NORWAY – Gov. John Baldacci is looking toward the Norway-Paris area to help define what the creative economy looks like in Maine.

Or should look like.

Ever since publication of Richard Florida’s book, “The Rise of the Creative Class,” Maine planners have scrambled to tailor Florida’s urban standards to the mostly rural life of Maine.

The result has been more than seven months of planning for the Blaine House Conference on the Creative Economy, scheduled for May 6 and 7 at the Bates Mill Complex in Lewiston.

Charles Colgan of the Muskie School for Public Policy said the study of the Norway-Paris area and other parts of the state is being done specifically for the conference.

Employment and income data from Norway, Paris and other regions such as Dover-Foxcroft, Bangor, the St. John Valley and Portland are being analyzed to reflect ways they reflect the creative economy in Maine, Colgan said.

“We want to be able to accurately describe and measure the creative economy in Maine. How big is it? How has it changed? What has worked? And what hasn’t worked as well?” Colgan asked.

Colgan said study leaders chose these particular parts of the state because “all of them have been involved in creative efforts over time.”

Bangor’s annual Folk Festival is a successful venture, he said, as is Portland’s intown cultural scene.

“Dover-Foxcroft and Norway-Paris, it seems, are only getting started,” said Colgan. Despite their smaller size and fewer resources, Colgan said these areas can also flourish in the new creative economy, “absolutely,” he said.

Deb Smith, executive director for the Pejepscot Historical Society, is a doctoral student at the Muskie Institute and is doing the case studies for the various towns. She may be reached at 729-6606 to share thoughts on the future of the creative economy in the Norway-Paris area.