The Dynamics of the Cultural Economy


Jobs Created by the Cultural Sectors
In the Central Okanagan, 1,592 jobs are created directly by the cultural sectors, and by supporting businesses within other sectors!¹ Of this total, 861 jobs are full-time jobs, while 731 jobs are part-time jobs². The service and material providers sector creates the greatest employment (666 jobs), followed by the arts instruction and education sector (255 jobs), and the cultural facilities sector (158). The least employment is created by the literary arts sector (8 jobs). Table 1 (below) illustrates direct jobs created per cultural sector, including full-time equivalent jobs.

TABLE 1 DIRECT JOBS CREATED PER CULTURAL SECTOR (FISCAL YEAR 1995-96)
Sector	Full-Time Direct Jobs	Part-Time Direct Jobs	Total Direct Jobs	Full-Time Equivalent Jobs
Art Galleries & Dealers	44	20	64	54
Arts Instruction & Education	132	123	255	194
Commercial Arts	90	57	147	118
Performing Arts	28	49	77	52
Visual Arts	63	51	114	88
Literary Arts	3	5	8	5
Events & Festivals	8	80	88	23
Cultural Facilities	84	74	158	118
Service & Material Providers	402	264	666	534
Societies & Associations	7	8	15	12
Total	861	731	1,592	1,198

The total number of jobs created directly by the cultural economy (1,592) translates into 1,198 full-time equivalent jobs.³ Although these figures may appear low, it should be remembered that, for the purposes of this study, employment created by movie theatres, bookstores, broadcasters, recorded music retailers and video rental outlets, is excluded from the analysis (see Section The Study).


1 Jobs created by supporting businesses within other sectors were calculated on the basis of 28 jobs in BC per $ million of GDP, as reported by Statistics Canada. GDP generated by other sectors (due to the cultural sectors) was calculated as operations costs of the cultural sectors, exclusive of wages and salaries, net of depreciation and other allowances.

2 Part-time jobs were determined through two approaches: (1) through sampling within the cultural sectors, where a high percentage of jobs are part-time; and (2) through reporting 20 percent of all jobs created outside the cultural sectors as part-time jobs, reflecting B.C.'s part-time job ratio as reported by Statistics Canada.

3 Two approaches were used to calculate full-time equivalents: (1) through ratios resulting from survey information that illustrated the total number of full and part-time jobs; and (2) through a standard method endorsed by Statistics Canada (wherein two part-time jobs equal one full-time job) when sample information was not available.


The Cultural Labour Force ⁴
Of the 1,592 jobs created directly by the cultural sectors, 1,164 jobs are cultural jobs, employing cultural workers. This job total exceeds the number of jobs at Riverside Forest Products (Kelowna) and Sun-Rype Products combined (1,109), and represents 1,9 percent of regional employment.

The majority of cultural jobs (644) are part-time jobs. The service and material providers sector creates the greatest number of cultural jobs (436), followed by the arts instruction and education sector (190), and the cultural facilities sector (124). The least number of cultural jobs is created by the literary arts sector (8).

The total number of cultural jobs in the Central Okanagan (1,164) translates into 814 full-time equivalent jobs. This number is more than twice the number of full-time equivalent jobs at Sun-Rype Products in Kelowna (364). Table 2 (below) illustrates the number of cultural jobs per cultural sector, including full-time equivalent jobs.

TABLE 2 CULTURAL JOBS PER CULTURAL SECTOR (FISCAL YEAR 1995-96)
Sector	Full-Time Cultural Jobs	Part-Time Cultural Jobs	Total Cultural Jobs	Full-Time Equivalent Jobs
Art Galleries & Dealers	26	16	42	34
Arts Instruction & Education	80	110	190	135
Commercial Arts	62	50	112	87
Performing Arts	17	46	63	40
Visual Arts	49	47	96	72
Literary Arts	3	5	8	5
Events & Festivals	2	79	81	17
Cultural Facilities	57	67	124	87
Service & Material Providers	218	218	436	327
Societies & Associations	6	7	13	10
Total	520	644	1,164	814

4 As defined by Statistics Canada, the nation's cultural labour force also includes other cultural producers not examined in this study (see Section 1.1, p. 2).

The Importance of Volunteers
Between 1,300 and 1,700 persons volunteer with cultural organizations or businesses within the Central Okanagan. Collectively, these volunteers donate 112,000 to 146,000 hours per year.

These volunteer hours have a dollar value of $780,000 to $1 million when applying BC's 1996 minimum hourly wage rate of $7.00. In addition to helping sustain the cultural economy, this volunteerism demonstrates a strong support for, and commitment to, community participation in arts and culture. Table 3 (below) illustrates the distribution of volunteer efforts per cultural sector.

TABLE 3 VOLUNTEER EFFORTS PER CULTURAL SECTOR (FISCAL YEAR 1995-96)
Sector	Range Number of Volunteers	Range Total Annual Hours	Average Annual Hours
Art Galleries & Dealers	35-50	4,400-6,300	125
Arts Instruction & Education	50-100	6,300-12,600	125
Commercial Arts	35-50	4,400-6,300	125
Performing Arts	500-570	23,600-27,000	47.2
Visual Arts	35-45	2,600-3,400	75.5
Literary Arts	N/A	N/A	N/A
Events & Festivals	350-500	24,200-34,600	69.2
Cultural Facilities	50-70	4,800-8,400	120
Service & Material Providers	40-60	5,000-7,500	125
Societies & Associations	250-275	36,500-40,000	146
Total Volunteers	1,345 to 1,720	111,800 to 146,000	106.9

Volunteers are found, for the most part, in non-profit organizations. Societies and associations rely heavily on volunteer effort, averaging 146 hours annually per volunteer. Similarly, performing arts groups, along with festivals and events, rely on large numbers of volunteers to perform in theatrical or musical productions, or to assist in an organizational or technical capacity. Among for profit businesses, friends and family members are utilized as volunteers, from time to time, to assist with various tasks.

Operating Expenses of the Cultural Sectors
Operating expenses are comprised of two components: operations costs, and wages and salaries (the earnings of cultural workers). In the Central Okanagan, operations costs among the cultural sectors total $18.1 million. Service and material providers have the highest operations costs ($8.8 million), while societies and associations have the lowest operations costs ($111,000).

Earnings for all cultural workers in the region total $19.2 million. Aggregate earnings range from a low of $188,000 in the events and festivals sector, to a high of $6 million in the service and material providers sector.

Average annual eamings⁵ range from a low of $11,000 for workers in the events and festivals sector,⁶ to a high of $44,000 for workers in the arts instruction and education sector. Among all cultural workers, average annual earnings are $23,550. This figure is $4,550 less than average annual earnings for all workers in the region ($28,100).⁷ Table 4 (below) illustrates wages and salaries, and operations costs, per cultural sector.

TABLE 4 OPERATING EXPENSES PER CULTURAL RECTOR (FISCAL YEAR 1995-96)
Sector	Operations Cost ($)	Wages and Salaries ($)	Total Expenses ($)
Art Galleries & Dealers	1,007,000	860,000	1,867,000
Arts Instruction & Education	2,691,000	5,965,000	8,656,000
Commercial Arts	1,935,000	1,945,000	3,880,000
Performing Arts	826,000	990,000	1,816,000
Visual Arts	1,035,000	1,090,000	2,125,000
Literary Arts	N/A	N/A	N/A
Events & Festivals	285,000	188,000	473,000
Cultural Facilities	1,470,000	2,000,000	3,470,000
Service & Material Providers	8,763,000	6,008,000	14,771,000
Societies & Associations	111,000	129,000	240,000
Total	18,123,000	19,175,000	37,298,000

5 Average annual earnings for cultural workers are calculated by dividing total sector wages and salaries by full-time equivalent jobs.

6 Caution should be exercised in interpreting this number. The events and festivals sector relies heavily on temporary contract workers.
Many are members of the non-profit association creating the event or festival, and might best be described as "paid volunteers".

7 Average annual earnings in the region are calculated from Revenue Canada 1995 tax filer data.

2.5 Operating Periods of the Cultural Sectors
The majority of cultural businesses, facilities and organizations (52.3 percent) have been operating within the region for 6 years or more.

The commercial arts sector and the visual arts sector have experienced the greatest growth over the last five years, followed by the service and material providers sector, and the events and festivals sector. Among all sectors, the cultural facilities sector and the arts instruction and education sector are the most established, with 80 percent of producers in operation for six years or more. Table 5 (below) illustrates the number of years that the region's cultural producers have been operating.

TABLE 5 NUMBER OF YEARS OF OPERATION FOR CULTURAL PRODUCERS (AS PER SAMPLE INFORMATION ONLY)
Sector	1 year or less	2 years	3 years	4 years	5 years	6 years or more
Art Galleries & Dealers	16.7	16.7	-	-	-	66.7
Arts instruction	20.0	-	-	-	-	80.0
Commercial Arts	5.9	23.5	11.8	17.6	11.8	29.4
Performing Arts	6.7	-	6.7	6.7	13.3	66.7
Visual Arts	12.5	25.0	-	-	25.0	37.5
Literary Arts	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Events & Festivals	-	20.0	20.0	20.0	-	40.0
Cultural Facilities	20.0	-	-	-	-	80.0
Service & Material Providers	6.7	26.7	20.0	6.7	-	40.0
Societies & Associations	-	-	-	8.3	25.0	66.7
Total (%)	8.0	13.6	8.0	8.0	10.2	52.3