Cincinnati: City plans to double arts money

Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken might not know a soprano from a saxophone, but he knows this: the Cincinnati Opera brings in more than 30,000 patrons a year.

That's 30,000 people who rent hotel rooms, shop downtown and eat dinner at some of Cincinnati's finest restaurants. And during festival weekends, in which the opera performs two separate works in the same weekend, opera lovers from 34 states converge on Cincinnati.

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"I will admit that I don't know much about the opera, the symphony or the ballet - though I do enjoy going to them," Luken said. "It has just seemed to me that the city must recognize its growth potential, and the arts provides the biggest growth potential I can think of."

It's arts as economic development. Link