Eve Lamb
The arts are worth a whopping $107 million per annum to the wider Mount Alexander Shire the latest analysis of state government data has found.
The findings come as local peak business group Business Mount Alexander launches a new project aimed at enhancing the commercial clout and business savvy of local creatives.
“That $107 million per annum finding comes from state government figures and it includes all the flow-on from the arts like visitations to the area and spend on retail, hospitality and accommodation as well as what artists themselves spend in other businesses to create their work,” Business Mount Alexander’s Jacqueline Brodie-Hanns says.
The findings on the economic contribution made by the arts to the shire’s economy also comes as more than 100 local artists welcome visitors to their studios as part of the shire’s annual Arts Open program over this Labour Day long weekend and the following weekend.
The impressive figures highlighting the worth of the arts in their myriad forms coincides also with local arts-rich festivals including this weekend’s Harcourt Applefest and also Castlemaine Idyll and the Fantastico Variety Show later this month.
Business Mount Alexander is preparing to stage a two-day conference to be held in Castlemaine next month, bringing the shire’s creatives and business brains together to network, collaborate, and beef up the business savvy of local creatives while also … Read more in today’s Mail
