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Creative State Michigan, an annual report by ArtServe,wholesale MLB Jerseys, showed every dollar spent in Michigan on arts and culture repays the state back 50-fold. According to Michigan Radio, the purpose of the report was to demonstrate to lawmakers how profitable arts funding can be. Here are details about cultural-to-business connections in Michigan.

* Information was collected from the Michigan Cultural Data Project, state community foundations, charitable trust groups, area arts councils, public broadcasting, employment agencies and tourism bureau reports.

* Michigan has 2,000 nonprofit arts groups. The report examined 2009 fiscal year statistics gathered from 211 organizations and venues, including 32 of the state’s top 50 earners, says ArtServe.

* In 2009, the state funding level was slightly less than $10 million. Michigan’s arts budget has been cut by about 80 percent, Michigan Radio says.

* Arts venues generated more than $450 million in economic activity. Tourists spent more than $2 billion in Michigan on cultural attractions. That’s more than tourism dollars earned from golf, skiing, hunting, fishing and boating combined, Michigan Radio says.

* Visitors attended 12,667,492 performances and cultural events. More than half of those were free visits, funded by government grants, state tax dollars and patron contributions.

* Nearly 2 million children in more than 25,000 school groups visited a cultural event. 797 programs come to schools through community outreach programs, ArtServe says. The average ticket cost was $6 for children and $18 for adults. Most venues also give teachers follow-up activities for classroom use for free.

* More than 31,000 people volunteer at arts events and exhibits and more than 330,000 support them with financial contributions.

* Arts venues also provide employment, ArtServe says. In 2009, unemployment hit record highs of 14 percent in Michigan, but employment at arts-related exhibits was up from 2006 to 2010. The 211 organizations that participated in the survey reported more than 15,000 jobs. Those jobs earned Michigan residents $152 million in 2009.

* Since 2006 arts-related businesses in Michigan have increased almost 33 percent. There are 24,306 establishments state-wide.

Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben writes about people, places, events and issues in her home state of “Pure Michigan.”

Ford Motor China said its sales in October were flat compared with a year earlier at 40,857 vehicles, though its January-October sales were up 9 percent from a year earlier, at 426,814 vehicles.

Sales figures for domestic automakers are due later this week.

But sales by GM’s joint venture with FAW dropped 32 percent to 4,408 vehicles, the company said without elaborating.

Dealerships saw business slow this year after the government ended tax incentives and subsidies meant to encourage purchases of small, fuel efficient cars. Licensing quotas and other restrictions meant to help control chronic traffic jams have also hurt.

Reviving after a slow start this year, sales of minivehicles by Shanghai-GM-Wuling jumped 19 percent to 111,957 in October, GM said. Minivehicles includes van and some small cars.

Sales by General Motors Co. and its China joint ventures have exceeded 2.1 million so far this year, up about 7 percent from the 1,976,913 vehicles it sold in January-October 2010, the company said Monday.

Despite strong demand in some areas, especially luxury vehicles and SUVs and some GM models, overall demand in China, the world’s largest auto market, has been lackluster this year.

In 2010, GM sold more than 2.35 million vehicles in China, up 28.8 percent from a year earlier.

But foreign automakers have fared better than local ones, and GM has reported strong growth in demand for its Chevrolet Cruze and its Buick Excelle sedan and New Regal.

SHANGHAI GM’s sales in China jumped 10 percent to a record 220,412 vehicles in October, helped by renewed demand for its minivans.