By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – I need to share a little story with you. It's about a young girl who came from an abused and neglectful home. She thought for the longest time she was invisible until she found a way to express herself through the arts. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.
If there is anything that we here in North Texas learned over the last year, businesses come and businesses go. North Texas has been breeding ground for innovation and entrepreneurship. As publisher of the Dallas Business Journal Huntley Paton proclaimed, "Here it's all about business. It has to be." He goes on to clarify that "people come here to build businesses and chase dreams, not to gaze at the scenery." So as we develop a new perspective on our community, I am so pleased to see that people are eagerly looking to the arts.
Today Richardson, probably the hardest hit by the economic downturn, dedicates the Eisemann Center for Performing Arts. It is said to be everything the community dreamed of. And on Saturday, the citizens of Frisco vote on participating in the exciting Arts District for Collin County. Plano has already said yes and now Frisco, Allen, and McKinney will need to give their nod.
In a study released this past June on the Economic Impact on Nonprofit Arts Organizations and Their Audiences, America's nonprofit arts industry generates $134 billion in economic activity every year. That includes almost $24.5 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues.
The Collin County Arts District also plans on having an educational facility and program. A 1999 UCLA study showed that students who have a high level of involvement in the arts had higher grade point averages, scored higher on standardized test scores, and had a lower drop out rate than those students with a low level of arts participation.
Need I tell you that I was that little girl I spoke of earlier? Author Robert Fulghum wrote, "Live a balanced life - learn some and think some, and draw and paint, and sing and dance, and play and work every day some." For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m. To contact Maxine Shapiro, please send emails to mshapiro@kera.org.