It Rocks: NIVA Study Examine’s Indies’ Impact In Cleveland

Independent venues pump $742.5 million into Cleveland’s gross domestic product and have a staggering $1.17 billion economic impact according to a new study of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, from the National Independent Venue Association and the Cleveland Independent Venue Association.

Following the national– and state-level State of Live reports, NIVA is now drilling down locally to provide its members and their communities a better idea of the opportunities and challenges faced by their local independent venues.

In The ‘Land, indies directly employ some 2,944 people with wages and benefits totaling $452 million — on a per-capita basis, that’s ahead of every state except New York and Tennessee. The sector supports a total of 6,144 jobs.

The city is truly the live driver in its home state, accounting for nearly half of the live contribution to GDP in Ohio; that’s no small accomplishment given the presence of major college town Columbus and big city Cincinnati.

Cleveland’s GDP contribution is more than that of 28 states.

Still, only one in four of the city’s independent stages are profitable, compared to 36% nationally and 20% in Ohio at-large. The state is currently considering a bill that would provide a liquor-tax rebate of up to $100,000 for venues and festivals, which would be required to be used to bring more performances to the state. CIVA and NIVA believe this would push more venues towards profitability.

Cleveland’s stages also lag their peers in generating off-site spending. In Cleveland, that figure was $480,769 per stage; the national average is $969,067.

“The biggest opportunity for future growth locally is in tourism spending. Increasing offsite tourism spending by $50 million would bring Cuyahoga County in line, but still below, the national average,” the study says.