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GREENSBORO -- They entertain, beautify, teach, unite and inspire.

On the practical side, they provide jobs, attract visitors and pump up the economy.

We're talking about the arts.

"The arts build such a vibrant quality of life for residents and visitors," says Jeanie Duncan, president of the United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro, which raises money and advocates for local arts groups and artists.

In Guilford County, the nonprofit arts sector alone is a $30.7 million annual industry, one that supports the equivalent of 1,094 full-time jobs and generates nearly $2.9 million in local and state government revenue, according to a study released last year.

That study, done by Americans for the Arts, also found that nearly 1 million people attended arts events in 2006.

"That's 2,700 people a day attending something," Duncan said.

Walk through downtown Greensboro, and its vibrant arts scene is apparent.

Visitors can find a play at Triad Stage, The Broach Theatre or City Arts Drama Center, a concert of music or dance at the Carolina Theatre.

They can listen to live music at restaurants and clubs. And they can see original art in galleries and outdoors.

Activity extends beyond downtown to the Greensboro Coliseum complex, to colleges and churches, to the Open Space Café and Barn Dinner Theatre -- and to High Point.

That gives the Greensboro Area Convention & Visitors Bureau plenty of suggestions for conventioneers and tourists.

"All of the music, the visual arts, the theater complete the whole picture of what Greensboro has to offer," bureau Marketing Director Gail Murphy said.

Events such as July's Eastern Music Festival, the spring Piedmont Jazz & Blues Festival, Triad Stage plays, the coliseum's Best of Broadway series and the Barn Dinner Theatre attract audiences from beyond Greensboro.

EMF, for example, found that 13 percent of its audience for its summer 2004 concerts came from more than 60 miles away. Triad Stage attracts 5 percent of its audience from more than 50 miles away.

Those visitors boost businesses by buying extras such as meals, snacks and souvenirs, in addition to event tickets.

That activity also can help attract businesses and individuals to locate here. And then there are the intrinsic benefits to artists and their audiences.

Mitchel Sommers, executive director of Community Theatre of Greensboro, sees how its plays unite cast and crew from different neighborhoods, races, religions, socio-economic backgrounds and abilities. As plays attract their families, friends and fans, "suddenly people are in the audience with people they would never have had a chance to meet," Sommers said.

"I don't know anything else that brings such a diverse group of people together like the arts."

Contact Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane at 373-5204 or dawn.kane@news-record.com