BY JOHN GALLAGHER

DETROIT FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER


The Art X Detroit festival this month did a lot for the more than three dozen local artists who participated and for the art lovers who attended the multi-day events. But it also sparked a few benefits for shop owner Claire Nelson.

"I don't have hard numbers to share, but yes, we had more visitors during Art X Detroit," Nelson, owner of the Bureau of Urban Living home accessories boutique in Detroit's Midtown district, said last week.

"Cultural events are really vital for local smallbusinesses," she added. "Any events that celebrate local art, architecture, cuisine, design, fashion, film, are good for business. We would love to see more."

Spin-off benefits for local retailers are just one way that the arts and creative community helps produce jobs and tax base for cities like Detroit. Exact numbers are difficult to come by, since it's hard to say whether a hotel or restaurant patron is visiting an art show or something else entirely. But Laura Trudeau, senior program director of the Troy-based Kresge Foundation, which sponsored the Art X festival, said the economic boost is real.

"The arts represent something that we already have to build upon. It doesn't need to be created; all it needs is to be lifted up and strengthened," she said.


Continued at: http://www.freep.com/article/20110424/BUSINESS06/104240429/Art-X-Detroit-festival-helps-out-Detroit-businesses?odyssey=nav|head