"What do a waiter, a violinist, a printer and a parking attendant have in common?

They all earn money from cultural events in Portland.

And those dollars add up. Arts groups in the three county area pumped $253 million into the local economy in 2010, a new study concludes. Those dollars supported 8,529 full-time jobs, making the arts the region's 14th largest employer, the study found.

Those numbers are down from 2007, when the last study found that Portland-area cultural groups generated $318 million and supported 10,321 jobs. But the previous study included money from the Oregon Zoo, which the current study does not.

Americans for the Arts, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. and New York, released their study Friday. Called Arts & Economic Prosperity IV, it measured the economic impact of cultural activities in 182 communities in all 50 states.

Cultural groups in Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties spent $152 million on salaries, supplies, and services in 2010. Audiences generated an additional $101 million in related spending. They paid for parking, ate in restaurants, stayed in hotels, shopped in stores, or paid a babysitter. Attendees spent an average of $21.84 per person, per event, not including the cost of admission, the study found. The ripple effect produced $21 million in local and state government revenue.

In the Portland region, attendance at 193 organizations was 4.6 million in 2010."

The Oregonian 06/08/2012