Museums and cultural offerings are among Nebraska s most popular tourist attractions with 1.2 million persons paying to attend an arts event in Nebraska in 1999. This report confirms that the Arts play a key role in Nebraska s economy and quality of life, said Governor Mike Johanns.
Arts are a major attraction that contributes to tourism, employment, and high quality education.
They ve completed studies for Oregon, Utah and Nevada. In addition to having impressive credentials, they understand how the arts are presented in geographically large states like ours. Focus groups met in Scottsbluff, Grand Island, Lincoln and Omaha to provide a more in-depth understanding of how arts organizations deliver services in Nebraska, and phone interviews with Nebraska s arts and business leaders also provided perspective. Data regarding Nebraska s economy was gathered from state and federal sources to be combined with the specific arts data. Once the raw data was compiled and analyzed, the study was subjected to a review by economist Renee Irvin, who is Assistant Professor of Public Administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.