A report released by the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and the San Diego Regional Arts and Culture Coalition shows that the arts community continues to positively contribute to San Diego’s local economy.

The city distributed approximately $6 million in transient occupancy tax (TOT) dollars to 70 arts-based and cultural organizations in 2010, said Mayor Jerry Sanders at an April 7 press conference. That investment, he said, pays for itself many times over.

“These 70 organizations employ some 7,000 employees and have an estimated $173 million in economic impact on the local economy,” said Sanders. “In fiscal year 2010, nearly 1.5 million people visited San Diego, and all those visitors spent money, pumping almost three quarters of a billion dollars into the local economy by visiting our hotels, eating in our restaurants, and shopping in our stores.”

The report further noted that due to the 4,290 arts-related businesses located within the San Diego region, San Diego ranks among the top eight cities nationally in terms of arts-related business communities.

Those businesses, Sanders said, employ more than 22,000 people.

“No city can be a great city without a thriving arts and culture community,” he said. “Even in this tough economy, the strength of the local art scene remains undeniable, whether it’s near capacity crowds at the opera or the overwhelming response to this year’s 100th anniversary of the symphony.”

Asked if cuts to the arts and culture budget were being considered amidst the city’s economic woes, Sanders said funding for arts programs would continue, noting that a strong arts program also helps recruit large businesses into
the region.

“There are no cuts in the public arts program this year,” he said. “When you talk about large companies who are thinking about moving here, they all ask about the symphony, the opera, and public arts. We have a better chance of attracting companies and corporations to San Diego, and retaining the ones we have, when we have a strong economic engine that the arts provide.”