From the report's Introduction and Key Findings:
"This Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis compares the public and private investment into the Illinois nonprofit arts and culture field to the social and economic value it creates for the individuals who experience the programs as participants, audience members, visitors and event-goers, and for society as a whole.
Arts and culture programs encompass performing, visual, and fine arts as well as heritage, folklife, digital media, applied arts such as architecture and graphic design, and other creative activities. Arts and culture programs are quite diverse, and while some focus on the generation, sharing, and experiencing of art in its various forms, many arts and culture programs are preventative in nature or use arts and culture as an intervention strategy. The following activities and characteristics are illustrative of many arts and culture programs:
- Provide classes, workshops, and camps to youth and adults focused on developing artistic skills and using arts to give voice to or address social issues
- Promote, produce, or provide access to a variety of arts and culture experiences
- Stimulate curiosity, creativity, and thinking
- Use art as a therapeutic tool to explore and address trauma, and to support improved mental and physical health more broadly
- Run activities and events to promote community engagement and civic pride
- Provide leadership and employment opportunities for youth and adults
- Provide forums for artists to meet and engage in critique and shared learning
- Saving and restoring historic sites, properties, and artifacts
- Collect and preserve artifacts and archival materials
- Hands on training focused on preservation and conservation skills
- Support cultural, educational, and social organizations and events
Key Findings
Almost $1.9 billion is invested in over 1,400 Illinois nonprofits that do arts and culture work, and those groups engage individuals over 38 million times each year. Only 7% of that investment is from public sources, and the remainder is from private sources like foundations as well as earned income from ticket sales, membership dues, and the like. What does this investment in Illinois’s arts and culture field yield?
- Every dollar invested into the Illinois nonprofit arts and culture field generates an estimated $27 in socio-economic value.
- $23 of this socio-economic value accrues to individuals participating in nonprofit arts and culture programs, events, and activities.
- $4 of this socio-economic value accrues to society through increased tax revenue, increased spending in the state due to arts and culture jobs, and the ripple effect of audience spending in Illinois.
The real utility of an SROI lies in its ability to reveal if and how our investments into programs pay off. And on that, this SROI of the nonprofit arts and culture field in Illinois is clear: investing in arts and culture yields dividends."
