About

Side of Culture is a news and information source about under-the-radar arts and cultural organizations in the United States. The purpose and mission of the website and newsletter is to promote the positive impact local and regional cultural organizations have on their communities. 

These arts organization are an important part of the cultural landscape in the United States but also enrich the lives of those involved and help to build and maintain a web of support and talent in their communities.

These organizations often provide a platform for creating special and inspiring connections and outlets that can enrich and enhance our daily lives. They are also showcases of local talents that often fly below the radar of national recognition. Side of Culture highlights the importance of these organizations to our communities.

The name Side of Culture refers to sides of a meal that are served with a main course. The main meal is our hectic everyday life while the sides are often the most fun and interesting parts of our lives that we may spend at cultural organizations either as volunteers or as part of an audience or as exhibition goers, donators and promoters. Like the sides of a meal, cultural organizations offer sometimes the most fulfilling, meaningful and memorable experiences. 

There is too, in fact, a bottom line to supporting arts and culture in the United States: 

According to the recently released Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6) by Americans for the Arts is an economic and social impact study of the nation’s nonprofit arts and culture industry. Building on its 30-year legacy as the largest and most inclusive study of its kind, AEP6 provides detailed findings on 373 regions from across all 50 states and Puerto Rico—ranging in population from 4,000 to 4 million—and representing rural, suburban, and large urban communities.

In 2022, nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences generated $151.7 billion in economic activity—$73.3 billion in spending by the organizations, which leveraged an additional $78.4 billion in event-related spending by their audiences. The impact of this economic activity is far reaching, supporting 2.6 million jobs, generating $29.1 billion in tax revenue, and providing $101 billion in personal income to residents. 

Please email Victoria Larson at editor@sideofculture.com for any information and please sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of the home page. 

Most importantly, thank you for reading and visiting with us. 

Victoria Larson

March 2024