The Baltimore Sun, 2/28/10

“A trio of annual Baltimore events—Artscape, the book festival, and the New Year’s celebration at the Inner Harbor—generated an estimated $36 million in economic benefits during the past year, according to the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA). The estimate is part of a more sophisticated effort to attract additional corporate sponsors and justify continued public subsidies for the events. ‘The impact [of the three events], regionally, is huge,’ said Bill Gilmore, executive director of BOPA, a private, nonprofit organization that works exclusively for the city…Gilmore said he was pleasantly surprised by the findings, especially the numbers generated by Artscape, which the city bills as America’s largest free arts celebration. ‘I was absolutely flabbergasted by the $26 million figure for Artscape. I just never dreamed that people spend $9 million with the vendors,’ he said.”

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