2006 Portfolio by Cultural Alliance

2006 Portfolio

Arts as Industry

Southeastern Pennsylvania. The balance are “general” positions, which typically include management, accounting, legal, or human resources. 8,800 persons are employed directly by arts and cultural organizations and another 5,400 are contract employees. Contract employees are typically self-employed individuals (the vast majority of whom are artists) or employees contracted through other employers (such as accountants through a financial firm or guards through a security agency).

Arts and cultural organizations rely on their employees for the products—plays, performances, art classes, exhibits—that they present to the public as the “products” of the industry. Without a highly trained and highly educated workforce within these organizations, there would be no cultural resources for those of us who live here and for the millions of visitors attracted to Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Arts and cultural organizations are responsible for a grand total of $235 million in wages and benefits spent on their employees. The bulk of this sum, $183 million, is spent on wages (78% of the total), $14.5 million spent on health care costs (6% of employee costs), and $14.4 million on pensions and retirement funds (6%). 74% of this workforce is employed by organizations with budgets of over $1 million (the Large and Very Large organizations combined). Part-time staff positions are a higher percentage of the staff at small and medium organizations.

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