Sheila Smith (Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts and Chair, Creative Minnesota) presented the Big Stone County Report on March 22nd at the Ortonville Community Center.

Creative Minnesota, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, Big Stone Arts Council, Big Stone Area Growth and the Ortonville EDA released a new study indicating that the arts have a large impact on Big Stone County!  “Nonprofit arts and culture organizations contribute to the vibrancy of Minnesota’s economy and quality of life and make our state a magnet for jobs and businesses.  Now we can quantify that in Big Stone County,”  said Sheila Smith “In addition to providing life-changing experiences, educational opportunities and accessibility to audiences of all ages in their stages and museums, arts and culture organizations are important employers and economic engines.

$400,000 = Economic impact of art and culture organizations, audiences and artists in Big Stone County.  To note, the impacts of the arts in Big Stone County do not include the annual Meander Upper Minnesota River Art Crawl which brings a large number of people to our County each year – Becky Stattelman of the Red Barn noted the tracking for 2017 reflects about 1,000 people stopped at their location.  The impacts of the Meander would be reflected in the County that houses the managing organization.  The 2016 Meander Economic Impact report is posted on the UMVRDC website – check it out on this link!

… and thanks to Kristi Fernholz of UMVRDC, here is the 2017 Meander Economic Impacts!

Details from the Big Stone County Creative Minnesota report can be found on the ArtsMN.org Website:  Link to report

The following video is the complete presentation including the questions & answers at the end.