Harnessing the "creative economy"
It’s gaining recognition as the new economic engine for the state and for the region. The New England Council found it generates more jobs than software or health care. And, as a soon-to-be-released report is expected to conclude, it could be the key to attracting the best and the brightest to Massachusetts, stemming the much-lamented population drain. But, as one proponent notes, defining the so-called "creative economy" is a bit like climbing a greased pole.
On March 26, the Enterprise Center at Salem State College co-sponsored the first statewide conference on the creative economy. Its recommendations are expected to be detailed in a report due out next month. But Enterprise Center Executive Director Christine Sullivan says pinning down the creative economy of today is like trying to define the Internet in the early 1990s. It means different things to different people.The conference examined how arts and cultural organizations, businesses, education, and state and local leaders could harness the considerable energy of the state’s creative economy, which generates more than $6.6 billion annually, estimates The New England Council, a nonprofit business group. N.E. Council reports that the creative cluster employs 3.5 percent of the New England workforce and supports an annual payroll of more than $4.3 billion.
Coined in a report by the N.E.Council in 2000 and explored by author Richard Florida in two landmark books, The Rise of the Creative Class and The Flight of the Creative Class, the creative economy has become a local, regional and national byword for economic development over the past several years.
While its wide-ranging definition makes it difficult to come up with exact revenue figures for this previously under-recognized economic niche, creative economy enthusiasts cite several eye-openers. Wyatt Wade notes that the arts bring in more money, in general, than all sports venues put together. Wade is a coalition member and president of arts education materials publisher Davis Publications, and also owns the Printers Building at 21 Portland St., Worcester, which is serving as an incubator for creative people.
What’s more, business and cultural leaders note that employees with creative training and backgrounds are more in demand than ever before, in traditional and nontraditional settings. Or, as several put it, "The MFA [Master of Fine Arts] is the new MBA."
Locally, the creative economy has become a major focus for the City of Worcester, which declared itself a "creative city" last year after a series of public forums led by another economic development guru, author Charles Landry, drew more than 400 participants. Worcester Cultural Development Officer Erin Williams says the city’s effort to draw upon its cultural and creative assets to foster economic growth reflects a trend across the state.
But those efforts need to be united in a single voice that recognizes and promotes the state’s creative assets, Sullivan says. "We do need an economic identity in Massachusetts that can take us into the future. I think this is it."
From sculpting to software?
Sullivan is confident the definition of the creative economy should become clearer as leaders talk about it. One fairly widely recognized definition she and others cite is "organizations or people that use creativity and innovation to create products and services that involve a transaction." However, opinions vary on just what that includes. Sullivan says it can include a range of skills, from artists to software engineers. Williams ventures that lawyers and architects might make the list.
Beth Seigel, president of Sommerville-based Mt. Auburn Associates, a strategic economic planning consultant that prepared the N.E. Council report on the creative economy in 2000, prefers the narrower definition of "economic activity that is related to the arts and culture." That, in her view, includes artists, museums, theaters, and industries that produce creative products such as films, media and advertising and web designers, but not necessarily engineers. Seigel, who says her company was the first to define this economic segment in this country, worries that the much broader definitions being bandied about are muddying the waters when it comes to promoting this economic focus.
What’s central to the creative economy push, says Patricia Zaido, executive
director of the public/private Salem Partnership and overseer of the conference report still taking shape, is to overcome the perception that arts and culture are frills and not part of the main economy. A 2006 report by the nonprofit Americans for the Arts notes that Massachusetts is home to 14,621 arts-related businesses that employ 78,204 people.
Richard Florida, who cited the N.E. Council study in The Rise of the Creative Class in 2002, and The Flight of the Creative Class in 2005, focuses on the fact that highly skilled workers are attracted to places with a vibrant creative economy. A recent BusinessWeek report details Florida’s contention that clustered in U.S. cities are some 38 million innovators that generate more than their share of wealth – amounting to $1.7 trillion. These scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, designers and engineers, Florida notes, are part of a workforce that is more mobile than ever before and that is drawn to areas that foster technology, talent and tolerance.
To that end, Worcester Mayor Timothy Murray, who spoke at the March conference, says what’s important in this effort is melding the arts and high tech – "connecting the dots" by bringing together business, academic and arts leaders. "You want to create an environment where smart, well-educated, well-trained people find it conducive and convenient to work," he says.
Create locally
A case in point is the slated $24-million renovation of the Grand Palace Theatre in Worcester’s Federal Square into the 2,300-seat Worcester Center for Performing Arts. The center, funded through a combination of public and private money, is expected to create $40 million annually in economic impact from both direct spending at the theater and indirect business patrons will provide to local firms. That doesn’t include the benefits of hosting the level of first-run broadway shows and concerts now only locally available in Boston as part of the region’s cultural offerings. The center’s $40 million impact will almost double the $48.23 million in annual business that nonprofit arts organization already do in Worcester, according to an Americans for the Arts study.
Troy Siebels, executive director of the project, says the renovation project is "recognition of the power the arts have to stimulate the economy." He quotes a National Governors’ Association 2008 workforce survey that notes that quality of life is second only to salary in an employee’s choice of jobs or cities.
Williams says Worcester is working on other steps through the Worcester Cultural Coalition, a partnership between the city, business, arts and academic leaders. In the wake of the Landry forums, the consortium created a document outlining the city’s creative philosophy called "The Worcester Way," and is in the midst of several projects to enhance its cultural revitalization. Among them is a signage program now being designed to lead visitors more easily through the city.
Wade at Davis Publications is convinced the city has tremendous potential as a cultural focal point. And, he says, companies tend to follow where artists thrive.
His building at 21 Portland St. is an example. It houses his company and radio station WICN, a photographer and, most recently, Artigo Ajemian Films. Film maker Andrea Ajemian, now working on her third film set in Worcester, says she’s committed to pursuing her art in Worcester as a focal point for films costing $1 million and under.
Sculpting the creative future
Zaido hopes the 30-40 page conference report will help the state take the next step in moving the creative economy forward. Gregory Liakos, communications director of the public arts funding organization Mass. Cultural Council, says the state has expanded its investment in the arts after cutting back such funds in 2002. For this fiscal year beginning July 1, 2006, he notes, it has committed $2.45 million to that effort. The bigger challenge long-term, Liakos says, will be to build the creative workforce to insure the future generation will be capable of generating ideas and thinking creatively.
"The state is truly recognizing the value of the arts and culture and the larger creative economy more and more with each passing year," Liakos says.
Micky Baca can be reached at mbaca@wbjournal.com
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