Chicago Tribune: The economic impact of the entertainment industry on downtown Chicago is an easy case to make. And there have been plenty of people making it for years. As long ago as 2007, Broadway in Chicago was claiming that its shows resulted in a whopping $635 million in additional spending. In September, the Chicago Loop Alliance raised the ante even more, arguing that the arts in the Loop were responsible for $2.25 billion (yes, billion) in economic activity annually. The Loop Alliance also zeroed in on the theater (in honor of 2019 being the Year of Chicago Theatre), claiming that 11 performing arts centers downtown resulted in “$90 million spent by visitors on tickets and admissions ... and nearly 6,000 full-time-equivalent jobs supported by theatre in the Loop.”
2 comments:
It is really encouraging to see someone really ran the number for these activities that traditionally didn't get numbers on. And I think the number is even more stunning than what the author got in the article. Presumably by the nature of all there "store front" productions they are conducting more interactions between patrons and the venue. Since the venues are also the store when there is no performance taking place, the productions vitalized the off hour of the stores. Contrast to the professional theaters, these versatile events blend in people's daily lives more easily and thus might creating more commercial activities along with them. The other important part I see in these is the accessibility of the productions. No doubt storefront style productions open the door of cultural life to both artists and citizens with lower capital in their hand. Box offices and promotions happening for these events also generate jobs and made different path of careers possible. As a conclusion, I really value this kind of performing art and the possibilities it provides.
I agree with Hsin that this article makes me really happy to see statistics run a group of theatres that don’t usually have statistics about them. In my Revolutions of Science Philosophy class, we talked about why humans rely on mathematical representations of the world and love when data is translated into numbers. We talked about people finding patterns a lot more easily and we talk about how people trust the numbers. I definitely agree that people trust numbers over testimonials so hopefully, these findings help storefront theatres out in Chicago. I love that this article legitimizes the impact of storefront theatre. I will always tell my friends who ask me what should I see when I’m in New York that they should see the off-off-Broadway stuff where the theatre is less about spectacle and more about telling a beautiful story. The most impactful theatre in my life that I’ve seen has all been in less than 99 seat theatres shows like John and Jen, Homos and Everybody Else in America, The Invisible Thread, Notes From the Field, and Buy/Sell/Date. I loved this article and seeing how much money small theatre brings in.
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