The Chicago Tribune is reporting today on a new study by Americans for the Arts, that claims that Chicago's non-profit arts and cultural industry generated over US$1 billion in revenue (500m pounds, 800m euros) in 2005, supporting the equivalent of 30,000 full-time jobs and creating an extra $100 million in public fees for the Chicago and Illinois governments. Now of course, let's not forget that the report itself is political in nature -- it aims to show local lawmakers exactly how much revenue is generated through the arts these days, and especially how profoundly such money actually stays in local neighborhoods -- but still, even a conservative view of that figure turns out to be a lot higher than most expect, including myself.

Americans for the Arts has an excellent point to make about all this, in fact, which is that cultural activities actually generate more revenue for local neighborhoods than a lot of commercial entities, the ones that city councils are always so anxious to lure. For example, their report shows that besides the admission fee itself, Chicagoans spend an average of another $38 on local expenses every time they go on a cultural outing, including fees for parking, babysitters, food, souvenirs and the like; this is money that stays in that community, the group argues, instead of being shipped off to a franchise's national headquarters. And let's not forget, most arts jobs would be extremely difficult to outsource to another country, making them actually more stable than many white-collar jobs.

Anyway, it's an interesting report that I encourage you to check out, if you have the time. And meanwhile, it begs the question -- what have you been doing lately to support your favorite artists and cultural groups?