Kingfield pops highlighted at business forum
FARMINGTON – The successful concert put on in Kingfield in July by the Bangor Symphony Orchestra is a good example of a creative economy, its organizers said.
The success story of the Kingfield Pops concert was one of three possibilities described Wednesday morning at a Creative Economy Forum at the University of Maine at Farmington. It was sponsored by Mountain Counties Heritage and the Maine Arts Commission.
“It was a festive, fun family event,” said Vici Robinson, chair of the Mount Abram Economic Development Association’s Kingfield Pop committee, adding that the event was a way to fulfill that initial creative vision of improving the area – culturally and economically. “We feel like we are kind of redefining who we are as a town.”
After all, multiple announcements of closures at wood-related mills in northern Franklin County last year signified that the area was undergoing a transformation, said John Witherspoon, the president of a newly-formed local economic development group.
That change was from an economy relying on manufacturing to one based on something else, he said. The goal of his organization was to figure out what that something else was, and then “Get ahold of our destiny.”
Three months later, the economic development association members were watching hundreds of people walk through the gates at the Kingfield Flower Farm, with folding chairs and blankets in their arms as they prepared for a spirited musical treat called Kingfield Pops.
Arts and culture, it seemed, was that something else.
Over $12,000 was netted, attendance at the show was over 1,000 despite thundershowers, $4,500 in free tickets were given out to local residents and a total of 176 volunteers participated.
Next year, Kingfield Pops will be back, kicking off the summer with a June 26 evening show preceded by a downtown sidewalk arts show. One of the goals is to attract more people to downtown businesses.
At the forum, W.A. Mitchell Chairmakers’ owner Dan Maxhem told of his Temple-based company’s success, thanks to working with other Maine businesses. “Cooperation and collaboration pays dividends,” he said.
And Pete Roberts, owner of InSyt New Media, a New Sharon-based company that uses new media to create images for businesses around the state and the country, said with technology and the Internet, businesses can move to rural places and still have be part of the global business community.
The forum is one of eight being held around the state, which will lead up to the Maine House Conference on the Creative Economy, slated for May 6 and 7 at the Bates Mill Complex in Lewiston.
Wednesday’s presentation was attended by more than 50 people interested in the arts and economic development. Its goal was to gather input to help form next year’s conference.
“The creative economy is a catalyst for creating new jobs…” Gov. John Baldacci has said. A recent study by the New England Council on the Creative Economy determined that the creative economy generates around $6.6 billion in cultural tourism dollars for New England.
Creative workers include everyone from boat builders to actors, photographers to architects and earn more than the state average, said Tracy Michaud Stutzman, a member of the conference steering committee and director of Maine Highlands Craft Guild. It’s a workforce segment that’s projected to increase by more than 20 percent over the next 10 years.
Stutzman said the creative economy would help Maine with youth retention, downtown revitalization and quality of life, as well as helping by bringing in major bucks.
And the best part, she said, was that the creative economy is already here, it just needs to be recognized and strengthened.
Bruce Hazard, director of Mountain Counties Heritage, said, “I think one way or another, we’ve all brushed up against the creative economy.” Hazard went on to say the creative economy is old traditions and old ways of making a life or a living recast in different ways. “Our region will add a lot to this evolving concept,” he said of the Western Mountains.
For more information, people can contact Abbe Levin of the Maine Arts Commission at 287-2710 or log onto www.mainearts.com.
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