Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Morristown resident Drew Ogle believes that funding Tennessee nonprofit arts and cultural organizations pays off, and he has the data to prove it. Ogle is the executive director of the Rose Center for the Arts, one of 250 local partners in Americans for the Arts’ latest research study, Arts and Economic Prosperity 5. In order to measure the impact of the nonprofit arts and culture industry in Hamblen county, the Rose Center helped collect data from five local nonprofit arts organizations. The results showed that these organizations created $2 million in spending, provided 62 full-time jobs, and generated $200,000 in tax revenue.

Armed with these statistics, Ogle spoke to the Morristown Area Chamber of Commerce and advocated for increased government funding for nonprofit arts programs. “Currently, there are many threats against arts nonprofits because of the mistaken assumption that they only take from our community and that they don’t give back,” he said. “This study shows that, beyond the public benefit, there is a significant economic return as a result of our investment in the arts.”

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Source Name: 
Citizen Tribune
Author Name: 
Ambria Collins