The arts and other creative industries generate more than $2.4 billion in economic activity in northwest Ohio, or less than 2 percent of the regional economy's total output, according to a new economic study that was released yesterday.

Conducted by the Center for Regional Development at Bowling Green State University, the study also asserts that creative industries support 33,426 jobs, which is slightly more than 3 percent of total employment in the 27-county region it covered.

Who works in a creative industry?

According to the study's methodology, everyone from oil painters and museum directors to video store clerks and evening newscasters.

"We wanted to cast the net fairly broadly," said study author Michael Carroll, the center's director and a BGSU associate professor of economics.

The study, believed to be the first of its kind for the region, examined 19 creative industries in northwest Ohio.

The industries were picked based on a model developed by the Washington-based nonprofit Americans for the Arts, which has done similar economic impact studies, Mr. Carroll said.

In terms of dollar impact, the study found the top five creative industries in northwest Ohio to be newspaper publishing, radio and television stations, advertising services, motion picture and video businesses, and specialized design services.

Museums were sixth on the list, followed in 10th place by independent artists, writers, and performers.

Video-rental businesses were 12th and musical instrument manufacturing was 16th.

Of the $2.4 billion total, $1.5 billion is generated through direct economic activity and more than $900 million is through indirect or induced activity, such as business-to-business purchasing and the personal spending of creative-industry employees.

Additionally, the study asserts that each $1 spent by those creative industries creates $1.62 for the region's economy.

Lucas County accounts for about one-third of the economic activity measured.

The research was based on federal and state labor and economic statistics, and commissioned by the Northwest Ohio Arts Exchange, a group of artists, educators, and business leaders that is loosely affiliated with BGSU.

The group's professed aim is to foster development in the region's arts economy.

Titled "Arts and Regional Prosperity: Economic Impact of the Creative Industries in Northwest Ohio," the study is the group's first commissioned report since its 2003 founding, said member Sara Turner.

"We wanted to really have concrete evidence of how the arts contribute to the region," said Mrs. Turner, also theater business operations manager for BGSU's department of theatre and film.

The study's findings provide a quantifiable grasp of the region's creative economy and could be used by arts and cultural organizations to help secure financial backing, Mrs. Turner said.

Katerina Ruedi Ray, director of BGSU's school of art and an advisory board member of the arts exchange group, described the study as a "follow-on" to a 2003 Toledo visit by famed economic theorist and college professor Richard Florida.

Mr. Florida is best known for his work The Rise of the Creative Class, which posits nurturing creativity as a strategy for economic development.

The BGSU study quantifies the impact of many of the same industries Mr. Florida and a growing number of development proponents believe are driving economies now and will in the future, Mrs. Ray said.

"We were delighted to learn that the arts and creative industries are a significant part of northwest Ohio's economy," she said.

Before the development center undertook the study, Mr. Carroll said he and his staff discussed whether to focus on more traditional arts-related industries, such as museums.

They settled on the broader approach, which relates to Mr. Florida's definition of the creative class.

"That's why we didn't focus on the fine arts per se," he said.

Mr. Carroll called the study's $2.4 billion figure conservative - "it could be closer to $4 billion" - because it did not tally certain architectural services or visitor spending at arts events, in addition to other phenomena.

Mr. Florida, for instance, has included accountants as part of his creative class.

The study and its findings were formally released last night at the Valentine Theatre in downtown Toledo during a presentation that included Ohio's First Lady Frances Strickland and regional leaders.

Contact JC Reindl at: jreindl@theblade.com or 419-724-6050.

First Published October 3, 2007, 10:43 a.m.