Becca Stevens, Lionel Loueke and Gretchen Parlato perform at the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival. Photo by Steve Klamkin WPRO News
By Steve Klamkin WPRO News
The Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals brought more than $5 million in direct spending to Rhode Island in 2012. It also found that 89.1% of attendees came to Rhode Island specifically for the festivals.
The study was commissioned by the state Department of Environmental Management and Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc., the non-profit group that recently took over operations of the long-standing folk and jazz festivals, which each run over two summer weekend at Fort Adams in Newport.
The last study of the festivals conducted in 1994 estimated the direct economic impact on Rhode Island was $3.7 million.
The study was conducted by Advantage Marketing Information of North Kingstown and toted up spending, including lodging, food and beverages, shopping and entertainment.
Among the study’s findings:
– Median expenditures by Jazz attendees were significantly higher in most categories than Folk attendees’ expenditures. While the Jazz Festival had fewer people, its direct spending impact was disproportionately larger.
– Performers spent more on most categories than vendors, adding to the spending impact of the event.
– Jazz Festival attendees visited other RI tourist destinations more than Folk attendees.
– 79% of Festival attendees listed the Festival websites as their chief source of information. Social media and word of mouth were other key sources.
– 41.7% of Festival attendees earned graduate degrees.
– 43.6% of Festival attendees were men, and 56.4% were women.
– 25.2% of overall Festival attendees were in the 25-34 age group.
– 91% of overall Festival attendees were Caucasian; 4.8% were Black; 2.6% Other; 1.6% Asian, 1.2% Hispanic and 0.6% American Indian.
– 22% of the overall attendees earned an average income of $100,000 – $149,000.
– The largest percentage of out of state attendees came from Massachusetts.
– Rhode Islanders purchased 15.8% of the tickets sold online to the Folk Festival and 25.2% of the tickets sold online to the Jazz Festival.
This year's Newport Folk Festival, which runs July 26 – 28 is sold out. The Newport Jazz Festival runs the following weekend, August 2-4.
