In an editorial for the New London Day, Lisa McGinley discusses the impact that the arts and culture sector has on the economy as a whole. The first, “Jobs in New England’s Creative Economy and Why They Matter,” just released by the New England Foundation for the Arts and the Public Policy Research group of the UMass Donahue Institute (UMDI), shows that creatives are pioneering the new “gig economy,” a model now gaining traction in other sectors as a lifelong career with a single employer becomes rare.
The other study is Arts and Economic Prosperity 5, a newly-released study from Americans for the Arts that measures the economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture sector. In New London Country, arts and culture nonprofits generate $168.4 million per year. The local data for the study was gathered in partnership with the Southeastern Connecticut Cultural Coalition for which McGinley serves as co-chair.