The Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) manages the State of Maryland’s Arts and Entertainment District (A&E district) program. The purpose of the program is to “help develop and promote community involvement, tourism, and revitalization through tax-related incentives that attract artists, arts organizations, and other creative enterprises to towns and cities across the State.”1 Each A&E district has unique economic development goals and priorities, which can include producing or facilitating events, attracting new businesses, attracting developers, encouraging artists to locate and/or sell artworks in the district’s boundaries, or a combination of strategies.
Each year, MSAC distributes an annual report for each district to complete, allowing each district to highlight the activities undertaken within their district for the past fiscal year (FY). MSAC sought a report detailing the economic and tax impacts of the 27 A&E districts in existence during the study period, FY 2022, on Maryland’s economy.
To achieve the project objective, the Regional Economic Studies Institute (RESI) of Towson University conducted an economic and tax impact analysis of the A&E districts. To quantify these impacts, RESI used the IMPLAN input/output model. For more information regarding IMPLAN and RESI’s methodology (assumptions, exclusions, etc.), please refer to Appendix B. Additionally, a glossary of terms can be found in Appendix C.
This analysis answers the following questions for FY 2022:
- How many direct, indirect, and induced jobs have the districts supported?
- How much direct, indirect, and induced economic activity (state GDP) have the districts supported?
- What are the direct, indirect, and induced employee compensation impacts of the districts?
- How much in tax revenues have the districts supported for the State of Maryland?