London’s Square Mile gains almost £300m from supplementary spending by arts attenders.
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£291m was generated from arts and culture in the City of London in 2011/12, supporting over 7,200 jobs across the city as a whole, according to a new report by BOP consulting for the City of London Corporation. The report, ‘The Economic, Social and Cultural Impact of the City Arts and Culture Cluster’, looks at the Gross Value Added (GVA) or additional spend that is generated by visits to arts and cultural venues. It discounts spending that would have happened regardless of the arts, and accounts for “those economic benefits accruing as a result of the arts and culture cluster, which would not otherwise have happened”. These include money spent on accommodation in order to see a cultural event and spending that forms part of an organisation’s supply chain. The information was compiled about organisations based in London’s Square Mile, the capital’s finance district, which includes museums such as Dr Johnson’s House, performance venues like The Barbican, and visual art venues including Guildhall Art Gallery.
48% of GVA came from accommodation spending, showing the monetary impact of those who live outside London and the UK coming to see cultural events, and a further 17% came from onsite spending at events and organisations on items such as souvenirs , but not including ticket costs. The report also compiles information on the social impact of the arts by looking at volunteering, education programmes and wellbeing: 7,000 youth education sessions were run by the City’s cultural organisations reaching over 231k children, while 80k adults attended more than 1,900 learning events.