We Encourage Our Policymakers To:

• Strengthen the work of the Nevada Arts Council by expanding its base budget of $2,078,524 for FY06 and $2,088,075 for FY07 with increases of $425,000 each year, plus another $150,000 in special one-shot initiatives each year to distribute to communities across the state through the agency's varied programs for nonprofit arts organizations, schools, artists and educators.
• Reauthorize the Nevada Commission for Cultural Affairs (CCA), and increase its annual grants budget to $3 million per year for the development of a statewide network of cultural centers through the preservation of significant historic structures throughout Nevada.
• Encourage the development of new cultural facilities in communities throughout the state by issuing a ten-year bond to place $1 million a year in the Nevada Arts Council's Challenge Grant Program.
• Develop and appropriate the Nevada Cultural Trust.
• Recognize and encourage public support of the arts by promoting tax policies that create a beneficial environment for charitable giving, philanthropy and sustainable non-profit organizations.
• Ensure that lifelong learning opportunities in the arts are available to all Nevadans and that every child has an education in the arts.
• Support excellence in design and public art for public and private buildings, parks, and public gathering places.

Government Support for the Arts Is Essential

It is the higher calling of government to honor the worth of creativity and promote its purpose in a civil society. The arts define and unite communities across social and economic boundaries. They bridge divisions of culture, race, gender and age. They provide pathways for personal exploration and understanding. This leads to lasting values, benefits economic diversification and tourism, and develops generations of well-rounded, competitive students in culturally strong and diverse communities.

The Arts Mean Business

• Each year America’s non-profit arts industry generates $134 billion in economic activity.
• $53.2 billion is generated directly by the arts industry.
• Arts audiences produce an additional $80.8 billion in event-related spending.
• Arts-related spending also generates $24.4 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue.
• Cultural tourism is the fastest growing economic market in the country, and the leading reason cited by travelers for visiting a community.
• In 1994, international visitors spent $78 billion in the U.S. 23% of tourists visited museums or art galleries and 16% attended concerts or plays while in this country.

*Source: Arts & Economic Prosperity: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts Organizations and Their Audiences, 2002.

From Las Vegas to Reno, from Elko to Fallon, non-profit arts are an economically sound investment. They promote tourism, spur business development, support and create jobs, help define neighborhoods, further redevelopment efforts, and generate revenue. Locally as well as nationally, the arts mean business.

Arts Education and Access

• Students in all grade levels achieve more when the arts are central to learning.
• Young people who participate in the arts for nine hours each week are 3-4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, be elected to class office, participate in a math and science fair, win an award for school attendance or writing an essay or poem.
• Students achieve higher test scores and stay in school longer.
• Students who study the arts are better prepared to enter the workforce.
• An arts curriculum promotes developmental growth and helps level socio-economic boundaries.
• Arts education has a measurable impact on youth at risk in deterring delinquent behavior and truancy problems.
• Arts education promotes a positive work ethic and strengthens student problem-solving and critical thinking skills, adding to overall academic achievement.
• Students develop craftsmanship, quality task performance and goal-setting skills needed to succeed in the classroom and beyond.

Through strong fine arts core curricula and a broad commitment to arts and culture, our educational systems will develop well-educated citizens equipped with the critical thinking skills and creative talents necessary to compete on a global economic level.

The Nevada Arts Council

Through its services and programs, and in partnership with schools, arts institutions and tribal organizations, the Nevada Arts Council (NAC) reached citizens in all 17 counties in FY2004. NAC awarded 372 grants to Nevada artists and organizations totaling $1.08 million dollars in support of arts and cultural activities statewide. 559 applications were received, requesting more than double the amount available to award.

• Grants program recipients alone have a combined budgetary impact of more than $27 million. Using a conservative multiplier of 1.77, the economic impact of these grantees is more than $48 million.