For many, the Dallas regional community represents the leading business and financial center of the Southwest.  The Dallas region is also rich in arts and cultural opportunities.  With significant numbers of cultural arts organizations and a strong convention and tourism industry, it is increasingly becoming known that the Dallas region also presents ample opportunities for leisure activities and cultural entertainment.

Today, cities work to brand themselves as de facto destinations for the tourism industry and often directly compete with one another for the opportunity to be the host city for large-scale professional conferences. Therefore, it is important for the Dallas region to take advantage of its rich heritage and its cultural arts resources.  These characteristics make the Dallas region unique and help to define the region as a metropolitan arts center.

This aspiration presents data and information about three indicators, which are listed in the grey panel on the right side of this page.  Specifically, the three indicators within this aspiration report the following:  

• Economic impact of arts organizations: Data as reported by North Texas Cultural Arts Economic Impact study
• Impact on local & regional tourist economy: Data as reported by Texas Destinations, 2003-2004, a report commissioned by Texas Economic Development & Tourism
• Employment in the arts: Number of cultural arts establishments and employees in Collin, Dallas, and Denton Counties, as reported by the County Business Patterns series, a program of the U.S. Census Bureau