By Jocelyn Bogen
May 16, 2011

Tourism, Arts, Parks, Entertainment, and Sports (TAPES) Standing Committee Chair New Orleans Mayor Mitchell Landrieu convened a special meeting May 5 and 6 for mayors to come together and exchange information about the cultural economy of America, and learn how one of the world’s most prominent Jazz and Heritage festivals operates and contributes to the wealth of the region.

Landrieu opened the meeting with a discussion on the importance of New Orleans culture and how culture is the intersection of creativity and commerce. "Culture means business," said Landrieu. "28,000 jobs, or 12.5 percent of the total workforce in the city are directly employed in the cultural economy. 16,000 of those jobs are also related to the tourism industry, New Orleans’ largest industry." Louisiana pays $1.1 billion in wages and receives $8.6 million in local sales taxes.

The Mayor’s Office of Cultural Economy released in late April the first quantitative analysis of all aspects of the cultural economy in New Orleans. The report analyzes the economic impact individual cultural workers, non-profit cultural organizations, cultural businesses, and traditional culture bearers. The report was helpful in helping to understand the scope and scale of the cultural economy regarding film, theatre, historic preservation and cultural product districts. One of the report findings was that in 2010, New Orleans is the third largest producer of films behind Los Angeles and New York City. Last year, New Orleans hosted 35 film/television projects with over $360 million spent in Orleans Parish, which generated over $16 million in local taxes.

New Orleans has 20 designated cultural product districts, which allow for many opportunities to expand the market for visual artists, small businesses and galleries by exempting the sale of visual art from local and state sales taxes. As a result, the city has seen a significant increase in the number of galleries outside of the city’s established Arts District.

Regarding historic preservation, the report found cultural product districts allow developers to access tax credits for the rehabilitation of historic buildings. Forty rehabilitation projects have leveraged $355 million in investment in New Orleans since 2008.

Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes advised members of some little known facts about his city and how they have been ranked the third largest resort area in the United States, and how recently he was able to pass a one percent hotel and restaurant tax, which has generated over $20 million that the city now can use to promote tourism to Myrtle Beach.

Attending mayors were treated to a behind the scenes tour of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival by founder Quint Davis, who provided an overview of the festival and discussed some of the challenges and successes of organizing a ten-day event featuring 5,000 musicians, 85 restaurants and three arts and crafts villages. "To create this type of event it takes the economic architects to match the artistic architects, it not just booking the music," said Davis.

"There is no place that does not have authentic art. Many do not realize how festivals bring in the most demographically representation of the community you live in, and are vehicles for volunteerism and city brands," added Americans for the Arts Chief Counsel Nina Ozlu Tunceli, Esq.

Meeting attendees shared information about a local festivals challenges and successes in their cities to learn how to improve events. The panel of festival experts included: Glenda McKinley -English, ESSENCE Festival; Amy Kirk, Seafood Festival & Creole Tomato Festival; Marci Schramm, French Quarter Festival, Brenda Thornton, Satchmo Summer Festivalm; Jan Ramsey Publisher of OffBeat Magazine, the Jazz Fest Bible; and, Quint Davis with the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Next month during the TAPES committee meeting, the dates for the upcoming World Cultural Economic Forum will be announced.