How blending data, storytelling and the arts changes everything
by Lisa Richards Toney, President and CEO of APAP
This month, I returned to Madison, Wisconsin, where APAP’s story began more than 60 years ago. Being back with residents, arts professionals and supporters reminded me how much joy, transformation and connection the arts can ignite in communities across the world. Those stories have the power to change everything.
Madison’s stories are powerful, and the data is undeniable. In 2023, Dane County’s non-profit arts and culture sector generated nearly $350 million in economic impact, supporting 4,677 local jobs, building solidarity among 91 per cent of arts attendees, and inspired 88 per cent of audiences to participate, ensuring a creative future. If these experiences vanished, 86 per cent say the loss would be profound.
Together, passion and proof drive action and unlock investment, helping us navigate shrinking resources, shifting audiences and the rapid opportunities wrought by technology. In an information-rich, interconnected world, organisations that harness both data and narrative won’t only thrive; they will ensure our communities endure.
The data renaissance
Around the world, the creative economy is proving its weight in economic capital,1 including $151.7 billion in organisational spending, $29.1 billion from audiences, and $101 billion in personal income. Non-profit arts and culture generate
$151.7 billion annually, support 2.6 million jobs, and return $29.1 billion in tax revenue.
Consider San Antonio, Texas, where the creative sector adds $5.18 billion and sustains 20,800 jobs, strengthening economic resilience and community cohesion. And the story is global. In the UK, arts engagement delivers £8 billion annually in health and productivity gains,2 from easing depression to slowing cognitive decline, making cultural experiences a form of preventative infrastructure.
The arts build stronger, healthier and more prosperous communities by transforming cultural participation into shared economic impact. If we don’t lead with data-driven narratives, others will – and the investment will follow them and not us.
Mobilisation strategy: Lessons from advocacy and political campaigns
Advocacy and political campaigns excel because they merge two forces: data and storytelling. Data without human experience falls flat. Stories without data lack credibility. But when stories are powered by data, the impact is transformative.
Winning campaigns don’t just collect numbers. They deploy them by segmenting audiences, tracking sentiment in real time, and fusing analytics with narrative to craft stories that feel personal and persuasive. Narrative-driven, character-focused storytelling consistently outperforms policy-heavy messaging, generating greater engagement and less resistance.
For the campaign model and the arts, success must be driven by strategy – not just passion or politics. Targeting audiences with precision, segmentation and story-driven framing is essential to capturing funders, policymakers and other community stakeholders. Failing to adopt these strategies risks being drowned out in a saturated, data-driven landscape.
We in the arts know our impact, mission stories and numbers. The challenge, and the opportunity, is weaving them together to connect attendance figures to real community transformations, showing how the transformative impact of the performing arts flows from local stories into national change. When we do, every pitch or proposal works harder, anchored in compelling metrics that prove our impact and move people to act.
The science of why stories work
Neuroscience research shows stories activate multiple regions of the brain, creating “neural coupling”3 between speaker and listener. Facts embedded in stories are 22 times more likely to be remembered than facts alone. That’s 22 times more likely – not 22 per cent.
Stories strengthen wellbeing while strengthening economies. The World Health Organization estimates that arts engagement generates billions in societal value annually through stress reduction, productivity gains and improved mental health.
From children in hospitals experiencing reduced pain through music to audiences synchronising brainwaves in shared performances, the science tells us stories don’t just persuade – they synchronise and safeguard human resilience. And resilience is the heart of future-proofing.
Stories that transform systems
Around the world, the data is clear. Arts-driven storytelling fuels resilience, strengthens cohesion and sparks renewal.
In Spain, the Festival de Jerez draws tens of thousands and generates millions in revenue. The story is how the flamenco art form sustains cultural identity while also fuelling economic renewal. In South Korea, the Hallyu wave4 drives billions in exports. The story is how Korean pop culture – and the broader Hallyu wave – brings generations together in Seoul, bonding families as powerfully as it fuels the national economy.
In Kenya, youth theatre at the Kenya Cultural Centre engages thousands each year. The story is how young performers gain confidence, stay in school and claim a civic voice. At Sing Sing prison in New York, Rehabilitation Through the Arts has cut recidivism to under three per cent, compared to a national average above 60 per cent. The story is how theatre teaches discipline, empathy and hope, disrupting cycles of incarceration that statistics alone cannot explain.
The future we must claim
The performing arts have always been about transformation. Today, transformation is not optional. It is the price of relevance. By blending stories with data, we don’t just prove our value, we safeguard our future. We must invest in the capacity to gather such stories, shared at scale, so the arts not only endure but also lead in building a more resilient and connected society.
That is not just the art of future-proofing. That is the future of our art.
