Arts and culture injected $186.8 million into San Diego’s economy during the past fiscal year, according to a report Thursday by the city’s Commission on Arts and Culture.
The report said arts organizations earned $97 million in sales, collected $90 million in donations and also received government funding, significant successes though much of the recent arts dialogue has centered on the possible closure of the San Diego Opera.
The commission said it distributed $6 million in city funding to 72 groups, which generated more than 1,900 full-time jobs. Another 6,500 jobs rely in some way on arts and culture in San Diego, according to the report.
The local arts payroll was $108.8 million, the commission said.
Among the organizations supported by the commission are playhouses, museums and specialty groups like the Balboa Park Online Collaborative, which creates online archives for museums.
The commission usually releases its impact report annually, but skipped last year, when the organization was without an executive director. Dana Springs is currently serving as in the role on an interim basis.
The report said of the 33 million visitors to San Diego over the one-year period, about 1.6 million came for arts and culture, and those travelers stayed twice as long and spent twice as much money. That’s 3.8 days and $561, respectively.
The report comes at a time when a prominent member of the arts community, the San Diego Opera, is struggling for survival. It is set to close this month, though the closure has been postponed twice.
– City News Service
