Artists, performers, museums and historical sites are vying to be seen, heard and appreciated by Americans every day. Yet the economic impact of these varied arts and cultural activities, and of supporting industries that range from Hollywood studios to hand carvers of musical instruments, is easy to miss.

BEA's satellite accounts spotlight economic activity that can be difficult to find within our core accounts – in this case, the impact of arts and culture on U.S. and state economies.

This account was built by identifying, analyzing and separating out detailed data from existing BEA statistics. Pulling together the arts and cultural data in one place paints a statistical picture that's valuable to state and federal policymakers, businesses, arts organizations, analysts, economists, and others.