GMAT Sentence Correction (SC) | Re: More and more in recent years, cities are stressing the arts

What is the intended meaning here ?

Isit

Cities are investing millions of dollars in cultural activities

or

Arts is a method to achieve investment of millions of dollars in cultural activities

?

If it is the latter and we ignore the idiom error in option E, can option E not be considered as a correct choice ? That way this sentence can be interpreted as:

arts is a method to achieve greater economic development and investment of millions of dollars in cultural activities.

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