Where Do Duncanville’s Arts Dollars Go?

A Duncanville resident buys two tickets to a concert.

Before the show, they have dinner.

They pay for parking.

Maybe they have a drink afterward.

The evening might cost $150.

There is only one problem if we are trying to understand Duncanville’s arts economy.

None of that money may have been spent in Duncanville.

The resident is part of our community.

The spending is part of their household budget.

The demand is real.

But the economic activity happened somewhere else.

That raises another question for the Cultural Interest Study:

Where do Duncanville’s arts dollars go?

We already know residents spend money elsewhere

There is nothing unusual about leaving Duncanville to buy something.

People cross city limits every day.

They drive to work. They eat at restaurants in other cities. They shop online. They visit malls, theaters, museums, concert halls, galleries, and entertainment districts across North Texas.

Arts spending works the same way.

A Duncanville resident might see a play in Dallas.

Buy a painting in Fort Worth.

Take a pottery class in Cedar Hill.

See a movie in Arlington.

Order a book online.

Attend a festival in another state.

All of those purchases tell us something about the arts market in Duncanville because the buyer lives here.

Where the transaction happens is a separate question.

This is called spending leakage

Economic development researchers often look at whether residents make purchases inside or outside their own community.

When local demand is being met somewhere else, that spending is often described as leakage.

The word can sound negative.

It doesn’t have to be.

Some spending will always leave Duncanville.

We are part of a large metropolitan area. Duncanville is not going to reproduce the Dallas Museum of Art, a major touring concert, or every cultural experience available across North Texas.

Nor should it try.

The useful question is smaller:

What are Duncanville residents already buying elsewhere that could also happen here?

That is a question we can research.

The ticket is only part of the spending

When people attend an arts event, the economic activity may extend beyond admission.

They may eat dinner.

Buy a drink.

Pay for transportation or parking.

Shop nearby.

Hire a babysitter.

Stay overnight.

Americans for the Arts studied this kind of spending through its Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 research.

Across the nonprofit arts and culture events included in that national study, attendees spent an average of $38.46 per person beyond admission.

Food and drink purchased away from the event was the largest part of that additional spending.

That number is a national average.

It is not a Duncanville estimate.

But it shows us why location matters.

An arts experience can create more than one transaction.

A ticket can become dinner.
Dinner can become drinks.
A visit can become shopping.
A cultural purchase can create other economic activity around it.

People will travel for culture

The same national study found something else worth considering.

When local attendees were asked what they would have done if the cultural event they attended had not been available, 51 percent said they would have traveled to another community for a similar activity.

Again, that does not mean 51 percent of Duncanville residents would do the same.

We don’t know our number.

That is the point.

But the national finding shows that arts demand does not simply disappear when something is unavailable nearby.

Sometimes the customer goes somewhere else.

That changes the way we should think about the local arts economy.

If Duncanville does not offer a certain experience, it does not necessarily mean Duncanville residents do not want it.

They may already be buying it somewhere else.

Absence is not the same as lack of demand

This distinction matters.

Imagine there is no regular chamber music series in Duncanville.

We could look at that and conclude:

There must not be a market for chamber music here.

But that conclusion would be weak.

What if 300 Duncanville residents already attend chamber music performances elsewhere every year?

The local supply would be small.

The local demand would still exist.

The same could be true for:

Live music.
Theater.
Film.
Art classes.
Original artwork.
Dance.
Literary events.
Children’s arts programs.
Festivals.

We cannot measure demand only by looking at what is currently available inside the city.

Sometimes the market is easier to see by following the customer.

The Cultural Interest Study should follow the purchase

This gives us another piece of the research.

We already want to know:

What did someone buy?

What did it cost?

Did they attend?

Did they buy again?

Now we add:

Where did the purchase happen?

That might mean Duncanville.

It might mean Dallas.

It might mean Cedar Hill.

It might mean Fort Worth.

It might mean New York.

It might mean a website.

The answer matters because different kinds of spending tell us different things.

If residents regularly travel somewhere else for a certain kind of cultural experience, that may point to unmet local demand.

If residents buy art mostly online, that tells us something else.

If they attend performances elsewhere but buy classes locally, that tells us something else.

The pattern is more important than any one purchase.

Local does not automatically men better

The goal of this research should not be to keep every arts dollar inside Duncanville.

That is neither realistic nor especially interesting.

People should go to great museums.

They should hear major orchestras.

They should travel to festivals.

They should discover artists wherever they find them.

The question for Duncanville is whether some part of the cultural spending already being made by residents could support activity closer to home.

Maybe residents travel for major concerts but would support smaller live performances locally.

Maybe they visit large museums elsewhere but would buy work from local artists.

Maybe they drive to another city for classes that could work here.

Maybe there is strong demand for something Duncanville does not currently offer.

Maybe there is not.

We should find out.

A market may exist before the businesses do

This may be one of the most important ideas behind the Cultural Interest Study.

We often look for an arts economy by counting arts businesses, venues, organizations, and events.

Those things matter.

But a market begins with buyers.

If Duncanville residents are already spending money on arts and cultural experiences, then some form of market already exists.

It may simply be spread across North Texas and the internet.

Our job is to see it.

That means the Cultural Interest Study should eventually help us understand not only how much residents spend, but where those purchases happen.

Over time, we may begin to see patterns.

Perhaps certain kinds of spending already stay close to home.

Perhaps other dollars leave almost every time.

Perhaps some categories show enough demand to support more local activity.

Perhaps others clearly do not.

Any of those findings would be useful.

Follow the money

The Census Bureau tells us that businesses in Duncanville recorded about $766.8 million in retail sales in 2022.

It also reports about $125.2 million in accommodation and food-service sales.

Those are significant numbers.

But they cannot tell us which dollars came from Duncanville residents.

They cannot tell us which purchases were connected to arts and culture.

And they cannot tell us what Duncanville residents purchased somewhere else.

That is the gap we are trying to understand.

The Cultural Interest Study starts with the person making the choice.

What did you buy?

What did you pay?

Did you come back?

And now:

Where did your money go?

Because before we decide what kind of arts economy Duncanville should build, we should understand how much of that economy may already exist somewhere else.