Arts Economy
Arts and culture are important to New Mexico, and in November of 2004, 600 people gathered at the Lensic Performing Arts Center to hear about the findings from a study of the city of Santa Fe, funded by the McCune, Burnett, and Azalea Foundations. It was revealed that four out of every ten dollars that come into Santa Fe from outside the county are directly related to arts and culture, and that 22 percent of the jobs in the city of Santa Fe are from the arts-and-culture sector. The impact of arts and culture on the city's economy is six times the national average and twice that of the next ranked city. The study also revealed disturbing trends that must be addressed as we move forward in promoting the arts: the shortage of affordable housing, the lack of care for aspiring artists, and the emigration of our younger population between the ages of 20 and 40 from Santa Fe to find jobs elsewhere.
The city is moving forward in partnership with local educational and arts-and-culture enterprises to formulate a plan to advance this sector of our city's economy that has a clear competitive advantage. We believe these efforts have the potential to be transferred to other parts of the state, e.g. Taos, Albuquerque, Gallup, and Silver City.