LEWISTON – An unconventional conference that drew 700 participants to the Bates Mill in May and spurred interest in integrating the arts with economic development is still getting attention.

The Blaine House Conference on Maine’s Creative Economy will be given an award for innovation from a national association of arts agencies in Washington.

“I think the award recognizes not only the content of the event, but the fact that it was innovative, which was the point we were trying to make,” said Rebecca Swanson Conrad, an Auburn businesswoman who chaired the local host committee for the conference and is a member of the Maine Arts Commission. “It’s a wonderful statement for our community and the state.”

The conference examined ways for communities to enhance economic development by appreciating and integrating the arts, culture and innovation. It brought together creative professionals such as architects, graphic designers and performance artists with bankers, economic developers and state policymakers.

The Innovation Award is among five awards bestowed by the National Association of State Arts Agency, a group that represents 55 state arts agencies across the country. The focus for this year’s award was on communicating the public value of support for the arts. Johanna Misey Boyer, director of leadership development at NASAA, said the committee that selected the conference for the award was impressed with the event’s depth and scope.

“Of all the applications the committee reviewed, the committee felt this one had the biggest ripple,” said Boyer. “There’s the potential for this to be a model other states could use.”

The two-day May conference culminated more than a year’s worth of planning. Boyer said the selection committee noted the depth of planning and the mobilization of resources to support it, including private/public partnerships and the backing of Gov. John Baldacci.

More than 950 people attended regional forums in advance of the conference to help shape its content. The committee also was impressed with the follow-up plan to implement some of the strategies identified at the conference.

“The committee felt this was something that could move beyond state government bureaucracy,” said Boyer.

The conference’s steering committee will meet for the last time next week. Staff at the Maine Arts Commission are still compiling evaluation forms from the conference, as well as the findings and recommendations that sprang from conference break-out sessions. All of the materials will be assembled into a report and distributed to conference participants, said MAC Director Alden Wilson.

“The plan is to build upon partnerships that were made at the conference,” said Wilson. “We’ll see where the next step is to go from here.”

John Rohman, former mayor of Bangor, an architect and chairman of the Maine Arts Commission, will accept the award on July 18 in Washington. The award will be presented at pARTicipate, a joint convention of Americans for the Arts and NASAA.

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