Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

By Elizabeth Murphy

The creative industries’ ability to innovate new economic opportunities continues to make headlines. Our colleagues at the National Creativity Network (NCN) offer inspiring examples of how the creative sector is driving innovation, job creation, and economic sustainability. Did you know that the State of Massachusetts employs a Creative Economy Director and that Vermont’s Department of Economic, Housing and Community Development has recently announced the establishment of the Office of the Creative Economy?

Over the past two decades, international governments (notably Ireland and the United Kingdom) have recognized the sizeable contribution the creative industries have made to their overall economies and have instituted policies and funding schemes designed to enhance this growing sector. In the United States, the terms “creative economy” and “creative industries” are beginning to take hold and are increasingly recognized as a powerful strategy for economic and community revitalization. As this field continues to develop, we are faced with the challenge of defining the creative industries, but nationally and internationally, this definition remains a moving target. Generally speaking, the sector has been described as a range of economic activities which are concerned with the generation or exploitation of knowledge, intellectual property and information. It is widely accepted that the activities which comprise the creative industries include architecture, design, arts, research & development, publishing, software, computer programming, scientific research, film, tv and radio. However, definitions are, by nature, limiting, and if there’s one thing we’re learning, it’s that the creative industries have an inherent capability to expand in unforeseen and innovative ways.

Recently, we have been invited to serve on the newly-established Creative Economy Coalition – a creative industries working group of the National Creativity Network. We join other thought-leaders around the country dedicated to: linking the creative industries to commerce, education, science, technology, and government; to advocating for the creative industries as an economic stimulus that grows jobs; and to stimulating innovation and imagination throughout our communities.

We are also interested in defining metrics for measuring the impact of the creative economy throughout the nation. Last week, members of the Creative Economy Coalition presented a very engaging NCN webinar on Growing the Creative Economy (Note: this webinar archive will be posted by the end of the week.) and you can also find previous webinars including one where New Jersey’s own Leo Vasquez from Arts Build Communities presented on the topic of Creative Placemaking.

While we all get our heads wrapped around the impact of the creative economy in our own state’s and communities, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (produced jointly with the United Nations Developing Programme) has published extensive research on the global creative economy. Their recent 2010 report provides evidence that the creative industries are among the most dynamic emerging sectors in world trade. The report defines the creative industries as “the crossroads of the arts, culture, business and technology…composing the cycle of creation, production, and distribution of goods and services that use intellectual property as their primary input.”

The rate of growth in world trade of creative goods rose from $7.8 billion in 2002 to $21 billion in 2008 (a growth rate of 14%). And despite the decline in the world economy brought about by the Great Recession, the creative industries have remained relatively robust. The report states, “The emerging creative economy has become a leading component of economic growth, employment, trade and innovation, and social cohesion in most advanced economies…It also shows that the interface among creativity, culture, economics and technology, as expressed in the ability to create and circulate intellectual capital, has the potential to generate income, jobs and export earnings while at the same time contributing to social inclusion, cultural diversity and human development.”

At Creative New Jersey, we are working to bridge the gap between our sectors, fostering connections between commerce, education, culture, government and philanthropy, in order to drive innovation and revitalize our state. We are currently developing a series of Community Creativity Convenings which will bring cross-sector leaders together to explore how creativity and innovation can transform their communities. We are working with a wide variety of partners in Essex, Monmouth, Mercer, Morris and Camden counties which include urban regeneration nonprofits and economic development councils, county arts councils and arts organizations, universities and educational associations, mayoral associations, sustainability and environmental nonprofits, and philanthropic leaders.

Together, county by county, we will begin to transform our Garden State through spirited, ground-breaking discussions which challenge the status-quo and encourage new partnerships and strategies that have the potential for reinvigorating the local and statewide economy while strengthening the fabric of our communities. In the coming weeks, we will announce the schedule for the upcoming Community Creativity Convenings, and we will keep you informed as new convenings are announced.

The power of this transformation lies in the infinite capabilities of each and every New Jerseyan as we meet at the intersection of our sectors. So, join us at the crossroads, and let us know if you are interested in working with Creative New Jersey in hosting a Community Creativity Convening in your town.

Inquiries regarding joining the Creative New Jersey movement and/or hosting a Community Creativity Convening should be sent to Elizabeth Murphy at emurphy[at]creativenj[dot]org.

Creative New Jersey’s leaders and partners are regular contributors to the Dodge blog

You’ve heard from Leo Vazquez from Rutgers University’s Arts Build Communities when he blogged about the New Jersey Creative Vitality Index and looked to the environmental movement for lessons about advancing the arts in New Jersey. Today, he shares some important lessons in engaging stakeholders in building creative communities.

Building creative communities?
It’s more about the connections than the art

By Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP
Arts Build Communities

Creative communities tend to be picturesque. We see images of galleries, street performers, and children doing art. What we see is usually built on a foundation of collaborations among artists, cultural professionals, businesspeople, and elected officials and their advisors.

Two recent reports talk about how to build these connections: Creative Placemaking, by the National Endowment for the Arts, and The Arts Ripple Effect by the Fine Arts Fund.

Both reports come to the same conclusions: It’s not enough to talk about how special the arts are; you have to connect with your audiences to show how the arts can add value to the things they care about. That means first you have to understand what your audiences care about most and then show how the arts can give audiences more of what they want. In some, if not most, cases, it also means creative people showing themselves to be good, caring neighbors. This is also what Arts Build Communities learned when it interviewed more than 40 cultural, community and economic development professionals throughout New Jersey.

Imagine dozens of people painting on a moving canvas with paints that fade, glow and blend in ways that you can’t predict. That’s why creative community building is so difficult. But it is easier with stronger connections among artists, public officials, civic leaders, businesspeople, and communities.

The first step many creative professionals use is the “pretty pictures/big numbers approach.” This involves showing inspiring images (at least one of which has kids doing something adorable) from creative communities and talking about the millions of dollars and thousands of jobs generated by the arts in their state. And some of these artists and professionals have been frustrated when their audiences nodded politely – and that was it.

It’s not hard to convince audiences that the arts are good. The challenge is in getting others to believe that the arts are good for them (or what they care about) and getting them to act on those beliefs. For example, it’s not enough to say that the arts benefit the economy. Public officials and business leaders want to know if the arts are a safer and better investment than something else.

Creative professionals could be more successful by speaking to the practical challenges of community and economic development. This means more than throwing out terms like “sustainable” and “workforce development.” It is about understanding the challenges of trying to balance the interests of diverse and competing communities, businesses, and those of future generations.

And building a creative community requires a different approach than most artists take in creating their art. Usually in creating an art work, the artist has a clear vision, develops it – sometimes with helpers – then tries to sell the vision. Most painters don’t expect their buyers to change the colors or add new figures.

The creative community builder tends to share, rather than sell, a vision for a better and more creative place. The vision – like the place – gets built by many people. How much effort and resources they put in depends a lot on how much the vision affects the things and people they value. As people and places change over time, creative community builders have to be more alert, connected and adaptable.

One of the best guides on this subject is The Creative Community Builder’s Handbook, by cultural planning consultant Tom Borrup. (Full disclosure: Arts Build Communities is working with Tom Borrup on two of its classes and is planning to work with him on at least two creative placemaking projects.)

Arts Build Communities offers several courses and events to help creative community builders and creative placemakers. Building Creative Communities is part of a series of online classes in creative placemaking. Designed by Leonardo Vazquez and Tom Borrup, the class runs from January 19 to February 26. On February 11, there is the ABC Cultural Planning Leadership Conference. It focuses on building, growing and sustaining creative communities.

Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP, directs Arts Build Communities at Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. Arts Build Communities supports local officials, civic leaders and arts professionals seeking to build more sustainable and prosperous communities in New Jersey through the arts. ABC helps leaders make more informed decisions through practical research, continuing education, and technical assistance; and by connecting leaders to other resources they need to make better decisions.

By the Dodge Program Staff

(Part one of a three-part series)

Here we go again. We’ve brought you thought leaders on the themes of creativity and sustainability in three previous blog posts:

Go Fish…Within the Carrying Capacity
Peering Out and Peering In As We Revise Grant Guidelines
Thinking About Philanthropy and Sustainability

Now we want to bring you the voice of our grantees (thought and practice leaders in their own right). We collected these voices through a series of essay questions that ranged from defining creativity and sustainability to thinking about systems-thinking, connections, values, design and “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” (BHAGs).

Starting today and for the next two Mondays, we will provide you with a glimpse of how some key arts, education, environment and place-based nonprofit organizations responded to the central question of how the themes of creativity and sustainability relate to each other. As a foundation staff, we are considering these stimulating, seasoned and (at times) provocative answers as we frame a set of guidelines and philanthropic strategies that will have as powerful and positive an impact as possible.

Of the nearly 40 responses we received, we identified several orientations that described the relationship between creativity and sustainability. Today we explore with you the following orientation:
There must be a social environment that can sustain creativity. (more…)