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OVERVIEW

The ability for residents and visitors alike to enjoy performing arts, museums, and recreational activities is a key component of our quality of life and competitive advantage as a leisure destination, and a strong contributor to our regional economy. 

Highlights

  • Tampa Bay residents and visitors enjoy access to nearly 2,000 cultural and recreational establishments. 
  • The North Port-Bradenton Sarasota MSA has 5.16 such establishments per 10,000 residents, the most among the regions MSA’s. 
  • Spending by arts organizations and audiences in Tampa Bay- more than $1B according to recent reports- supports more than 32,000 jobs and more than 715 million in household income. 

Regional Performance

Tampa Bay enjoys a plethora of cultural and recreational establishments, ranking 12th among our comparison communities, with more than 4.06 establishments for every 10,000 persons. 

Americans for the Arts, a non-profit industry advocacy group, released in 2017 the Arts and Economic Prosperity 5 report, which estimates the economic impact of non-profit arts and cultural organizations spending, as well as that of audiences, both resident and nonresident. The table below presents their findings for the three largest metropolitan statistical areas in the Tampa Bay region (data for the Homosassa Springs MSA was not available). Where applicable and available, figures from the separate reports have been aggregated into a regional value.