York County’s arts and outdoor sectors collectively employ more than 8,000 York County citizens and are resilient drivers of York County’s economy, increasing employment by 30% in the last decade alone. We want a stronger infrastructure to invest in our artistic, cultural and outdoor services and the organizations that protect them, so that we can further increase their economic impact.
That’s the sweet short conclusion of a report released jointly last week through the York County Economic Alliance and the York County Cultural Alliance.
Together, we have partnered to publish a comprehensive study to map the cultural and outdoor assets that exist in York County, quantify the scope and effect of the spaces that support them, and consider the most productive practices to invest more in maintaining and expanding those assets. This review was conducted through Fourth Economy Consulting, with whom YCEA first partnered to expand York County’s 10-year Economic Action Plan (EAP) in 2020.
In fact, this joint review was a key piece of advice from the York County Economic Action Plan Site Quality Task Force and is consistent with the EAP’s broader purpose of evolving the economic strategy of our leadership to be place-based and people-centered. The EAP was not intended to sit on a shelf, but rather to equip our network with policy advice for more people, organizations, and businesses than York County’s outdoor arts and recreation economies.
While there are significant similarities and overlaps between the culture and outdoor sectors, there are also a number of differences, adding how entities are organized within sectors and how each sector has fared from the COVID pandemic.
First, the outdoor sector in York County is giant and growing. From previous studies, we know that statewide outdoor recreation generates $29 billion a year, employs 251,000 Pennsylvanians, and supports 7,730 businesses.
In York County, 5,240 York County citizens are employed in the economy, a 14% increase since 2010. This is higher than York County’s employment figures for the combined real estate, finance and insurance sectors. Even in salaries alone, York’s sector generates less than $135 million each year.
These statistics don’t come with restaurants, lodging and others that derive part of their source of income from outdoor visitors. And we know there are a lot of them, from Jackson House B
Speaking of state parks, in late September, Governor Wolf announced the creation of York County’s fourth state park: Susquehanna Riverlands State Park on 1,100 acres of land at the confluence of Codorus Creek and the Susquehanna River. As York County’s 3 existing state parks receive 2 million visits both a year, they generate $44 million in customer spending and 420 jobs. This is consistent with statistics that both one and both dollars invested in public lands return $12 to the local and national economy.
The new park reminds us that we can and will continue to invest in new outdoor assets, adding parks, trails and preserved open spaces, so that we can continue to expand our outdoor sector, adding through the comparison of new and complex investment mechanisms in other communities described in the report.
This is not to say that the report shows only positive trends. One point of fear knowledge is that the average outdoor job in York County will pay just over $30,000 (compared to a living wage in our county of $33,000), meaning the sector doesn’t create helping jobs in the family circle on average. This can be largely attributed to the increased number of seasonal and part-time positions in the sector, but it also highlights an attractive opportunity to create greater pathways of workforce progression for the outdoor sector. ; creation of open-air and enterprise-owned production jobs; and publicize participation in outdoor recreational activities in grades that may provide more full-time employment opportunities throughout the year.
Like our economy, our cultural network in York is extensive, with another 105 cultural partners spread across our cities and neighbourhoods known in this report. This is critical for our local economies: creatives can recover a local economy much faster than other sectors because they are independent and unaffected by chains of origin and other problems.
$0. 83 of one and both one and both one and both dollars invested in an artist return to York retail stores in supplies, rents and other business expenses. For artistic groups, that’s a return of $7 in one and both one and both one and both one and both $1 invested. And an additional $28 in local profits are generated through one and both one and both one and both price tickets sold for cultural purposes. Events. This is an $18 million economic stimulus for York County townships annually.
Our mix of cultural assets is diverse, with live performances by bands like the OrangeMite Shakespeare Theater, music festivals like Gusa World Music and heritage tourism programs at Dill’s Tavern in North York as some of the offerings that have the interaction of thousands of citizens and visitors a year. .
Unlike the outdoor economy, the pandemic, in which use was increased by 20%, our cultural network has been greatly affected and has experienced high unemployment rates and declining incomes. Thanks to the investment of local, state and national aid that supported those teams until they fully reopened. , this examination shows that our arts sector has recovered significantly, with many of them being able to move up from 1 to 4 full-time staff members in 2022.
As the findings of this report illustrate, cultural and recreational services contribute significantly to the quality of life of the communities in which they are located, from increased tourism to economic progress and task creation, to social pride, civic engagement and skills attraction. . .
In York County, maximum investments in arts and culture come from personal philanthropies and individual donors. Investments in outdoor assets have been much more varied, with significant public investment in express assets, such as the county park system, but much more varied resources. investment, such as one-time state and federal grants with personal funds, and others, such as the Heritage Rail Trail. For either sector, identifying investments for operations and maintenance has been a constant struggle, despite the fact that a giant Most organizations have solid revenues. We seek to know how other communities like York have those critical quality-of-life assets that make their region an attractive position to live and invest in.
We know six communities across the country that are making significant public investments in their cultural and outdoor services and explore the pros and cons of their strategies. These findings will help us identify a roadmap for further exploration of how York County can decide on those assets. in a systematic and sustainable way, for the enjoyment of generations.
As our network leaders explore national case studies in more detail and whether any of those approaches would be right for York County, we encourage the citizens of York to be more informed about the 270 cultural and outdoor assets in their garden by viewing our interactive ecosystem map and reading the full www. culturalyork. org report.
Kelley Gibson is president of the York County Cultural Alliance. Silas Chamberlin is Vice President of Economic and Community Development for the York County Economic Alliance.