In 2016, the Division - with the County's Office on Economic Opportunity - partnered with ArtPride New Jersey and the the Americans for the Arts on the Mercer County portion of Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 (AEP5), a national survey studying the economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture industry. Twenty-five of the County's non-profit arts and cultural organizations responded to the detailed survey and many more participated in audience intercept surveys during the year. We are extremely grateful to those organizations for their time and commitment. A list of those organizations may be found here. 

The customized snapshot provided for Mercer County demonstrates that the County's cultural industry is an important engine for local economy. These non-profits generate thousands of jobs, leverage many millions of dollars annually, and drive the local tourism engine so integral to this region. The study also underscores the generosity of citizens involved with the local cultural community: the 25 organizations, alone, reported that more than 1,700 volunteers contributed close to 89,000 hours to help cultural programs that year. 

The links below provide additional information on the Mercer County survey results, as well as results for the State of New Jersey, overall and the national AEP5 study. 

• Mercer County AEP5 summary 

• ArtPride NJ (statewide) AEP5 information 

• Americans for the Arts AEP5