Report of Recommendations from the Blaine House Conference on Maine's Creative Economy May 2004 Lewiston, Maine

Summary Report by Dr. Craig Dreeszen, June 21, 2004

May 7, 2004 Creative Economy Plenary Session Overview

Welcome

John Rohman, conference co-chair and chair of the Maine Arts Commission opened the Blaine House Conference on Maine’s Creative Economy at the Bates Mill in Lewiston, ME. He and co-chair Christine Vincent welcomed the 670 conference participants from the business, economic development, education, arts, political and creative sectors from across New England. Rohman said, “I can’t imagine a more opportune time to attract a knowledge-based, Creative Economy workforce to Maine.”

Conference Purpose

Governor John Baldacci convened the conference. Its purpose was to present the Creative Economy concept to the general public, develop strategies and policies to use the Creative Economy approach in Maine’s economic development and to adapt existing Creative Economy models to our rural state.

Governor Baldacci, Opening Remarks


	Governor John Elias Baldacci Photo by Robert Darby

In his invitation to the conference, the Governor wrote, "The Creative Economy is a catalyst for the creation of new jobs in Maine communities. People who create jobs want to live in places that have a diverse cultural mix and an innovative and educated workforce. Maine will be competitive economically if we continue to capitalize on the synergies between entrepreneurship, education, the arts and quality of life."
In his remarks to conference participants, the Governor stated that the Creative Economy is about social capital and that “arts and education are integrally linked to jobs and economic growth… investing in social capital is the same as investing in jobs.”

Governor Baldacci recognized the Creative Economy as a valid economic sector with great potential. “The Creative Economy is a cohesive force… communities all across Maine are poised for a renaissance.”

The Governor encouraged participants to use the conference to develop collaborative strategies and policies to pursue Creative Economy initiatives in Maine. “We will open the door even wider to the concept that every Maine person can reach his or her full potential if we embrace the arts, embrace creativity, embrace diversity, embrace entrepreneurship, embrace innovation… [in] a renaissance that today we call the Creative Economy.”

Full speach (13.4 kb PDF)


	Mayor John Barrett III Photo by Robert Darby

Mayor John Barrett III, North Adams, Massachusetts

Mayor Barrett told the story of North Adams, MA, home to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA). Like many Maine communities, North Adams has lost its industrial economic base in recent decades. Barrett said, “In North Adams we recognized we couldn’t do business as usual. Manufacturing was gone and wouldn’t come back.”

Barrett admitted he was not a natural arts advocate. “I’m a blue collar mayor from a blue collar community,” Barrett said. “I don’t understand contemporary art but I do understand that art will drive our economic recovery.” He said he appreciates the impressive positive impacts that Mass MoCA has had on North Adams. “Before Mass MoCA our unemployment rate was 16 percent, now it’s five percent because of diversification and the arts.”

Barrett challenged leaders to develop a vision for their communities. He also urged participants to look within their own communities for ideas and solutions, rather than looking to other communities or outside experts. “Your greatest assets are people, old buildings and old theaters,” he said.

He stressed the importance of support from community leaders and ordinary citizens for Creative Economy ventures. “Government leaders must be on board. Nothing will help if this is not true.”

It was not easy to convince a conservative community to embrace contemporary art, Barrett said. The city pitched the museum as an historic preservation project to save the heritage of the workers who had labored in the abandoned factories. Planners brought children into the mill before it was renovated and the children brought their parents. Barrett reported that “in 17 years we have had not one letter to the editor to complain about the project.”

While the museum was an important anchor to community redevelopment, Barrett said that developing supporting businesses is critical to making a large arts institution work in community development. “We’ve opened eight new restaurants downtown in the last 18 months,” Barrett said. “We ask every new business to make a contribution to the arts.” That degree of business development did not happen overnight, said Barrett. “In 1999 when Mass MoCA opened, not one business was open to greet the crowds. They didn’t get it. It took local business leaders two years to catch up and understand the impact of the arts.” Now North Adams entrepreneurs have created new housing, accommodation, restaurants and a revitalized downtown for the community.


	Dr.Stuart Rosenfeld, President of Regional Technology Strategies, Inc., No. Carolina Photo by Robert Darby

Dr. Stuart Rosenfeld, Regional Technology Strategies, Inc.

Dr. Stuart Rosenfeld is a national expert on economic clusters, which he defines as “a geographic concentration of interdependent companies and institutions that are large enough to generate external economies of scale.”
Creative enterprise clusters share general characteristics specific to creative businesses “where art or design is the product; where art or design is the distinguishing feature or competitive advantage of a product; where art or design defines a service; or that sell, supply, or contribute to art or design-dependent products or services.”
Rosenfeld has found that creative clusters also have other distinguishing features. They tend to have higher proportions of “micro-enterprises, freelancers, secondary sources of income, part-time businesses, specialty businesses in traditional sectors and nonprofits.”
Regions with successful creative clusters tend to have a critical mass of talent, make arts and design a priority in education and understand that creative industries represent real economic development. Rosenfeld also observed that a creative cluster needs accessible business support programs, as well as access to design and arts and crafts businesses.
Rosenfeld offered specific strategies to encourage creative clusters in Maine. “Offer specialized education and training; provide one-stop business support services; designate a lead [Small Business Development Center] for creative enterprises; assist with collective marketing and regional branding; support networks and networking; bundle arts and design with entertainment and cultural tourism; infiltrate education; build art/design competency into manufacturing and commercial programs; and make greater use of community colleges.”


	Felicia Knight, Director of Communications, National Endowment for the Arts Photo by Robert Mitchell

Felicia Knight, National Endowment for the Arts

Felicia Knight presented the national perspective on the Creative Economy. She spoke about the endowment’s recognition of the important role arts and culture play in driving local economies.
“At the National Endowment for the Arts, we try very hard to invest in the arts in as many communities as possible,” said Knight. “I use the term “invest” deliberately because for every dollar that the National Endowment for the Arts invests in an arts organization, between seven and eight more are generated.”
However, she cautioned against making the economic impact of arts and culture the sole justification for their importance. As with arts education, said Knight, investing in arts benefits communities and individuals on a myriad of levels. Often people try to justify arts education by linking it to improved grades in other areas. Arts education is valuable regardless of improved math scores, said Knight.

“What if by giving a child cello lessons…you teach a child to play the cello? What if by learning to play the cello, that child finds discipline and self-assurance, becomes a more well-rounded, better-informed, more fully formed human being?”

The benefits of investing in the arts and culture go far beyond the math scores or the dollars and cents. Knight said, “communities should embrace the arts for the sake of the art, for what it can do to enhance and enrich our lives. Trying to quantify the value of art is nearly impossible.”

Click here for text of this speech in full. (21.6 kb PDF)


	Richard Florida, Keynote Speaker Photo by Robert Darby

Dr. Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class and economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University

In his keynote address, Richard Florida praised Maine’s creative, entrepreneurial spirit. “There is a long legacy of creative industry in Maine. You are expert at merging the old and the new. Florida quoted his mentor, Jane Jacobs who said, “new ideas require old buildings.” In Maine, Florida said he sees “a continuity of your entrepreneurial past into a growing Creative Economy.”
Florida’s work attempts to define Maine’s creative sector and how it stimulates economic development. He said he was inspired to explore the creative sector when Lycos, the prize product of Pittsburgh’s economic development initiative, left town for Boston, “where the creative workforce was.”
Florida disputes the widespread assumption that natural resources are the source of economic prosperity. “Creativity is key to our economy. Creativity on all fronts is our economic engine. Now human creativity is the source of wealth and value. Our human energy has replaced raw materials as the critical factor in economic development. People are the resource. Place – not companies – are how we organize for economic activity.”
“My father worked for the same eyeglass company in Pittsburgh from age 11 to age 65,” Florida said. “Today the average worker changes jobs every three years, and if you're 30 or younger, you may change jobs after less than one year.” Companies no longer hold worker loyalty, he said. Individual workers are free agents who are willing to move to communities where they are free to develop their own potential, where there is economic opportunity and tolerance. Creative Economy workers locate in communities with a vibrant labor market where they can change jobs without moving. Much of Florida’s work and presentation at the conference described how cities or states may attract creative workers and retain a young creative workforce.
The central argument of Florida’s book is that we must invest in three “Ts” to build a Creative Economy; technology, talent and tolerance. In his research on Maine, Florida discovered that “Maine is strong in creativity, but lags in technology. You need to make links with Universities and the technology sector. There is also uneven development. The southern portion of the state leads the north. You need to leverage your southern creative and technological resources.”
Arts and culture are central to the creative sector as part of a larger system. Florida said, “We need a synergy between arts, culture, human creativity and technology… Arts and culture are critical components to build a strong economy.”