The Benefits of IMPART
Building on Successful Programs
The collaboration between educational institutions and state agencies at the level proposed by IMPART is a novel and innovative suggestion. The inclusion of state offices enhances and strengthens the IMPART initiative in a number of very powerful ways. First, these institutions provide a pool of exceptionally talented and experienced professionals who can teach courses at partner educational institutions, work with students, and collaborate with academics in research and applied areas. Second, state professionals have real-world experience and can provide both insights and real-world work opportunities to students in the system. Also, these state agencies provide unique resources and facilities to IMPART:
- The Maryland Historical Trust is perhaps the best state historic preservation office in the country, with extensive archives and inventories of sites and buildings;
- Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum has not only a superb interpretive program, but a state-of-the-art conservation lab and collections facility, perhaps the best in the country;
- The Banneker-Douglass Museum and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture provide extraordinary opportunities for studying and interpreting African American heritage;
- Historic St. Mary's City offers the resources of one of the longest-standing and most comprehensive historical and archaeological investigations of 17th century colonial America;
- Staff in State heritage offices comprise a pool of talented professionals with experience and real-world skills.
The separate listing of these state offices obscures the fact that they are much more than the sum of their parts. When combined with the various resources of the academic partners of IMPART, it is clear that Maryland has the materials for an extraordinarily broad and powerful program in historic preservation and heritage studies. National institutions in Washington, D.C., such as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives, Library of Congress, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and National Park Service provide an even greater depth of opportunity. Other academic institutions around the state may participate in IMPART through student assistantships, some of which will be earmarked for such partners, as well as through distance learning and collaborative research. IMPART provides a model for heritage education in the United States.
Educational Benefits
The educational benefits of IMPART should be self-evident; the plan provides a model for moving heritage studies at Maryland's institutions of higher learning forward into the 21st century. The plan allows for the development of all components and disciplines necessary for a flourishing of heritage studies. It also provides for a sharing of resources among partners, for maximizing scarce resources and for avoiding duplication and unproductive competition.
To date, one element of the initiative has received state funding, the Assistantship Program for Historic Preservation. The Assistantships in Historic Preservation have involved students in a wide variety of activities and learning situations, from interpreting the past to visitors, to recording cemeteries, analyzing data, and helping to design museum exhibits. They have taken place in museums, laboratories, in the field and on the water. They provide a wonderful example of the impact that a modest level of support can provide.
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Economic Benefits
Any proposed investment requires a careful consideration of the costs and benefits. Some of the benefits of a concerted effort to expand heritage studies in Maryland are hard to quantify. These include the sense of place and sense of identity that the preservation and study of our past gives to Marylanders. The state's heritage resources contribute substantially to the quality of life that we enjoy and to the environment that makes this an attractive place to work and live. An understanding of these resources and of the past also is of great value to students at all levels. It is impossible to put a price tag on these benefits.
Other benefits, however, can be more readily measured, and the growing economic importance of our heritage makes it imperative that we train professionals to encourage and manage this growth. Visitors, for example, increasingly come to Maryland to see its heritage resources, both cultural and natural. This has become one of the fastest growing segments of the economy, making heritage a powerful economic engine.
- Tourism is a growing business worldwide, and the fastest growing components are heritage and ecotourism.
- Heritage tourists stay longer and spend more money than other visitors.
- In 2001, domestic travelers spent more than $8.1 billion in Maryland.
- In 2001, payroll income generated by domestic travel in Maryland exceeded $2.5 billion.
- Domestic travel directly resulted in 104,900 jobs in Maryland during 2001. On average, every $80,350 spent on travel created one job in the state.
- Tourism also generated $1.8 billion in tax revenue for federal, state and local governments.
The World Tourism Organization estimates that tourism revenue internationally will quadruple by 2010. If heritage tourism is planned for carefully, it provides clean and manageable economic growth. The key factors are careful planning, management, and the preservation of the very resources that visitors come to see. This requires trained professionals in all of the heritage disciplines.
Marylanders have accepted that another key factor to preserving our quality of life is avoiding sprawl, concentrating new development in existing growth areas, and rehabilitating historic properties wherever possible. This too can be seen as economic development, but it also requires trained heritage professionals.
- Properties within historic districts appreciate on average 29% faster than those in similar, adjacent areas. This generates greater tax revenue for state and local governments, while the protected properties serve as a basis for heritage tourism.
- Rehabilitation of historic properties creates significantly more jobs than new construction.
- Studies indicate that $1 million spent in rehabilitating a historic building in Maryland results in:
- 16.3 construction jobs and 15.4 jobs elsewhere in the economy;
- a $761,300 increase in family income; and
- 3.2 more jobs than the same amount spent in new construction.
- Businesses flourish in historic districts as alternatives to the homogeneity of shopping malls—these businesses keep small towns and town centers alive economically.
- Heritage programs such as the Historic Preservation Tax Credit over the last two years created some 2,500 jobs and brought an additional $20 million in public revenues.
To round out the potential benefit of stimulating heritage training it is worth considering the role that museums and arts organizations play in both preservation and economic development.
- There are more than 300 historical and cultural museums in Maryland, many of them under-staffed.
- These museums attract over three million people annually and serve over 275,000 school visitors per year.
- History museums have annual operating budgets of over $19 million and payrolls totaling more than $10 million.
- Maryland's non-profit heritage and arts industry directly contributes over $350 million to the State's economy each year.
- Local history museums often serve as a catalyst for broader redevelopment and revitalization efforts.
It is clear that real economic benefits come to Maryland from its heritage resources, in addition to the intangible benefits they provide. Capitalizing on this potential, however, and maintaining the resources upon which these benefits are based, requires an educational structure that trains and equips young Marylanders for professional careers in this arena. Without access to these tools and training, our heritage resources and the enormous benefits they provide are at risk. IMPART makes a major contribution toward this goal, while at the same time developing the infrastructure for more profitable heritage tourism.
