Performing arts: Jobs, revenues, and direct economic impact in 2023

Part 5 of my macro-economic analysis of national data from 2012 to 2023

Oct 29, 2024

Today’s post is my second-last examination of macroeconomic indicators in culture, the arts, and components of the arts sector (visual arts, film and video, and – coming next week – books and sound recording).

The performing arts are the focus today, including key economic indicators in 2023 and trends since 2012.

Today’s post is freely available and shareable thanks to the sponsorship of CAPACOA. My thanks to them for their continuing support!

Statistics Canada’s dataset has a subdomain for the performing arts, an area that accounts for almost all of the revenues in the parent “live performance” domain (94%). The other 6% relates to a subdomain for festivals and celebrations within the performing arts (which seems to me to be very conservatively counted, given the size of some performing arts festivals in Canada. But I’m guessing that they might be counted within the performing arts subdomain, despite having the word “festival” in their names).

Statistics Canada’s Canadian Framework for Culture Statistics indicates that the performing arts include “live performances of theatre, dance, opera, musical theatre, orchestras, music groups and artists, circuses, [and] puppetry”. The subdomain also “includes promoters and presenters involved with live performances, as well as the physical infrastructure used to house these events where these are facilities dedicated to live performance such as theatres or concert halls”.

What is not stated in this description is the fact that two important categories are excluded from the statistics:

All government-owned performance venues, funding, and support organizations, which are included in a separate category of “governance, funding, and professional support”
Education and training

My analysis includes three key economic indicators:

Output (essentially an estimate of total revenues)
Direct impact on Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Jobs

I analyze the output and GDP statistics in three ways: 1) as published by Statistics Canada; 2) adjusted for inflation; and 3) adjusted for both inflation and population growth.

The data source and other notes are at the end of this article.

$5.5 billion in revenues in 2023

Total revenues in the performing arts were $5.5 billion in 2023. As I noted in my initial post related to the arts, the live performance domain (including the performing arts subdomain, as well as performance-related festivals and celebrations) accounts for 17% of all revenues in my admittedly imperfect measurement of the arts. (The percentage would be 16% if only the performing arts subdomain were included.)

The performing arts economy over time

Changes in nominal values (not adjusted for inflation or population growth)

The $5.5 billion in revenues in the performing arts in 2023 is a 30% increase from $4.2 billion in 2012.

The direct impact of the performing arts on GDP was $2.8 billion in 2023, a 27% increase from 2012 ($2.2 billion).

In 2023, there were 70,200 full-time and part-time jobs in the performing arts, which is a 33% increase from the 52,900 jobs in 2012.

The increases in revenues and direct impact on GDP are based on the “nominal” figures, before adjusting for inflation or population growth.

Output (or total revenues): indexed changes since 2012

The first graph in today’s post provides three measurements of total revenues: the nominal estimates, inflation-adjusted estimates, and estimates that are adjusted for both inflation and population growth. Each line is an index that starts at 100 in 2012, the first year of comparable data.

The blue line shows the trend in nominal (unadjusted) revenues in the performing arts over time. This line increased significantly until 2019, when it reached its peak level of 147. In other words, revenues in the performing arts increased by 47% between 2012 and 2019. The story has been very different since then, with a huge decrease in 2020 (-37%) followed by solid increases. Revenues in the performing arts were at an index value of 130 in 2023, well below the level in 2019 (147) but, as noted above, 30% higher than the starting level in 2012.

After adjusting for inflation (also called “real” estimates), revenues in the performing arts increased by just 1% between 2012 and 2023, as shown by the purple line that ends in 101. 2019 was the highest level for the inflation-adjusted revenue estimate (index value of 132).

After adjusting for both inflation and population growth, revenues in the performing arts decreased by 13% between 2012 and 2023, as shown by the pink line that ends in 87. The highest level for the real per capita estimate also occurred in 2019 (index value of 122).

Line graph of output (total revenues) of the performing arts in Canada between 2012 and 2023 (index: 2012 = 100). The graph portrays 3 measurements: actual data; adjusted for inflation; and adjusted for both inflation and population growth. All start at an index value of 100 in 2012. The actual, unadjusted line ends up at 130 in 2023. The inflation-adjusted line ends up at 101 in 2023. The line that is adjusted for both inflation and population growth ends up at 87 in 2023. Sources: Statistics Canada. Table 36-10-0652-01 National culture and sport indicators by domain and sub-domain (x 1,000); Table 17-10-0005-01, Population estimates on July 1st, by age and sex; and Table 18-10-0005-01, Consumer Price Index, annual average, not seasonally adjusted.

Direct impact on Gross Domestic Product: indexed changes since 2012

This section looks at three measurements of the performing arts’ direct impact on GDP: nominal estimates, inflation-adjusted ones, and ones that are adjusted for both inflation and population growth.

The nominal (unadjusted) GDP impact of the performing arts (the blue line in the below graph) increased to an index value of 145 in 2019, followed by a precipitous drop in 2020. There has been some growth since 2020, and the index reached 127 in 2023.

The inflation-adjusted impact on GDP of the performing arts (purple line) had an index value of 98 in 2023, or 2% below its level in 2012. The year with the largest inflation-adjusted impact on GDP was 2019 (index value of 130).

The pink line shows the real per capita estimates (i.e., adjusted for both inflation and population growth). By this measurement, the direct impact of the performing arts on GDP has decreased by 15% between 2012 and 2023. The highest level for the real per capita estimates was also in 2019 (index value of 120).

Line graph of the direct impact of the performing arts on GDP in Canada between 2012 and 2023 (index: 2012 = 100). The graph portrays 3 measurements: actual data; adjusted for inflation; and adjusted for both inflation and population growth. All start at an index value of 100 in 2012. The actual, unadjusted line ends up at 127 in 2023. The inflation-adjusted line ends up at 98 in 2023. The line that is adjusted for both inflation and population growth ends up at 85 in 2023. Sources: Statistics Canada. Table 36-10-0652-01 National culture and sport indicators by domain and sub-domain (x 1,000); Table 17-10-0005-01, Population estimates on July 1st, by age and sex; and Table 18-10-0005-01, Consumer Price Index, annual average, not seasonally adjusted.

Changes in jobs in the performing arts since 2012

As noted above, the number of jobs in the performing arts increased by 33% between 2012 (52,900) and 2023 (70,200). Further details are provided in the final graph in today’s post (non-indexed estimates of the number of full-time and part-time jobs in the performing arts between 2012 and 2023).

The jobs graph follows a similar pattern to the nominal estimates of revenues and direct impact on GDP: a significant increase to a peak value in 2019 (71,300), followed by a huge decrease in 2020 (to 49,800). Most (but not all) jobs have been recovered since the pandemic, with 70,200 jobs in the performing arts in 2023.

The 33% increase in jobs in the performing arts is much higher than the 16% increase in Canada’s population between 2012 and 2023.

Notes

Sources: Statistics Canada, Table 36-10-0652-01. National culture and sport indicators by domain and sub-domain (for each quarter of 2023) and Culture and sport indicators by domain and sub-domain, by province and territory, product perspective (for annual statistics from 2012 to 2022).

The estimates of output (or “total revenues”) are quite broad: they are gross (not net) figures and include some multiple counting within the performing arts (i.e., when transactions are conducted between organizations or individuals within the performing arts). In contrast, the GDP statistics provide a measure of the net value-added to the economy.

The estimates relate to performing arts products, i.e., the production of goods and services from cultural organizations and industries as well as non-cultural ones. The product-based estimates, which are typically a bit smaller than estimates of cultural industries, are the focus of this article, simply because they have become more commonly used in the sector.

The GDP and jobs estimates capture direct impacts only and are therefore relatively modest. Excluded are commonly measured elements such as indirect impacts (the re-spending of the expenditures of arts organizations) and induced impacts (the re-spending of wages earned by arts workers and suppliers’ workers). Despite the smaller numbers, there are benefits to the narrower approach: the estimates are comparable between jurisdictions and to the GDP of other sectors of the economy.

The jobs counts include both full-time and part-time positions and are not expressed on a full-time-equivalent basis.