The following is an email letter sent to an indivdual quoted in a regional NY paper on the arts' being of no value to prisoners in future employment efforts.

Dear Mr. Walker-

I would like to offer a perspective in response to the article “Inmate’s Show Won’t Go On” in the Times Herald-Record online, dated May 17, 2009. My hope is to illuminate the simple fact that the arts and arts education mean jobs.

The article notes that you called the prisoner’s original theatre piece “a blatant waste of manpower and funding." It also noted that you asked, "How many of these medium-security convicts do you think will go to Broadway and get a job?" Fortunately, Americans for the Arts has conducted some research to answer your question.

Arts & Economic Prosperity III: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations and Their Audiences documents the key role played by the nonprofit arts and culture industry in strengthening our nation’s economy. This study demonstrates that the nonprofit arts and culture industry is an economic driver in communities—a growth industry that supports jobs, generates government revenue, and is the cornerstone of tourism.

Nationally, the nonprofit arts and culture industry generates $166.2 billion in economic activity every year—$63.1 billion in spending by organizations and an additional $103.1 billion in event-related spending by their audiences. The study is the most comprehensive study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry ever conducted. It documents the economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture industry in 156 communities and regions (116 cities and counties, 35 multicounty regions, and five states), and represents all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The $166.2 billion in total economic activity has a significant national impact, generating the following:

• 5.7 million full-time equivalent jobs
• $104.2 billion in household income
• $7.9 billion in local government tax revenues
• $9.1 billion in state government tax revenues
• $12.6 billion in federal income tax revenues

Our Arts & Economic Prosperity studies continue to be among the most frequently cited statistics used to demonstrate the impact of the nation’s nonprofit arts industry on the local, state, and national economy.

In addition, our Creative Industries research looks more broadly—and perhaps more accurately—at the arts-based jobs that exist in both the nonprofit and the for-profit sectors. This study is, in fact, the first national study that encompasses the arts in both of these sectors.

Creative Industries: Business & Employment in the Arts reports offer a new, research-based approach to understanding the scope and importance of the arts to the nation's economy. By documenting Dun & Bradstreet business and employment data for both the nonprofit and for-profit arts sectors, one can paint a picture of a powerful engine in any community's information economy. What makes this data especially potent is that it can be localized to any city, county, state, region, or political jurisdiction in the country.

To help you to see the widespread use of arts education in the American workforce, I am attaching a map of all of the Creative Industries jobs that are documented in the state of New York. This should help you to imagine the plethora of job possibilities that are a bit—or perhaps much—more available to your inmates given their introduction to the arts that took place in the creation and would-be execution of their theatre piece, Starting Over. This map was originally prepared for and delivered to Senator Schumer.

I am sure you work very hard on behalf of the inmates of the American prison system, as well as its workforce. I hope that this information has helped to show how the arts and arts education can help you and the prison system to reach its goals of positioning former inmates to find and hold gainful employment.

I am at your service if I can offer clarification, information, or further details.

-John

John Abodeely
Arts Education Manager
Americans for the Arts

CC:  Mike Carey, Times Herald Record
Derek Osenenko, Times Herald Record
Donn Rowe, New York State Correctional Officers and Police Belevolent Association, Inc. (and assistant)