Economic development through the arts is the focus of the governor’s plan.
LEWISTON – If the audience at Thursday’s breakfast forum is any indication, momentum is building for an artsy approach to growing Maine’s economy.
More than 90 people gathered at L.A. College to hear a presentation and offer suggestions for a statewide conference on Maine’s creative economy. The conference, set for May 6-7 in Bates Mill, is intended to launch the idea and the initiative to spur economic development based on people and businesses that use creativity.
The committee planning the conference has been holding forums throughout Maine looking for input since October. The Lewiston crowd was the biggest, an indication of the support the host community has for the conference, said organizers.
“This is a statewide conference, but we have an opportunity to say a lot about our community,” said Beckie Conrad, an Auburn businesswoman and chair of the local host committee.
Artists, entrepreneurs, businesspeople, economic developers and others listened to a presentation outlining the concept of a creative-based economy. The idea is to develop three tracks simultaneously that will overlap and create a climate to support creative businesses. The first track is identifying and networking creative people to establish a creative workforce. The second track is to develop creative communities where residents value and appreciate art and governments support them. And finally, bringing together businesses and organizations that already promote or use the arts and creativity under one umbrella called a creative cluster. A cluster would allow groups with similar interests to advocate for their mutual benefit, as well as present a unified voice about what they need to succeed such as work or living space, TIFs and loans.
Among the targeted groups are software developers, performance artists, architects, designers and craftspeople.
Some audience members wanted to know whether the conference would address practical matters such as high business costs and the availability of capital to fund their enterprises. John Rohman, former mayor of Bangor and one of the conference chairmen, said it was important that the conference draw economic developers, city councilors and legislators so that public policy supports the development of a creative economy.
“They need to be at the table,” he said. The conference already has the backing of Gov. John Baldacci, who initiated the event.
The benefits to communities that have successfully integrated creative industry into their economic development can be profound. As an example, organizers presented a film based on the turnaround of North Adams, Mass., an old mill city that lost its primary manufacturing industry in 1986. Through years of effort, the town was finally able to open a $35 million museum of contemporary art in abandoned mill space in 1999. Three years later, occupancy rates of downtown businesses went from 30 percent to 70 percent. Hundreds of jobs were created and the area has sustained the attraction of tourists and an arts community. Probably most important, though, the working-class community has embraced the museum and the changes it sparked.
Rohman, an architect, said a similar phenomenon happened in Bangor on a smaller scale. The new children’s museum, coupled with other cultural developments, has revitalized the city’s downtown. Seven years ago there were five restaurants within walking distance of Rohman’s firm; today there are 22.
People interested in learning more about the conference, or who wish to make suggestions, can visit www.mainecreativeeconomy.org.
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