Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - (Page 67)

prises as a viable economic sector of the state’s overall economy. The authors are careful to clarify that the report is not intended to be wholly comprehensive nor is it a traditional economic impact study of Louisiana’s cultural industries, but its 186 pages are evidence that it is a broad and far-reaching body of valuable information. It provides timely and relevant intelligence that is opportune for the work at hand. It is the first step in an ongoing process of development and implementation of a strategic plan to enable Louisiana to foster and advance its cultural assets to create economic opportunities and a high quality of life for the citizens of the state. The Mt. Auburn report states that Louisiana’s cultural enterprises are a major employment engine for the state economy providing nearly 144,000 jobs, accounting for 7.6 percent of the state’s employment. When combined together the cultural industries are actually among the largest employment sectors of the state’s economy. Not only is the cultural economy very large, it is growing at a faster rate than the state’s economy as a whole; the most recently available data reports that between 1998 and 2002 total cultural-related employment grew by 6.3 percent compared to total statewide employment growth of only 2.3 percent. The segments that demonstrated the highest job growth were restaurants and specialized food services, cable television, bookstores, preservation contractors and specialty construction trades, museums, and historic sites, and entertainment promoters. Louisiana Labor Department statistics reveal that the Motion Picture and Sound Recording industry was the fastest growing industry in the state between 2001 and 2003. And 2004 quarterly figures indicate the trend is continuing and probably escalating. The authors of the report describe Louisiana’s long and comfortable dependence on oil, gas and timber to fuel its economy. They point out the state is now realizing that, in culture, it has a new source of largely untapped economic energy. Extending the metaphor they say, “if culture — abundant, renewable, and clean — is Louisiana’s new oil then it requires the industrial equivalent of the skilled workers, refineries, and pipelines to bring it to the global marketplace.” Fall 2005/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 67 http://www.stirlingprop.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 Contents Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Louisiana State Museum After Katrina and Rita Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce Historic New Orleans Collection Louisiana Association of Museums New Orleans’ Coffee Connection No Man’s Land Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism Bookstand (Book Review by Thomas Uskali) Sound Advice (Music Review by Ben Sandmel) Forum (Commentary by Roy Blount, Jr. )

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005

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