Lin-Manuel Miranda shows us
the arts are a good impact investment

The Broadway show Hamilton is a popular, critical and financial success. The show recently won 11 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The Rockefeller Foundation, believing the show is a “catalyst for social change”, bought $7.5 million in tickets for high school students nationwide. Performances are sold out for the next six months, and The New York Times is predicting, “the unlikely hit will ultimately generate upward of $1 billion in sales.” This hip-hop musical is part of the more than $700 billion of the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) generated by arts and cultural production.

But today there is no targeted way to put impact capital behind artists or the creative economy.

Impact investing is going mainstream, as asset owners look to get more than a financial return from their investment. The social and economic benefits of investing in the arts is clear. So, as the song says, let’s not throw away our shot.

“If artists bring together creativity, social change, global influence, and genius — and can earn money doing it — where are the impact investors?”

Read Upstart Co-Lab Founding Partner Laura Callanan’s call for impact investors to invest in creativity on Medium.