Spotlight: Take Action: Be Counted
By Anita Walker, Director
Maybe
it’s a right-brain left-brain thing, but a lot of us in the arts world
really resist the idea that everything has to be counted and measured in
order to matter.
A few years ago, a consultant hired by the state came to my office to talk about how we were going to start measuring things at the Department of Cultural Affairs. I said, “Not everything we do can be reduced to a chart or graph.” He said, “You do what you measure.” And he was right. We started setting measurable goals for the department and we ended up achieving more of our goals than ever before.
Now Americans for the Arts is calling on artists and arts organizations to be counted if you are indeed going to “count” in our economy, and “count” politically.
The organization has done new research on what it calls “creative
industries” or arts-related businesses. Check out this web site http://www.artsusa.org/information_resources/research_information/
services/creative_industries/default.asp
You can find out how many people are employed in arts-related businesses by state, by congressional district and even by state house and senate districts. What a tool for advocacy! Our artists and arts-related businesses spend money locally, generate government revenue and are a cornerstone of tourism and economic development.
The information is fascinating. Nationally, there are 548,000 arts-related businesses employing 2.9 million people. That’s equal to the entire population of our state. In Iowa Americans for the Arts counts 4,776 arts-related businesses employing 24,163 people. You can look at maps showing the distribution of artists in our state, and even find out how many people work in museums, planetariums, the performing or visual arts and more.
While the data is great, Americans for the Arts believes it under-represents nonprofit arts organizations and individual artists. That’s because the data only reflects the businesses that have registered with Dun and Bradstreet.
So here is our big action step: if you are an individual artist or arts-related business or non-profit, GET REGISTERED. It’s simple and free to get a DUNS (or D&B) number. Get information about registering and make sure you are counted.
Then let your legislator know how many artists and arts businesses are
in your legislative district. One more reason to invest in the arts in Iowa.
