Arts and Economic Prosperity 5 (AEP5), a new study by Americans for the Arts, found that southern Florida reaps economic benefits from the nonprofit arts and culture industry. In Broward County, Americans for the Arts worked with the Broward County Cultural Division to collect data on local arts nonprofits; the study found that arts and cultural organizations and their audiences generated more than $400 million in economic activity.

 In Miami-Dade County, the numbers were even bigger; in partnership with the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, AEP5 reported that arts and culture nonprofits there had an annual economic impact of more than $1 billion and created 29,792 full-time jobs.

“The data is clear,” Broward Cultural Division director Earl Bosworth said in a statement. “The arts are not a charity; they are an industry.”