Maybe show them to your parent company, too.
The Syllabus
- Stats R Us
- Credit Where Credit’s Due
- Around The World
1. STATS R US
The creative economy is broader than what we think it is. The current definition is…
“an economic ecosystem of for-profit and nonprofit creative industries, artists and artist workforce, educators, entrepreneurs, vendors, policymakers and funders that produce and distribute creativity- and artistic-based goods and services.”
According to the definition above, “the creator economy” includes all of the cultural industries.
I reject the notion that “creator” is one of these catchall tech terms that sounds cool on paper but means absolutely nothing in real life (see: rockstar, ninja, and the current eye-roller: unicorn). Creativity is the coal that powers the businesses we all work and live within, and a “creator” is us. Yes, that includes product marketers, backend developers, and executive assistants. We’re all in this together.
In the same way we study numbers, we should study creativity itself. Instead, the tech community is using AI learning to decide what makes a good screenplay, or marketing copy, or game premise.
We have to get in control of the one thing our industries have that no others do:
The ability to connect on an emotional level.
Now, with THAT in mind, let’s look at some stats about the broader “creative economy.”
A united narrative allows for a better contextual understanding of the worlds we work in. That in turn helps the suits and investors understand how to properly evaluate the work that we do. Which then might allow us to get paid what our work is actually worth.
Arm yourself with numbers, and let’s get that bag.
1. The value of arts and cultural production in America in 2019 was $919.7 billion, amounting to 4.3% of gross domestic product. The arts contribute more to the national economy than construction, transportation and warehousing, travel and tourism, mining, and utilities.
2. The United States had a $33 billion trade surplus in arts and cultural commodities in 2019. America exported $78.1 billion and imported $45.3 billion worth of arts and culture.
3. Performing arts companies and independent artists, writers, and performers added a combined total of $60.9 billion to the U.S. economy in 2019.
4. America’s nonprofit arts industry generates $166.3 billion in economic activity every year, resulting in $27.5 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues.
5. In 2017, 54% of the country’s adult population (133 million adults) attended a live artistic, creative or cultural activity. The same percentage of America’s adult population (54%) created or performed art.
6. There were 5.2 million arts and cultural sector jobs in America in 2017—accounting for 3.3% of all U.S. jobs—which collectively paid workers a total of $446.7 billion.
7. “Creativity, originality and initiative” is the number-three in-demand skill predicted for 2022, especially as the demand for manual skills and physical ability continues to fall.
8. Leading employers see creativity as a critical skill for the future workforce. 50% of opportunities in the job market cite creativity as a necessary skill, and 74% of educators say that the risk of job automation is lower in professions that require creative problem-solving skills.
9. In rural communities, having a single performing arts organization more than doubles the probability that rural businesses in the community will innovate through the use of design services, trademark registration or producing copyright-eligible materials.
10. Arts and cultural goods and services drive industries primarily focused on producing copyrighted content, accounting for nearly half of their combined $1.2 trillion value.
2. SOURCES
- National Endowment for the Arts, The U.S. Arts Economy in 2019: A National Summary Report, and U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, National Data for 1998-2019 (2021)
- U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, National Data for 1998-2019 (2021)
- National Endowment for the Arts, The U.S. Arts Economy in 2019: A National Summary Report, and U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, National Data for 1998-2019 (2021)
- Americans for the Arts, Arts & Economic Prosperity 5: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts & Culture Organizations & Their Audiences (2017)
- National Endowment for the Arts, U.S. Patterns of Arts Participation: A Full Report from the 2017 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (2019)
- U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, National Data for 1998-2019 (2021)
- World Economic Forum, The Future of Jobs Report, 2018
- Adobe, Get Hired: The Importance of Creativity and Soft Skills (2019)
- National Endowment for the Arts, Rural Arts, Design, and Innovation in America (2017)
- National Endowment for the Arts, The U.S. Arts Economy in 2019: A National Summary Report
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3. AROUND THE WORLD
- ICYMI: Here’s the first new Frank Ocean interview in 2 years (FT.com)
- Memo: The Newly Rich (2pm)
- Meet the “genuinfluencers” who don’t want to sell you anything (Vogue Business)
And as always…
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