There was no doubt that a study on Salina's nonprofit arts organizations would show they add a multi-million boost to our economy. After all, Americans for the Arts, Washington, D.C., conducted the study. As professional skeptics, we expect such arrangements to yield a positive outcome.
Additionally, if the news were bad then no press conference would have been held announcing the results, like the one Wednesday afternoon. At the gathering John Highkin, executive director of the Salina Arts and Humanities Commission, reported that the study says Salina's nonprofit arts and culture organizations generate $23.75 million annually in economic activity and support 815 full-time equivalent jobs that produce $12.77 million in household income to local residents.
Holy curtain call. That's a lot of money. In fact, it's nearly unbelievable. Let's run some numbers of our own.
Tens of thousands will pay to get into this weekend's Smoky Hill River Festival, where they will spend untold thousands on everything from popcorn to art -- some art pieces sell for four-figure prices. Many of those visitors also buy fuel, groceries and hotel rooms.
Now imagine the thousands more visitors that attend the Salina Community Theatre and the Stiefel. Consider several other arts activities that attract folks and their credit cards, like the Art Center Cinema, the Salina Art Center and the Smoky Hill Museum.
This is starting to add up. Let's say the optimum visiting couple spends $80 on a hotel room, $60 on a tank of gas, $50 for drinks, dinner and tip at a nice Salina restaurant, plus another $20 on fast food and snacks. Each ticket to an event might go for $5 to $40, so let's figure $40 for two. That's $250 for a one-night stay, not including shopping. To be fair, let's use half that amount for our estimates, or $125.
Now let's say Salina averages 50,000 visitors a year. (A substantial portion of that amount comes to the three-day river festival alone.) That's $6.5 million in direct spending. Those dollars generate other transactions, like when servers take their tips and buy clothes. That's called the roll over. New dollars roll over from one to seven times in a community, depending on the economist doing the calculations. If our $6.5 million rolls over twice, then we are near the $24 million predicted in this study.
Hmm. That unbelievable number is starting to make sense. Perhaps we shouldn't be so skeptical after all.
-- Tom Bell
Editor & Publisher
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