The not too long ago launched Otis Faculty Report on the Artistic Economic system for 2024 reaffirms how essential the “inventive economic system” is to California, the place it’s liable for greater than 760,000 jobs, accounting for one in 5 inventive jobs within the US. The annual report appears on the prior 12 months in what’s broadly outlined because the inventive economic system—a class that features fields like movie and tv, toy design, music, trend, structure, theatre, dance, artwork colleges, museums and galleries.
“California continues to be the nationwide chief with respect to the inventive economic system,” mentioned Taner Osman, a founding father of Westwood Economics and Planning Associates (which produces the report for Otis Faculty of Artwork and Design), on the report’s unveiling final week in Santa Monica.
In line with the report, in Los Angeles alone the movie, tv and sound sector added round 15,000 jobs final 12 months—whereas nonetheless recovering from two main union strikes in 2023. Nonetheless, different sectors misplaced jobs, partly as a result of persevering with decline in manufacturing and shifts in market wants, producing an general contraction of 0.9% within the inventive economic system. (Osman identified that the determine is near the nationwide determine of a 0.8% contraction.)
Whereas the wonderful arts—which the report defines as all visible and performing arts—make up a small a part of the report, it’s one which has been rising. “The wonderful arts proceed to shine as California stays a wonderful arts schooling powerhouse,” Osman noticed as certainly one of his 5 key findings. He later instructed The Artwork Newspaper that he credit this achievement to the energy and recognition of the numerous artwork faculties in Southern California. In line with the report, California confers extra wonderful arts levels than some other state within the US. (California can also be probably the most populous state within the nation.)
Up to now 5 years, 5,589 jobs have been added at wonderful arts colleges, with a strong 1,208 jobs added in 2024 alone. Throughout the identical interval, museums noticed an general drop of 37 jobs however an addition of 279 final 12 months—a big rebound from the layoffs and furloughs of the Covid-19 years. Sadly, the variety of individuals working as “artwork sellers” continues to say no, with 273 jobs misplaced over the five-year interval and 115 in 2024.
Whereas Los Angeles typically seems to have a growth in modern artwork gross sales and sellers, occasions like Frieze Los Angeles and the Felix Artwork Truthful don’t essentially create full-time jobs. Smaller galleries and people with headquarters elsewhere—akin to Gavlak, primarily based in Palm Seashore, Florida—have quietly closed their Los Angeles branches.
All of the whereas, as mentioned in a panel dialogue after the formal presentation in Santa Monica, the worth of actual property in Los Angeles has been on the rise, creating difficulties for people in addition to for companies and nonprofits. Final 12 months, it was broadly reported that individuals have been transferring out of Los Angeles—this even though these within the inventive economic system are mentioned to be making a median of $191,000 per 12 months, in keeping with the Otis Faculty report. After all, the excessive common is tremendously skewed by these incomes megabucks on the prime.
