Report Highlights:

Northwest Minnesota tied for second in the most jobs supported by artists (490) of all the areas studied, behind only the seven county Metro Area. It also had the second highest amount of state government revenue ($1.3 million). This area was in the middle in terms of the percentage of artists working full-time (25 percent) and had the second lowest percentage (56 percent) of artist population working part-time as artists, with the second lowest average artistic income ($5,569). Interestingly, Northwest Minnesota’s artists had the highest levels of both health insurance and retirement plans provided by employers. It also had the highest percentage of artists who had individual retirement plans.

Northwest Minnesota is home to 1,820 individual artists. Artistic spending by these artists totaled $17.1 million during 2005. $13.2 million of those expenditures (77 percent) were made to merchants and businesses located within the state of Minnesota, and therefore have an impact on Minnesota’s economy. This spending supported 490 jobs, generated $9.4M in resident household income and $1.7M in state and local government revenue. Average artistic expenditures of this area’s individual artists (full-time, part-time and hobbyist) during 2005 were $9,373 per artist, compared to the state average of $13,572.

Median artist income for full-time artists in this area was $8,000 compared to the state median of $21,841.

Area’s 2005 population: 543,229
Area’s percentage of state’s population: 10.6%
Area’s percentage of the state’s artists: 9.2%
Number of artists surveyed in this area: 1820

We would be happy to give presentations about the results of this study to any group. Just call MCA at 651-251-0868 to schedule a presentation.