"The arts industry is vital to any city’s quality of life and we are thankful to be home to world-class arts institutions that make a tremendous impact in Tulsa. Tulsans pride ourselves on being an arts city, and we continue to invest in the arts because we know the critical role the arts community has in our local economy, quality of life and the future advancement of our city."

G.T. Bynum – Mayor of Tulsa

THE ARTS MEAN BUSINESS

Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 Economic Impact Study

REGION

The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Cultural Organizations and Their Audiences in the Greater Tulsa Region (Fiscal Year 2015). This study focuses solely on the economic impact of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations and event-related spending by their audiences.

Totals gathered from only 793 valid audience-intercepted surveys.

The nonprofit arts and culture sector is a

228,871,178

industry in the Greater Tulsa Region

“Attracting and retaining a workforce is crucial to developing jobs in Tulsa. The arts not only help us attract a great workforce but also creates jobs. Investments in the arts is a key component of expanding Tulsa’s economic prosperity. From the BOK Center to Gilcrease Museum, from the Performing Arts Center to Guthrie Green and everything in between, the arts in Tulsa produce jobs, attract a workforce and visitors to our city. This study shows the arts are truly a major economic development tool for Tulsa.”
Kathy Taylor – City of Tulsa Chief of Economic Development

137,689,013

Arts Audiences


21,800,000

Tax Revenue


7,876

Full-Time Equivalent Jobs Supported


47,641,387

Spent by Non-residents In Meals, Lodging, Transportation and Merchandise

Nonprofit arts and cultural organizations are businesses in their own right. They spent $91.2 million during fiscal year 2015 to employ locally, purchase goods and services from local establishments, and attract tourists.

STATE

The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Cultural Organizations and Their Audiences in the State of Oklahoma (Fiscal Year 2015)

The nonprofit arts and culture sector is a

872,800,000

industry in the state of Oklahoma

Generating

84,500,000

in state revenue


29,165

Full-Time Equivalent Jobs Supported


541,600,000

in Meals, Lodging, Transportation and Merchandise

“The numbers included in this study are impressive and prove that the continued advances in our arts and culture community provide a significant return on investment for Tulsa. As we build on the extended efforts of the past few years with regard to this industry, one can only imagine the results we will realize in the improvement of education, quality of life, and cultural tourism.”
Phil Lakin – City of Tulsa Councilor

NATIONAL

The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Cultural Organizations and Their Audiences in the United States (Fiscal Year 2015)

Nationally, the nonprofit arts industry generated

166,300,000,000

of economic activity in 2015

“Understanding and acknowledging the incredible economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture, we must always remember their fundamental value. They foster beauty, creativity, originality, and vitality. The arts inspire us, sooth us, provoke us, involve us, and connect us. But they also create jobs and contribute to the economy.”
Robert L. Lynch – President and CEO Americans for the Arts

Generating

4,600,000

Jobs


27,500,000,000

To local, state, and federal governments

AEP5 is the most comprehensive study of its kind ever conducted. It provides detailed economic impact findings on 341 study regions representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Economic Impact Beyond Dollars: Volunteerism

During 2015, a total of 9,210 volunteers donated a total of 401,324 hours to the Greater Tulsa Region’s participating nonprofit arts and cultural organizations. This represents a donation of time with an estimated aggregate value of $9,455,193.

The Value of In-Kind Contributions to Arts Organizations

The 123 participating nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in the Greater Tulsa Region reported that they received in-kind contributions with an aggregate value of $1,736,184 during fiscal year 2015.

Tulsa Ballet Company Dancer: Sena Hidaka
Tulsa Ballet Company Dancer: João Sampaio
Photographer: Jeremy Charles

The Arts Drive Tourism

Cultural tourists spend more

Nonresident attendees spent an average of 180 percent more per person than local attendees. 57 percent indicate that the primary purpose of their visit to the State of Oklahoma was specifically to attend an arts/cultural event.

85.7 percent indicated that the primary purpose of their visit to the Greater Tulsa Region was specifically to attend an arts/cultural event.

This study puts to rest a misconception that communities support arts and culture at the expense of local economic development. In fact, communities that support the arts and culture are investing in an industry that supports jobs, generates government revenue, and is the cornerstone of tourism. This Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 study shows conclusively that the arts mean business in the Greater Tulsa Region!

Arts and Economic Prosperity 5 was conducted by Americans for the Arts, the nation’s nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America. Established in 1960, we are dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts.

The Greater Tulsa Region’s Participating Nonprofit Arts and Cultural Organizations

This study could not have been completed without the cooperation of the 123 nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in the Greater Tulsa Region, listed below, that provided detailed financial and event attendance information about their organization.

108 Contemporary; A Pocket Full Of Hope; American Institute of Architects – Eastern OK; American Theatre Company; Art Maker (Osage Ballet); Arts & Humanities Council Of Tulsa; Arts Alliance Tulsa; Bart Center For Music; Barthelmes Conservatory; Bartlesville Choral Society; Bartlesville Civic Ballet; Bartlesville Community Center; Bartlesville Symphony Orchestra; Broken Arrow Arts & Humanities Council; Broken Arrow Community Playhouse; Broken Arrow Historical Society; Celebrity Attractions; Chamber Music Tulsa; Cherokee National Historical Society; Children’s Musical Theatre Of Bartlesville; Choregus; Circle Cinema; Clark Youth Theatre; Connors Development Foundation; Euchee (Yuchi) Language Project; Fab Lab Tulsa; Five Civilized Tribes Museum; Freeland Center for the Performing Arts; Friends of Frank Phillips Home; Friends of Oklahoma Music; Friends of Pawnee Bill Ranch Assoc.; Friends of Starlight Concerts; Gilcrease Museum; Greenwood Cultural Center; Guthrie Green; Heller Theatre Company; Hispanic American Foundation; Horton Records, LTD; India Association of Greater Tulsa; John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation; Latimer-Cooksey Arts and Cultural Foundation; Little Theatre Guild of Bartlesville; Living Arts Of Tulsa; Midwest Harp Academy; Military History Museum; Mused.Organization; Museum Broken Arrow (Broken Arrow Historical Society); Musician’ Haven; Muskogee Area Arts Council; Muskogee Community Band Association; Muskogee Little Theatre; Northeastern State University (Sequoyah Institute); OK Institute for Ceramic Arts; OK Mozart; Oklahoma Indian Summer; Oklahoma Music Educators Association; Oklahoma Performing Arts; Oklahoma State Senate Historical Preservation Fund; Osage County Historical Society & Museum; Oxley Nature Center; Philbrook Museum Of Art; Photog; Playhouse Theatre Inc; Price Tower Arts Center; Pryor Area Arts And Humanities Council; Richardson Asian Art Museum; Rogers County Historical Society; Rural Oklahoma Museum Of Poetry; Safaris Inc; Sand Springs Community Theatre; Sapulpa Area Chamber Found., dba Sapulpa Arts; Sapulpa Community Theatre Inc; Sherwin Miller Museum; South Asian Performing Arts Foundation; South Tulsa Children’s Ballet; Sunfest Inc; Taking it to the Streets Productions; Talk Of Tulsa Show Chorus; Tapes Fine Arts; Theatre North; Theatre Pops; Theatre Tulsa; Three Rivers Museum of Muskogee; Tulsa Air and Space Museum; Tulsa Area Youth Symphony Association (dba Tulsa Youth Symphony); Tulsa Artist Fellowship; Tulsa Artists’; Coalition; Tulsa Ballet Theatre; Tulsa Botanic Garden; Tulsa Boy Singers; Tulsa Camerata; Tulsa Children’s Choir; Tulsa Children’s Museum; Tulsa Foundation for Architecture; Tulsa Garden Center; Tulsa Girls Art School Project; Tulsa Glass Blowing School; Tulsa Global Alliance; Tulsa Historical Society & Museum; Tulsa Honors Orchestra; Tulsa Hope Academy; Tulsa International Mayfest Inc; Tulsa Library Trust; Tulsa Opera; Tulsa Oratorio Chorus; Tulsa Performing Arts Center; Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust; Tulsa Philosophical Society; Tulsa Project Theatre; Tulsa Reportory Musicals; Tulsa Spotlighters Inc; Tulsa Symphony Orchestra; Tulsa Town Hall; Tulsa Youth Symphony; Tulsa Zoo Management; Urban Core Art Project; Vocal Pride Foundation (dba Council Oak Mens Chorale); Washington County Historical Society (Oklahoma); Waterworks Art Center; Will Rogers Memorials Museums; Woody Guthrie Center; Woody Guthrie Coalition; and Zoo Safari.