Culture and Economic Development

Chicago’s creative sector is tremendously active, yet relatively fragmented.  Beyond traditional economic impact studies, few tools exist to evaluate what a thriving cultural sector can mean for a city or how that city should approach its cultural assets strategically.  As a result, Chicago may not be fully capturing the economic potential of its thriving creative industries.

Civic Consulting asked Bain & Company to assess the potential economic benefits that nearly 25 creative industries bring to Chicago, with a deeper look into the growth potential of several high-potential areas.  This was part of a larger initiative to foster the growth of the creative sector and simultaneously support the economic goals of the city (such as job growth, tourism development, and external investment).

In addition to developing a rigorous analytic framework that assesses the economic potential of the arts, Bain’s work demonstrated that cultural institutions and the creative sector provide an excellent opportunity for re-branding Chicago to drive economic development.  Learning from the models of other cities, Bain also identified effective ways to increase tourism without substantial new funding and to attract new investment dollars by expanding the global audience for their cultural industries.