White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 11implementation of a new permanent ortemporary cultural project and the risein correlated economic activitiesenabling residents, and those directly orindirectly involved, to make additionalincome, which they spend – oftenlavishly – as they wish in their local area.This additional income and theconsequent spending on consumergoods and services makes up the thirdlevel of induced activities which, whenadded to the previous two, gives theoverall value of the economic impact ofan event.But impact analyses can go even further,since they can estimate the rise in sales,added value, income and jobs, thusenabling us to understand how manynew enterprises have been created, howfar the intellectual emigration has beenhalted (keeping in the local area skilledresources otherwise missing or destinedto emigrate), the effect of activities onenterprises and their employees, andhow far wholesalers gather additionalresources which they may spend, thustriggering multiplicative mechanisms.The sum of the three impacts (direct,indirect and induced) corresponds tothe increases in sales, incomes, valueadded and jobs in the area due to anevent and can help us understand thebenefits for the local economy from aninvestment made by public, private ormixed stakeholders in order to stagethat event.The diffusion of studies on theeconomic impact of institutions andcultural eventsIn Italy, economic impact studies mainlyfocus on the tourist sector, even thoughthere is almost a complete lack of themin the cultural field. Initial attempts (P.Leon, Cless; P. Valentino, Civita) wereaimed not so much at assessing theimpact ex post of investments in thefield of culture as assessing theirprofitability ex ante in order to selectprojects. The focus was thus not somuch on the direct impact on localsociety, but rather the direct impact onthe possible ways of exploitingmuseums, parks, castles, etc.The lack of studies may be explained bymethodological backwardness, opaque,rudimentary accounting systems incultural institutions, the scarcity andinaccuracy of visitor surveys, and anunwillingness by public and privatestakeholders to finance feasibilitystudies for initiatives deemed to havefew economic benefits, combined with alack of available data and surveys onwhich to base research projects.Outside Italy, the situation changesdramatically: impact analysis is a keypart of any cultural project, which isthus endowed with a positive, powerfuland attractive tool capable ofconvincing public and privatestakeholders, often – understandably –sceptical when confronted with bolddeclarations basically unsubstantiatedbecause of disarmingly vague figures.According to the latest Americans forthe Arts survey (2004), in the UnitedStates the arts sector generated revenuesof 234 billion dollars: 80.8 billion werespent by visitors on relatedconsumption (restaurants, hotels,parking, transport, fuel, retail items,souvenirs, etc.); 53.2 billion wereinvested (e.g. in new buildings ortechnological equipment) and spent byWHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 266