Art is an industry...no, really, it is

These public paintings on Trade Street in downtown Winston-Salem art part of what anybody wandering through will see.  From what the old timers tell me, this street that once served the tobacco trade turned into an art district when downtown emptied out years ago and rents dropped.  I tried to find a good clip of Greensboro's art scene, but for some reason, no one around here seems to do much promotion on YouTube.

This article in the Greensboro News & Record, reporting a study by Americans for the Arts, states that in 2015, the economic impact of Arts and Culture in Guilford County was $162.2 million, which supports the equivalent of 5,963 full time jobs.  In the state of North Carolina,  Arts and Culture is a $2.1 BILLION industry.  Nationwide the economic impact of Arts is $166 billion.  Billion with a "B."  It's not about selling out, but people spend a lot of money on concerts, plays, and other forms of the arts.  But the mindset of most people is still, "stop goofing around and GET A REAL JOB!"

Creative work CAN be a job, there is an series of industries supporting it, and those industries are going to grow in the future, unlike textiles and furniture making in this area.  Wake up and smell the 21st century people, good ideas are the best commodities now.