1. The Dallas Morning News offers this roundup of North Texas attractions for Super Bowl visitors, and there are some local artist-onados on the list: UT Dallas art professor Richard Brettel (says check out Dallas City Hall), the Granada Theater’s Michael Schoder (head to the arboretum), the Kessler Theater’s artistic director, Jeff Liles (don’t miss Bolsa), the Dallas Film Society’s James Faust (grab a drink at Lakewood Landing), and the artistic director of the Dallas Theater Center, Kevin Moriarty (Third Fridays in the Dallas Arts District is where it is happening).
2. The New York Times (via their partnership with The Texas Tribune) offers this look at the impact arts have on Texas towns via the Texas Cultural Trust:
Creative industries — from advertising to dance companies to book publishing — generate $4.5 billion per year in economic activity for Texas. To highlight that fact, the trust, in association with the Texas Commission on the Arts, is releasing a new report this week, prepared by TXP Inc., an Austin-based consulting firm, and paid for with federal stimulus dollars.
3 Speaking of reports, The City of Dallas and the Dallas Arts District will take part in the America for the Arts’ National Economic Impact Study, a national survey that will try to assess the impact the arts have on economies throughout the United States. If the report remains in line with previous reports, you can guess the answer: the impact is huge.
According to Americans for the Arts most recent national study, the national nonprofit arts industry generated 5.7 million jobs and $166.2 billion in total economic activity during 2005, resulting in $29.6 billion in federal, state and local government revenues. The $166.2 billion total included $63.1 billion in spending by arts organizations and $103.1 billion in event-related spending by their audiences on items such as meals, local transportation and overnight lodging.
