Document text
OSF's impact nears $100 million a year By Bill Varble While the numbers on economic impact aren�t definitive, it�s clear that the 800-pound gorilla in the Southern Oregon arts world is the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. With 450 employees and an economic impact approaching $100 million, the festival is a cash cow, especially in Ashland. The festival sold 374,000 seats in 1999. Visitors outnumber Rogue Valley residents among OSF patrons by about eight to one. The average visitor who isn�t part of a tour or group stays 3.4 nights and sees 3.9 plays. Each visitor spends an estimated $78.52 a day while here, not counting theater tickets. Add it up, and theatergoers spend an estimated $17.8 million a year. Add the OSF�s annual budget of $14.5 million to the theatergoers� spending, and you have direct expenditures of $32.3 million. An economic multiplier (an inexact economist�s tool that attempts to trace the ripples of dollars spreading through the economy) of 2.9 yields a total estimated economic impact of the festival of about $94 million. That figure is expected to increase. The festival is spending millions to construct a new Black Swan � helped by rich grants from Microsoft billionaires Bill Gates and Paul Allen � and capacity will increase from the current 138 to between 260 and 350 seats. Tourists spent $208 million in Jackson County in 1998, according to the Oregon Tourist Commission, so Shakespeare tourists � many of whom do other things while they�re in the valley � may account for somewhere around 10 percent of the total. Some of the other major players are: Britt Festivals: $2 million budget, 10 year-round employees and up to two dozen seasonal workers . About 78 percent of Britt patrons are local. Britt sold 62,000 tickets for revenue of $1.4 million. The balance of its income comes from memberships, sponsors, concessions and grants. About 11 percent of Britt�s audience is from Northern California. Do they go to dinner, stay overnight? "We do well in Northern California," says Britt�s Arthur Waitt. "But we don�t know what their habits are." Craterian Ginger Roger Theater: $573,000 in ticket sales. The Craterian in Medford hosted 86 events in the past year. It sold 31,000 seats (not counting some tickets sold by other groups presenting programs in the theater) . The Craterian cooperates with local groups such as Southern Oregon University�s program board, Jefferson Public Radio and the State Ballet of Oregon. Rogue Valley Symphony: $416,700 budget. The symphony presents about 20 concerts a year, not counting free ones it puts on for students. It sells some 10,000 seats for annual sales of $156,000. The RVSO�s $300,000 endowment is invested locally. Schneider Museum of Art: $300,000 budget. Only about a third of the Schneider budget comes from SOU. The balance is grants and memberships. It has four employees, one of whom is full time. SOU itself is the home of a spanking new $11 million art center that�s expected to open this fall with classrooms and new exhibit space. The Mail Tribune lists more than 100 venues for the display of art in the Rogue Valley, ranging from the Schneider to shops that sell prints to tourists along with postcards and T-shirts. � Smaller groups such as the Rogue Valley Chorale, the Rogue Opera and various nonprofit music, opera and dance groups all claim their piece of the A&E pie. There�s the Jefferson Baroque Orchestra, a classical group that performs only on vintage instruments. Many private art galleries, music groups and individual artists don�t give out numbers, and even the U.S. Census Bureau declines to make some of the numbers public, so those parts of the pie are anybody�s guess. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA