I love Anita Renfroe. I saw her in at Trinity Lutheran Church in Joppa, MD back in September of ‘08. My friend had front row seats and invited me to sit with her! I was so pleased… until Anita decided to make me the butt of all her jokes that night. You know how comedians always pick on *someone* in the audience and it’s always hilarious, right? Well, that night, I was the *someone*.

Here are two of my favorite clips from her show… Enjoy!

• 1.25 million Americans work in the visual arts.
• One in 111 jobs is in art and design.
• The economic impact of art and design exceeds that of sports worldwide.
• The creative industries are an estimated $30 billion export annually.
• Jobs in design have increased 43% in the past ten years.
• Yearly sales of art reach an estimated $10 billion in the United States alone.
• There are over 532,000 designers working in the U.S.
• More people are employed in the visual arts than in all of the performing arts and sports industries combined.
• 200,000 people are employed in the film industry.
• People spend approximately $55 billion annually on video games.
• The computer animation industry generates $33 billion annually.
• Jobs and employment in many creative industries are growing faster than the labor force as a whole and make up 30% of the work force by some estimates.
• America’s nonprofit arts industry generates $134 billion in economic activity every year.
• By 2016, jobs for artists and designers are predicted to increase by 42%.
• Arts-related businesses in the country’s largest cities represent 4.3% of all businesses and 2.2% of all jobs in the United States.
• There are 3 million people working for over 600,000 arts-centric businesses in the United States.
• Employment growth by arts-centric businesses since 2007 was 12%, more than four times the rise in the total number of U.S. employees.
• Designers are the single largest group of artists, followed by performing artists such as actors, dancers, musicians, and announcers.
• Employment of interior designers is expected to grow 19% from 2006 to 2016.
• Median salaries of: Creative Directors–$90,000, Art Directors–$86,505, Fine Artists–$48,870, Multi-media Artists and Animators–$61,555, Graphic Designers–$46,925, Set and Exhibit Designers–$49,330, Producers and Directors–$86,790, Broadcast Technicians–$40,270, Photographers–$36,090, and Film and Video Editors–$66,715.
• Wage and salary employment in the motion picture and video industries is projected to grow 11% by 2016.
• Animators, film and video editors, and others skilled in digital filming and computer-generated imaging have the best job prospects in future of the motion picture and video industries.
• There are about 94,000 computer artists and animators working in the United States.
• Jobs for photographers have increased 38% in the past four years.

Sources: Americans for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Entertainment Software Association, Ringling College of Art + Design

I’ve been thinking about redesigning my site (it’s about time), but like the old adage about the cobbler’s kids wearing old shoes, my site often takes a back seat (particularly when I’m busy). While I am quite busy these days, I have been feeling a strong desire to let out my interest in “vintage grunge” design. I’m not sure when or how that will play out, but in the meantime, I thought you might enjoy this collection of vintage design on the web for inspiration…

Click this preview to see the entire list: