Okay well this season we're exploring the Scientific
and Cultural Facilities District funding model.
- Which got started in the 80s.
- And since then, the vision
continues to enlighten and entertain.
There's also an economic and a cultural impact.
- The Children's Museum is really
all about messy learning and play.
We really got it started back in 1973
and our understanding was it was a mobile museum on wheels.
- [Narrator] So much has changed.
- This past year, we served 568,000 community
guests and friends from across the region.
Pretty remarkable in sustaining growth over those years.
- [Narrator] We see signs of it most everywhere.
A booming economy.
We are spending more, adding to the power
of the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District Tax.
That one penny on every $10 really adds up.
SCFD really is essential for our yearly
operations in just every way imaginable.
- [Narrator] For the Children's Museum
of Denver at Marsico campus, support
totaled over one million dollars in 2017.
It's money that goes a long way for this tier two grantee.
- It's our art programs, our Artist-in-Residence program
and our teaching kitchen, our school programs.
Given the exponential growth that we're seeing
in our region, that ongoing support helps to
make sure that everyone can access the museum.
That it's affordable and accessible for all.
- [Narrator] Providing culture for all
is the vision of the SCFD.
Collected money generates cultural investment.
- We live in a really vibrant,
dynamic arts and culture community and region.
- [Narrator] It also fuels our economy.
- There's been numerous studies done
that really demonstrate how building
cultural capital really drives economic capital.
Christin Crampton Day leads the Colorado
Business Committee for the Arts or CBCA,
a statewide organization focused on
bringing culture and our economy together.
We demonstrate how art is smart for business,
we validate the economic impact of the arts
and overall strengthen the cultural vitality
of our community and our state.
- [Narrator] Dan Prather is a local business owner,
CBCA member and one of the data experts on the board.
His number crunching skills helped to create
the CBCA's Economic Activity Study released every two years.
- It's a great artifact that anybody can point to
and just say "Hey you know what, arts is thriving."
- [Narrator] This study focuses on Metro Denver
culture through data collected from SCFD grantees.
The results set the stage for Colorado's dialogue
on how the arts, culture and sciences impact our lives.
- It really has transformed the arts
ecosystem and what we've been able to
create here with arts, culture and science.
- [Narrator] An arts ecosystem generating
$1.9 billion running through our economy.
Supporting more than 11,800 jobs.
Increasing attendance to include 15 million
unique arts experiences and much more.
Plus when we participate, that economics power spins faster.
- Say you buy a ticket to a performance at Curious Theatre.
Then you go out to dinner, you pay for a babysitter,
you pay for the pizza for the babysitter.
So that all has an economic impact
in the ripple effect for our economy.
- It's something that we call in
the study audience ancillary spending.
It's their spending on things
outside of just the particular event.
- [Narrator] Access, community, success
with the SCFD as the sustaining force bringing
us together and growing our Colorado economy.
- The citizens of our region understand
that a vibrant community, state, region,
really the only way that we can achieve that
is through the resources and the high level
of quality in our cultural organizations.
- There is much more information on the CBCA's website,
including results from the most recent study.
So take a look at cbca.org.
- Plus there's a full list of organizations
that benefit from the Scientific
and Cultural Facilities Tax model at scfd.org.