Despite our current economic climate of “holy crap the world’s ending,” one kind of bright spot in the local arts scene is the Heyde Center for the Arts over in Chippewa Falls. The center recently released its annual report, and if those artsy number crunchers can be trusted, it shows that the arts are alive and doing relatively well over there. The CVCA and center contributed approximately $26,000 to the state and local economy, while the economic impact of local spending by the Heyde Center audiences over the past year was $196,000.

Obviously, $26,000 isn’t going to make Chippewa Falls an economic utopia, but for a non-college town that size, it’s a respectable wad of cash – and it’s some pretty tasty icing on the cake, the cake being all the music, art, and drama served up by the Heyde Center in that time frame.

Some other Heyde stats … the center welcomed nearly 9,000 people, a slight decline from the previous year, for 52 performances (35 local, nine regional, five national, and three international).