Utah’s cultural industries support more jobs than before the coronavirus pandemic, and the film and recording industry is growing faster than any other sector, according to a new report.
Cultural industries such as film, performing arts, museums and publishing will spend $14.9 billion and directly support nearly 70,000 jobs in 2022, according to a report released Friday by the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. It turned out that it was supported.
That’s more than 4,000 more jobs than the comparable number of jobs in 2019, before the pandemic. There are about 10,000 more jobs than in 2020, when the pandemic began.
About 2,000 of the jobs added in 2022 compared to 2021 were in the film and sound industry, Ernesto Balderas, interim executive director of the Utah Cultural Alliance, said Friday at a press conference at the Utah State Capitol. Stated.
This is a 35.5% increase in Utah’s film industry, the highest of any state in the nation, he said.
(Francisco Djorses | Salt Lake Tribune) Ernesto Banderas, Interim Director of the Utah Cultural Alliance, spoke at a press conference at the Utah State Capitol on Friday, February 2, 2024, highlighting the year-over-year increase in employment in the cultural industries. announced that the number is positive. .
Balderas said much of that growth “is due to the establishment of the Rural Film Economy Incentive Program, which indicates we will continue to see growth if this program continues.”
A bill to extend the Rural Film Incentive Program HB78 has passed the Utah House of Representatives and awaits consideration in the Senate.
Rep. Jefferson Moss (R-Saratoga Springs, House Majority Leader) said the cultural industries “represent a very good return on investment for Utah.”
Moss noted in statistics from the Gardner Institute report that cultural industries “generated approximately $477 million in direct tax revenue” in 2022.
(Francisco Djorses | Salt Lake Tribune) House Minority Leader Jefferson Moss (R-Saratoga Springs) said at a news conference Friday at the Utah State Capitol that the cultural industry offers “a very good return on investment for Utah.” It’s bringing that,” he said. , February 2, 2024.
“We also benefit from the state’s diverse outdoor recreational, historical and cultural opportunities, which greatly help support the state’s $11 billion tourism industry,” Moss said. said. “Over the past five years, approximately 13 percent of Utah visitors have come here primarily for cultural offerings. …Utah has generated approximately $780 million in direct spending. [for] Utah’s economy. ”
Friday’s press conference was part of Cultural Industries Advocacy Day at the Utah State Capitol, where the Rotunda was packed with people representing many of the state’s major cultural institutions and businesses. Booths from organizations such as Megaplex Theater, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art in Salt Lake City, Kimball Art Center in Park City, Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, Zoo Arts Park (ZAP) in Salt Lake County, and the Utah Library Association. Personnel were assigned to. .
(Francisco Djorses | Salt Lake Tribune) On Friday, February 2, 2024, Utah State Capitol Hill hosts Cultural Industries Advocacy Day celebrating arts, film, libraries, humanities, museums, and STEM, and kids learn about chemistry. Experience foam gnomes through reactions.
Friday’s celebration also highlighted the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Utah Department of Arts and Museums, the nation’s first state arts and culture institution, director Vicki Bones said.
Mr. Bones read Governor Spencer Cox’s proclamation declaring February as “Utah Art Museum Month.” Part of this declaration reads: Meanwhile, participation in art, museums, and other cultural activities develops the skills needed to solve 21st century problems. ”
Early last year, the department lost its longtime office space in the Glending Mansion, which also housed Alice Gallery, named for the department’s founder, former Utah Rep. Alice Merrill Horn. The mansion, located on the same block as the governor’s official residence, Kearns Mansion, was repurposed for Cox’s safety. The department is currently located in temporary office space in Mill Creek.
(IFC Films) Kyle Gallner (left) and Grace Van Dien star in Amy Redford’s thriller “What Comes Around.” The film, released in 2023, was shot over 16 days in Park City during the COVID-19 pandemic. A report from the Gardner Institute found that Utah’s film industry will see significant growth in 2022.
The findings of the Gardner Institute report include:
• Utah’s $14.9 billion in direct spending on cultural industries supports approximately 70,000 jobs and represents just over 3% of Utah’s total product in 2022 ($9.8 billion in 2020, $9.8 billion in 2021) (In 2017, it was $12.8 billion).
• Approximately 70,000 jobs also increased by 7.2% year-on-year from 2021. The report says this is “the fourth highest year-on-year growth rate among all employment sectors, behind leisure and hospitality, information, and natural resources and mining.”
• Of all jobs in Utah, 8.4% are supported “directly or indirectly” by cultural industries, up from 7.5% in 2021.
• The sector that added the most jobs from 2021 to 2022 (1,970 total) was the motion picture and sound recording sector. But radio, television and social media broadcasting fell the most, with about 1,000 jobs lost.
• The report also found that the ’employment profile’ of the cultural industries is changing. For example, 10 years ago marketing, advertising and design accounted for 26.2% of his work, but now he accounts for 32.4%.
• In 2013, 15.7% of jobs came from the publishing and broadcasting sector, but in 2022, only 9.2%.
• The Utah Legislature increased funding for the cultural sector in 2020, but cut funding for the Utah Museum of Art by $2 million in fiscal years 2023 and 2024.