You might be surprised at these newly released stats from Hill Strategies Research: British Columbians spent twice as much on live performing arts ($200 million) than on live sports events ($100 million) in 2008.

The figures come from its report Consumer Spending on Culture in Canada, the Provinces and 12 Metropolitan Areas in 2008.

Culture goods can be described as any item that contains cultural content including literature, film, music, paintings, architectural plans, advertising materials, museum exhibits, coin and stamp collections and antiques.

B.C. exported $113.3 million worth of culture goods last year, a decline from $263.7 million in 2004.

Exports of culture goods at the national level have also fallen in recent years from $2.47 billion in 2004 to $1.5 billion last year.

Ontario is the top exporter of culture goods in Canada, exporting $869 million worth of such goods in 2009.

Just ask Richard Florida, one of my favourite authors and writer of The Rise of the Creative Class.

Success in a knowledge economy will depend largely on a metropolitan area’s ability to draw intellectuals, artists, professionals and skilled immigrants from around the world.

So given that most people in Surrey want the city to succeed economically, from a business standpoint, what should be done?

Well, the answer doesn’t seem to be to focus on zero tax increases, which was a failed strategy of council’s under former mayor Doug McCallum.

Carley Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett Packard, once told a group of U.S. governors: “Keep your tax incentives and highway interchanges; we will go where the highly skilled people are.”

But often, as positive as those characteristics may be, they are nebulous and the benefits to society can be difficult to quantify.

That’s particularly the case in regards to the economic benefits—and this is a challenge cities frequently wrestle with.

How much are the arts worth? How much infrastructure should a city provide? And, what do they get in return?

Economic return for the arts
According to the Creative City Network of Canada (CNCC), a non-profit organization that works to develop arts and culture in communities across the country, the arts are capable of far-reaching economic value.

And Vancouver Island School of Art director Wendy Welch is collaborating with Pacific Design Academy director Oliver Drew to launch a new program to take advantage of the trend.

“The idea is to take one year at VISA to gain the fundamentals of drawing, painting, colour theory and two- and three-dimensional design,” said Welch, and then follow up with two years at the academy where students focus on graphic media, interior architectural and landscape design. The result? A diploma in visual arts and graphic design.

“Many graphic designers are caught up in computer effects and don’t have a creative background,” explained Welch, who added the new program will give students a strong base in visual fundamentals and manual skills, combined with a willingness to experiment and try new things.

Crane, a graphic designer working at Vernon’s Sunshine Autographics, put in an entry to Kokanee’s Crank the Can contest last year.

“It took me about an hour,” said Crane of designing a can that features a mountain biker flying over a crowd of people.

“I actually designed 12, but I was only allowed to enter three of them.”

The contest commemomorates Crankworx Mountainfest, a Kokanee-sponsored mountain biking festival held at Whistler every August.

People are asked to submit their designs on Facebook, and after the top six are chosen by Kokanee, people can then vote for their favourite. Three winners are chosen to have their design featured on a limited edition Kokanee can for the following year.

The Campbell River Creative Industries Council (CRCIC), made up of a number of community organizations, aims to accelerate the growth of a cluster of creative industries in the community - a complementary group of businesses ranging from advertising, architecture, art, crafts, design, fashion, film, music, performing arts, publishing, research and development, software, toys and games to TV, radio, digital and graphic design, animation, stereoscopic 3D and interactive games.

“This strategy has the potential to turn Campbell River into a destination for creative thinkers, developers and producers and for our community to become a leader in this field,” explains Dan Smith of the First Nations Summit and chair of the new Campbell River Creative Industries Council.