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CONTACT: Rebecca DallaGrana

NONPROFIT ARTS, CULTURAL TOURISM HAVE STATEWIDE ECONOMIC IMPACT

PIERRE, S.D. - South Dakotans buying tickets to arts events and paying salaries to museum administrators are boosting America’s prosperity. According to a recently completed survey by the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, the economies of our state and nation are being significantly affected by arts spending.

Americans for the Arts has announced the findings from Arts & Economic Prosperity IV, the fourth economic impact study of nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences. The largest and most comprehensive survey of its kind ever conducted, the report shows that the arts industry continues to serve as an economic engine, pumping billions of dollars into the US economy.

In South Dakota, Arts & Economic Prosperity IV examined the economic impact of the arts in the Sioux Falls and Aberdeen metro areas in addition to the statewide survey of nonprofit arts industry and cultural tourism spending.

 “We will be studying the statistical data and wealth of numbers generated by this study throughout the summer,” said Michael Pangburn, executive director of the South Dakota Arts Council. “Along with our colleagues in Aberdeen and Sioux Falls, we will be compiling our own local reports to illustrate the importance of the arts to our communities and our state. Combined with an Americans for the Arts study conducted earlier in the Black Hills by the Rapid City Arts Council, we will be able to present a comprehensive portrait of the South Dakota arts industry later this summer.”

In collaboration with Americans for the Arts, Arts & Economic Prosperity IV was made possible in South Dakota through the participation of the South Dakota Arts Council, South Dakotans for the Arts, Aberdeen Area Arts Council, Sioux Falls Arts Council, and the South Dakota Department of Tourism.

 “The arts in South Dakota have proven to be a vital element of our economy, through cultural tourism, through education and through local job production,” said South Dakotans for the Arts Executive Director Pat Boyd. “The Americans for the Arts survey underscores how important it is for South Dakota to maintain local and statewide support of our arts and culture industry.”

The Arts Council is an office of the South Dakota Department of Tourism, which is comprised of Tourism, the South Dakota Arts Council, and the South Dakota State Historical Society. The Department is led by Secretary James D. Hagen.