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2012 Creative Industries Reports
Nationally (as of January 1, 2012), there are 905,689 businesses in the United States involved in the creation or distribution of the arts that employ 3.35 million people which represents 4.42 percent of all businesses and 2.15 percent of all employees.
In advocacy, knowledge is power, but jobs are persuasion. Using data from Dun & Bradstreet—widely acknowledged as the most comprehensive and trusted source for business information in the United States—Creative Industries: Business & Employment in the Arts reports offer a research-based approach to understanding the scope and importance of the arts to the nation's economy. While most economic impact studies of the arts have focused on the nonprofit sector (such as our own Arts and Economic Prosperity studies), Creative Industries is the first national study that encompasses both the nonprofit and for-profit arts industries.
Downloadable Reports:
- Comparative
- Detailed reports comparing the findings for the 50 U.S. states, the 100 most populated U.S. cities, the 100 most populated U.S. counties, and all 435 U.S. congressional districts
- Detailed reports comparing the findings for the 50 U.S. states, the 100 most populated U.S. cities, the 100 most populated U.S. counties, and all 435 U.S. congressional districts
Putting the Data to Work
By documenting Dun & Bradstreet business and employment data for both the nonprofit and for-profit arts sectors, you can paint a picture of a powerful engine in your community's information economy. What makes this data especially potent is that it can be localized to any city, county, state, region, or political jurisdiction in the country, and it can be updated annually so that you can track trend data.
View a list of key points (pdf, 41KB) on how this data provides a valuable visibility and advocacy tool for advancing the arts.
Defining the Creative Industries
We have taken a conservative approach to defining the Creative Industries by focusing solely on businesses involved in the production or distribution of the arts. For the purposes of this study, the Creative Industries are composed of arts-centric businesses that range from nonprofit museums, symphonies, and theaters to for-profit film, architecture, and advertising companies. We have guarded against overstatement of the sector by excluding industries such as computer programming and scientific research—both creative, but not focused on the arts.
View a summary of the Creative Industries Classifications.
Our Data
The source of our data is Dun & Bradstreet—widely acknowledged as the most comprehensive and trusted source for business information in the United States—which provides very specific and reliable data about employment and the number of arts-centric businesses in both the nonprofit and for-profit arts. Our analyses demonstrate an under-representation of nonprofit arts organizations in the Dun & Bradstreet database, and consequently, in our data. Additionally, many individual artists are not included, as not all are employed by a business.
Learn how to participate in our Creative Industries Study— Sign Up and Be Counted!
Have questions or concerns? Find an error in your report? Please contact us by e-mail or call us at 202.371.2830.