Study findings revealed that over 600 creative institutions employ an estimated 4,000 people and generated approximately 300million in economic output in 2018 alone.
Kelowna's Creative Sector as grown exponentially since 2009.
On Monday, City Council received an update on the economic impact the creative sector had on Kelowna from 2009 to 2018.
Professional Economist, Jamie Vann Struth, conducted the assessment.
His findings revealed that over 600 creative institutions employ an estimated 4,000 people and generated approximately $300-million in economic output in 2018 alone.
“Employment compared to the previous study, has almost tripled, up over two-hundred per cent, both for total jobs and full time equivalent. Average incomes per FTE are up 43 per cent over the nine year period, $41,000 to $59,000. Total economic has gone up by more than four times 340 per cent,” said Vann Struth.
However, he explained there is a lot more to the creative sector than statistics.
“A lot of people who are working or involved in the creative sector are not necessarily employed full time, not necessarily earning income even for some of their performances or some of the activities there engaged win; but they do it for their personal fulfillment and they provide a lot of vitality and amenity value to the community as a whole.”
He defines creative industries as groups and individuals who are producing creative content, distributing, or conserving it.
The report broke the sector down into eleven subdivisions: Arts Instruction & Education, Art Galleries & Dealers, Commercial Arts, Cultural Facilities, Events & Festivals, Literary Arts, Performing Arts, Service & Material Providers, Societies & Organizations, Visual Arts and Film & New Media.
In terms of employment, he stated Film & New Media is the single biggest part of the creative sector.
The next question was, what does that mean for the study and is that where the growth is coming from?
“It’s a good part of the growth but not all of it. Even if we exclude film and media there’s still strong growth within the sector. Employment's more than doubled, output's more than doubled, average income is up 20 per cent and number of establishments is up 50 per cent. So, even without film and media it’s still showing strong signs of growth,” said Vann Struth.
