Arts as an economic development strategy Sunday, June 06, 2004 To be competitive in today's economy, communities must integrate physical planning and economic development. Why? Because smart people can live anywhere, and they will chose to live in quality, connected places. These shifts mean that arts play a different and more central role in economic development. In the past, economic development professionals viewed the arts as part of a community's "quality of life". True enough. But now, the arts play at least three other roles. One involves physical development. The arts community often provides the leading edge of development for downtown areas. Theaters, museums and festivals all provide anchor investments in a downtown. This is the strategy that Mesa is following. In this case, the arts community often serves to reduce the perceived or actual risk of real estate development. Go. But the arts have at least two other important roles in economic development. The arts can form a base for creative businesses, such as advertising and creative digital media. This strategy emerged in the late 1990's in the UK, when the government published a report on the "creative industries cluster". Now, you can see how the creative industries have become key strategic thrusts for London, Edinborough, and Northern Ireland. (See, for example, the Creative London web site. By 2002 or so, the New England Council took up the call and began to focus on the creative industries in New England. Providence, RI is using the arts strategically in this way. Finally, the arts play an increasingly important role in developing brainpower. This aspect of the arts and economic development is more difficult to document. It has its roots in the explosion of brain science in the 1990's. We have come to learn that arts education plays a critical role in brain development, especially in early childhood. posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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