Concerts, theater, art exhibitions and museums aren’t just entertaining diversions.

They are economic drivers.

According to a study commissioned by the arts advocacy group Creative Ohio, arts and culture contribute $32.9 billion to Ohio’s economy. That figure includes direct spending (salaries, supplies, operating expenses), indirect spending (the salaries and expenses of the businesses that work with them) and induced spending (the impact of the money spent by those in the creative industry and their suppliers).

Using 2022 statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, those institutions make up 3% of the state’s GDP, more than education and agriculture.

“As someone who deeply cares about the arts, I’m inspired by this study because it highlights the immense impact of the creative sector on our state’s economy,” said Katelyn Amendolara-Russo, director of Medici Museum of Art in Howland. “The findings affirm what we already know, that the arts aren’t just about culture and expression, but they are a driving force behind economic growth, job creation and community vitality.”

John Cox, president of the Youngstown Playhouse’s board, said, “It’s kind of cool to have those numbers actually in writing, to see how much of an impact it actually does create … It (the arts) makes this area more attractive to families, to younger people. It’s a vital part of the community.”

Those numbers may seem high to some readers, but Ken Bigley, chief operating officer for JAC Management and JAC Live, used the company’s annual Y-Live concert at Wean Foundation Park to illustrate a few of the many economic ripple effects from that one-day event.

Unlike the touring acts normally traveling with their own staging and equipment that regularly play JAC venues such as the Covelli Centre, Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre and Packard Music Hall, Y-Live is a special event where that stage is built specifically for the event, and the walls of speakers on it and the lighting above it are rented from local companies, Bigley said. So is the half-mile of fencing surrounding the concert site and the metal “bicycle rack” fencing used to direct crowd flow. All that gear is coming in on trucks that are buying fuel locally.

For a Saturday concert, it takes about 150 union stagehands and another 30 to 40 general laborers working from the Monday before until the Monday after from set up to tear down.

“Stagehand Local 101 does a phenomenal job, and they have to reach out to their network in Akron, Toledo, Canton because we need a volume of guys that you don’t normally need,” Bigley said. “We’ve had people from Cincinnati and from New York state working on this show.”

Those workers are eating catering from local restaurants while on the job, and the out-of-town workers are staying in area hotels and patronizing local businesses when they’re not working.

The crowd of more than 20,000 that fills the park for Y-Live draws heavily from the local population, but Bigley estimates that about 20% of the crowd comes from at least 50 miles away. Some of them stay in area hotels; many of them and the locals patronize downtown Youngstown restaurants and bars before heading to the concert.

The Youngstown-based concert promoter does shows in several states, but those numbers for events in its home base are more satisfying for JAC.

“The economic impact for the region obviously matters to us, because we live in the market, we operate the facilities,” Bigley said. “We want to bring people in, whether it’s Packard Music Hall, the Covelli Centre or the amphitheater … We’re entrenched in the region. We want to show it off. We want to make the biggest impact possible.”

Concerts aren’t the only things that attract outside visitors.

When Medici was custodian of the Boy Scouts of America collection and had its 65 Norman Rockwell works on display from March 2020 to last September, it attracted visitors from 48 states and 14 countries. Its current exhibitions, “Sci-Fi + Hollywood: The Art of John Zabrucky” and “Alex Garant: Mirages,” have been a popular regional draw since opening Jan. 28.

“I’m seeing a ton (of visitors) from Cleveland, Pittsburgh and beyond,” Amendolara-Russo said. “There were a lot from out of state. I don’t know if they were staying at the Grand Resort (in Howland) and just happened to come by, but surprisingly it was a lot from outside of the tri-county area.”

Mary Ann Porinchak, executive director of the National Packard Museum in Warren, said it had visitors from 45 states and more than a dozen countries in 2024. In the last two weeks, the museum’s visitors have included people from Seattle, Alaska and Slovakia.

“We regularly bring people from all over the world to this place,” Porinchak said. “In terms of our impact in the community, we try very hard to utilize local merchants whenever we can. We even have a section of locally sourced items for sale in the store.”

Its support of local business ranges from the temporary signage for its annual motorcycle exhibit to the new permanent sign in front of the building that was completed last year. That approach benefits everyone.

“It’s kind of like the circle of life,” she said. “If you stop feeding what’s giving you life, you’re gonna die. It’s that simple.”