Arts Development Index

I have been thinking about Paul Mullin's article on local theatre. I agree that many other businesses are "localized" while the arts still has a long way to go. But the movement for localized economies is based on a re-evaluation of "economies of scale". That is, while corporations will be more efficient in the classical (monetary) economic sense, they may not be contributing to their well-being. Translating this to the arts, while big arts houses will be more efficient in the classical (monetary) economic sense, they may not be contributing to their well-being.

So, how does one measure how well an "arts house" contributes to the communities well-being?

Perhaps we can borrow from current indices. Relying in the UN's Human Development Index, and transposing this idea to the arts domain, we could get a concrete measurement of how well an arts house serves its community. We could calculate an Arts Development Index. Calculation of the the ADI would be as follows: 1/3 (arts life expectancy) + 1/3 (education index) + 1/3 (Arts GDP).

Arts life expectancy would be the achievement of an arts house in arts life expectancy at birth; education would be the adult literacy plus combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrollment; and Arts GDP would be the GDP per arts house. How well the arts house serves the community would be included under the investment parameter that makes up the GDP.

This is absolutely a quantifiable value and one, if taken up, would be invaluable in demonstrating the role that arts houses play in their community and in the lives of its patrons; and lastly, one that could figure in the awarding of grants based on these parameters.