and cut & paste (in a totally non-partisan, non-political way) from americansforthearts.org...

"Research by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) shows that the nonprofit and for-profit arts is a $730 billion industry that directly employs 4.8 million arts workers. This represents 4.2 percent of the nation’s GDP—a larger share of the economy than transportation, tourism, and agriculture. Arts organizations are resilient and entrepreneurial businesses. They employ people locally, purchase goods and services from within their communities, and market and promote their regions. Arts businesses are rooted locally. These are jobs that cannot be shipped overseas.

Implications for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is the largest national funder of nonprofit arts organizations in America. Every $1 of NEA funding leverages $9 in private and public dollars and fuels a dynamic cultural economy and generates millions of American jobs. A pennies per capita annual investment has helped to leverage a nonprofit arts industry of almost 100,000 organizations strong serving millions of citizens in every part of America. Nonprofit arts organizations and their audiences today generate $135 billion of economic activity that supports 4.1 million arts and non-arts jobs throughout their communities. This nonprofit sector has gone on to help incubate and provide the research and development for an even larger for-profit arts sector in our country. The value of the arts is of course the joy, beauty, and ideas of the work made accessible to all Americans. When opponents of government arts funding say our country can’t afford 45 cents per capita to support the NEA, we should all respond with economic facts as well—that an investment in the arts supports jobs, generates government revenue, and is a cornerstone of tourism.

Arts Strengthen the U.S. Economy

Arts strengthen the economy. The arts and culture sector is a $730 billion industry, which represents 4.2 percent of the nation’s GDP—a larger share of the economy than transportation, tourism, and agriculture. The nonprofit arts industry alone generates $135 billion in economic activity annually (spending by organizations and their audiences), which supports 4.1 million jobs and generates $22.3 billion in government revenue.
Arts are good for local businesses. Attendees at nonprofit arts events spend $24.60 per person, per event, beyond the cost of admission on items such as meals, parking, and babysitters—valuable revenue for local commerce and the community.
Arts are an export industry. The arts and culture industries posted a $30 billion international trade surplus in 2014, according to the BEA. U.S. exports of arts goods (e.g., movies, paintings, jewelry) exceeded $60 billion.
Arts drive tourism. Arts travelers are ideal tourists, staying longer and spending more to seek out authentic cultural experiences. Arts destinations grow the economy by attracting foreign visitor spending. The U.S. Department of Commerce reports that, between 2003-2015, the percentage of international travelers including “art gallery and museum visits” on their trip grew from 17 to 29 percent, and the share attending “concerts, plays, and musicals” increased from 13 to 16 percent."