This weekend, hundreds of arts marketing gurus and administrators from across the nation will descend upon the Creative Capital, aka Providence, for a four-day (October 30-November 2) national gath-ering entitled “CollaborACTION!” organized by the National Arts Marketing Conference, a division of Americans for the Arts, putting the spotlight on best practices for marketing the creative arts as an economic engine.
And, by serendipity, an unscheduled, extra WaterFire — organized at the behest of local hotels and restaurants to drum up business around Halloween — will light up their experience on October 31, according Lynne McCormack, director of the city’s department of art, culture and tourism.
Through the support of the Rhode Island Foundation, $10,000 has been provided to arts leaders from local groups, such as the Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket and the Providence Singers, to enable them to attend the conference, McCormack said.
In addition to showcasing the cultural and culinary delights of Providence, some of the city’s creative talent will also be on display, with RISD President John Maeda speaking on “creativity in the 21st century” at the closing plenary. (No sessions, apparently, are scheduled on relationship building with museum directors.) Featured speakers include Rhode Island marketing mavens such as Bill Doyle of Performance Research in Newport, Andy Cutler of Cutler & Co. in Providence, and Richard Jaffe of Trinity Rep.
“The arts inspire us, sooth us, provoke us, involve us, and connect us. But they also create jobs and contribute to the economy,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of America for the Arts, introducing the 2007 report quantifying the economics of the creative economy, Arts & Economic Prosperity. The non-profit arts and culture in Providence generates $111 million in local economic activity, supports more than 2700 full-time jobs, and delivers more than $11 million in local and state revenue, the report said.
Providence is very much ahead of the curve, according to McCormack, who touted the leadership of Mayor David N. Cicilline in seeking to create a collaborate framework to support arts and cultural entities. She talked also about the importance of the new branding effort for the city, Creative Capital. “It was slow to unveil, but it’s starting to catch on, and more people are understanding what it means,” she said. The 12-year veteran at City Hall cited numerous positive stories about Providence in recent months.
Indeed, a new study and action plan on the Washington, DC creative economy, by Mt. Auburn Associates, to be published in the next few weeks, is also entitled “Creative Capital.” Michael Kane, a managing partner with Mt. Auburn, which has developed similar studies in Louisiana, Arkansas, North Carolina, New York City, Lowell, Massachusetts, and the Berkshires, framed the progress to date: “It’s clear that people are beginning to understand the creative economy as an asset, to look at it as an economic engine, and to see how deep and rich this asset base is for employment.”
That said, Kane also cautioned against seeing the creative economy as a magic bullet in these economic hard times: “The creative economy has potential and value, but it’s not going to transform an economy overnight. It doesn’t have that kind of power. We tell municipalities and metro regions not to look at the creative economy as a silver bullet.”
