The not too long ago launched Otis School Report on the Artistic Economic system for 2024 reaffirms how essential the “inventive economic system” is to California, the place it’s answerable for greater than 760,000 jobs, accounting for one in 5 inventive jobs within the US. The annual report appears on the prior yr in what’s broadly outlined because the inventive economic system—a class that features fields like movie and tv, toy design, music, vogue, structure, theatre, dance, artwork faculties, museums and galleries.
“California continues to be the nationwide chief with respect to the inventive economic system,” stated Taner Osman, a founding father of Westwood Economics and Planning Associates (which produces the report for Otis School of Artwork and Design), on the report’s unveiling final week in Santa Monica.
In response to the report, in Los Angeles alone the movie, tv and sound sector added round 15,000 jobs final yr—whereas nonetheless recovering from two main union strikes in 2023. Nonetheless, different sectors misplaced jobs, partly because of the persevering with decline in manufacturing and shifts in market wants, producing an total 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 high quality 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 high quality arts proceed to shine as California stays a high quality arts training powerhouse,” Osman noticed as one among his 5 key findings. He later informed The Artwork Newspaper that he credit this achievement to the energy and recognition of the various artwork faculties in Southern California. In response to the report, California confers extra high quality arts levels than every other state within the US. (California can also be probably the most populous state within the nation.)
Previously 5 years, 5,589 jobs have been added at high quality arts faculties, with a sturdy 1,208 jobs added in 2024 alone. Throughout the identical interval, museums noticed an total drop of 37 jobs however an addition of 279 final yr—a big rebound from the layoffs and furloughs of the Covid-19 years. Sadly, the variety of folks working as “artwork sellers” continues to say no, with 273 jobs misplaced over the five-year interval and 115 in 2024.
Whereas Los Angeles usually seems to have a increase in modern artwork gross sales and sellers, occasions like Frieze Los Angeles and the Felix Artwork Honest don’t essentially create full-time jobs. Smaller galleries and people with headquarters elsewhere—equivalent 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 value of actual property in Los Angeles has been on the rise, creating difficulties for people in addition to for companies and nonprofits. Final yr, it was extensively reported that individuals have been shifting out of Los Angeles—this even supposing these within the inventive economic system are stated to be making a mean of $191,000 per yr, in keeping with the Otis School report. After all, the excessive common is enormously skewed by these incomes megabucks on the high.
