Maine arts nonprofits support more than 7.3K jobs, study finds
Classic Albums Live plays The Eagles' greatest hits at the University of Maine Collins Center for the Arts in March. (Photo by Ron Lisnet)
Maine’s nonprofit arts and cultural organizations support more than 7,300 jobs, a new study has found.
University of Maine economist Todd Gabe identified more than 1,400 nonprofit organizations — including libraries, museums, theaters, musical groups and historical societies — using Internal Revenue Service data. Gabe’s study, released this week, estimates that those organizations directly employ more than 5,600 people, paying them more than $125 million.
The groups support more than 7,300 jobs statewide when factoring in suppliers and household spending, the study found. The organizations contributed an estimated $226 million to labor income and $660 million in economic output across the state, according to the study.
“Most of these organizations are quite small, but collectively, they are sizable in terms of their employment and their economic impact,” Gabe said.
Some of the groups in the study include the Portland Museum of Art, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Penobscot Theatre Company in Bangor, as well as small libraries and art galleries. The study was funded by a federal grant and conducted with input from the Cultural Alliance of Maine.
The study also found that Maine has the third-highest concentration of nonprofit arts and cultural groups per capita in the country, behind Washington, D.C., and Vermont, at 103 per 100,000 residents. Maine also has the third-highest number of nonprofit museums, theaters and historical preservation societies per capita in the U.S., and the second-highest number of libraries per capita, Gabe said.
The study is part of Gabe’s ongoing research into the economic value of arts and culture. He has studied Maine’s creative economy since the early 2000s.
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Tagged: arts, economic impact, maine economy, museums
Ray Routhier has written about pop culture, movies, TV, music and lifestyle trends for the Portland Press Herald since 1993. He is continually fascinated with stories that show the unique character of. More by Ray Routhier
