About Us

Lee County’s nonprofit arts and culture industry generated $68.3 million in annual economic activity in 2010 – supporting 2,038 full-time equivalent jobs and generating $9.4 million in local and state government revenues, according to the new Arts & Economic Prosperity IV national economic impact study. The most comprehensive economic impact study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry ever conducted in the United States, Arts & Economic Prosperity IV was directed by Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, and administered locally by the Lee County Alliance for the Arts.

This study definitively confirms that the arts mean business. The arts inspire us and entertain us, but what is less known is that they’re a crucial aspect of our economy. Click the links below for more information. Visit the Americans for the Arts website to see the national study results.

Thank you to all of the nonprofit arts & culture organizations who participated in this important study:

Alva Community CenterArt Council of Southwest FloridaArt League of Fort MyersArt of the OlympiansArt Quilters UnlimitedArtFest Fort MyersArts for ACT GalleryBailey Matthews Shell Museum and Educational FoundationBIG ARTSBob Rauschenberg Gallery;Bonita Springs Concert BandCalusa Nature Center & Planetarium;Cape Coral Arts StudioCape Coral Historical SocietyCenter for the Arts of Bonita SpringsCreative Theater WorkshopCultural Park TheatreEdison & Ford Winter EstatesEdison Festival of Light;Sidney & Berne Davis Arts CenterFlorida Repertory TheatreFort Myers Beach Art AssociationFort Myers Community ConcertsFort Myers Symphonic MastersingersGulf Coast Symphony Orchestra;Imaginarium Science CenterLee County Alliance for the ArtsLehigh Acres Art LeagueNorth Fort Myers Academy for the ArtsSanibel Music FestivalSouthwest Florida Historical SocietySouthwest Florida Museum of HistorySouthwest Florida SymphonyThe Heights FoundationThe Laboratory Theater of FloridaTheatre Conspiracy;Weavers of Char-LeeWGCU Public Media; and Young Artists Awards.

This study could not have been completed without local support from:

The City of Fort MyersLee County Alliance for the ArtsLee County Visitor & Convention BureauFlorida Division of Cultural Affairs; and the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. Thanks also to hundreds of hours of volunteer time and effort by: Chris Black; Lydia Black; Valerie Black; Katherine Boren; Marie Code; Santiago de Choch; Toni Ferrell; Craig Garrett; Jamie Golob; Carolyn Gora; Jamie Haugh; Shirley McLaren; Marilyn Mecca; Jerry & Portia Rouby; Sandra Stone; Pamela Truesdell; and others who we may have forgotten.