GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A report has been released in an effort to measure the economic impact of ArtPrize on Grand Rapids and the Kent County area in 2023.
ArtPrize 2023 was the first incarnation of the annual public art competition under control of the city of Grand Rapids, Kendall College of Art and Design and Downtown Grand Rapids Inc.
The 38-page report compiled for 2023 was put together by student researchers at Grand Valley's Seidman Business College.
Surveys were collected at six locations: Calder Plaza, Ah-Nab Awen Park, Rosa Parks Circle, Fulton Street, the intersection of Bridge & Broadway, and a street corner near HopCat.
A similar report was compiled by student researchers at GVSU for the 2022 event.
The study found fewer people attended ArtPrize in 2023 than in 2022.
They estimate there were 753,601 visitors in 2022 and 714,345 in 2023. That is a drop of about 5.2%.
Despite this, they found the event had a bigger economic impact in 2023.
There was about $24.6 million spent in 2022 by what the researchers refer to as "primary visitors," or people who were downtown primarily to visit ArtPrize.
They found about $40.3 million was spent by primary visitors in 2023.
In terms of total economic impact, 2023 still comes out on top.
Kent County saw a total impact of about $34.6 million in 2022 and $41.1 million in 2023. This number includes all of the money spent within the county by the ArtPrize organization.
There is also extra tax revenue to consider, or taxes collected from non-residents who were in the area primarily to visit the public art competition.
The county pulled an additional $70,313 in additional tax revenue during the 2022 event, bumping that number up to $215,751 in 2023.
The student researchers asked respondents to mark down where they are living in an effort to get a clear picture of where ArtPrize visitors are traveling from.
Results showed visitors from 15 states and two countries: the United States and Mexico.
Researchers ended up getting survey results from 595 people, all of them over 18 years old.
The majority of visitors who filled out responses were over the age of 65, with 25% saying they were 66 or older.
Respondents were also overwhelmingly female, with 25.54% being men, 72.3% being woman and 1.8% choosing not to answer.
You can take a deeper dive into the Economic Impact of ArtPrize 2023 report HERE.
The ArtPrize 2022 report is available HERE.
