From the Research Team

Creative Economy State Profiles Workshop

NASAA’s research team recently hosted an inaugural Research Workshop to take a closer look at the Creative Economy State Profiles, an interactive tool for engaging with the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’s Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (ACPSA) data.

The workshop began by reviewing ACPSA data—value added, employment and compensation of arts and culture—at the state level. After the initial walkthrough of how to use the State Profiles and an explanation of the technical terms, the workshop divided into smaller breakout rooms to offer personalized guides for the states present. Each breakout room also discussed technical aspects, challenges and strategies for using the State Profiles. The workshop concluded with the breakout rooms reporting insights out to the larger group. Take a look at the session recording and peruse these key themes drawn from our conversations:

Key Themes

Strengths of Creative Economy State Profiles: Testimony and other advocacy efforts are bolstered by solid data that show that arts and culture have a substantial role in state economies. Data coming from a federal non-arts source lend credibility to testimony and demonstrate the value of the arts.

Challenges to using State Profiles: It may be difficult to understand and communicate the differences between ACPSA data and other creative economy studies. Additionally, ACPSA data do not include self-employed/gig artists, just wage and salary employment data.

Future Considerations for State Profiles: Breakout rooms discussed creation of a primer on the federal entities that collect economic data on the creative sectors. States could use more resources (or be directed to more resources) on how to package the ACPSA data as part of a larger advocacy campaign or narrative.

COVID and State Profiles: ACPSA data from 2019 (pre-COVID) are an important part of recovery strategies that include the arts. The pandemic presents a paradigm shift and an opportunity to rethink strategies for accounting for and classifying arts and cultural sectors.

For any further questions about the Creative Economy State Profiles or other creative economy research, please do not hesitate to contact Patricia Mullaney-Loss or Ryan Stubbs. Stay tuned for more updates and look out for a future research workshop on state arts agency fiscal year 2022 revenues at the end of July.