By Kami Collins, Mountain Valley News staff
With gubernatorial backing, Coloradoans are getting the idea that the creative industry can be an important economic driver in communities. One group gets the message loud and clear: the North Fork Creative Coalition, which is applying to be a recognized Colorado Creative District.
About 4 percent of the state’s 3.2 million jobs are held by employees in the creative industries; the industry is the fifth largest employer in the state. Colorado is also fifth among all states for the concentration of artists living here.
“This isn’t the whole piece, but the creative arts are a viable part of the state economy,” said Elaine Brett of Hotchkiss.
The state’s Creative Industries Division (which is a group comprised of the former Council on the Arts, Office of Film, Television and Media, and Art in Public Places programs) has created a grant process for communities to become Creative Districts and help drive more economic development.
Governor John Hickenlooper was in Montrose on Jan. 14 to meet with residents of that city as well as Delta County, Ridgway and Gunnison to hear about how each community uses the arts to spur economic development. . “Governor Hickenlooper called the creative industries a ‘piece of the new economy’ and indicated that communities that invested in cultural vitality do better than those that don't,” said Brett, who had the opportunity to speak with the governor about arts in the North Fork Valley.
The North Fork Creative Coalition, with Brett’s help, has applied for Creative District distinction, though she says it is more likely they will be named either a Prospective Creative District or an Emerging Creative District. Communities must apply to be a state-recognized Creative District, and the goal of the program is to attract more creative individuals and businesses to an area, create hubs of economic activity by way of showcasing events and amenities, attract visitors, and providing an opportunity to revitalize and beautify the community.
Two Creative Districts will be recognized this year; that distinction comes with a $15,000 grant and a technical assistance package to enhance their districts. Five communities will be named Prospective Districts, and be awarded $8,000 and a customized package of technical assistance to enhance the likelihood that they will be certified in the future. Eight communities will be identified as Emerging Districts and will be awarded $2,000 and technical assistance to further their district planning.
Being names as one of these districts will put the North Fork Valley on the map and will give the artistic community some statewide recognition, Brett said. “It will help with notoriety and it will get people moving,” she said.
It will also help put into place a more cohesive planning strategy. “For example,” she said, “in the North Fork Valley there isn’t any one person, one coordinator, who is putting things together. This grant will help create a business plan. We have a lot of talented people who are trying to earn a living by doing what they love. It would help them be able to make a living.”
Additionally, she said she thinks this distinction will spur economic growth by opening the door for galleries to sell more, and for regional festivals to attract more visitors. That in turn means restaurants and hotels are busier. “There are no guarantees, but if we don’t put something out there we’ll never know,” she said. The many artists, writers, musicians, photographers, designers, actors and other creative people can also begin holding seminars and workshops in their craft, bringing people in to the area, driving the tourism trade as well.
“We have such great diversity and richness of artists in this area,” said Karen Good, the residency manager at Elsewhere Studio in Paonia. She has been very active in the North Fork Creative Coalition and in this grant process. “It’s a really exciting opportunity. This will really help put us on the map as a hub of creative practitioners.”
Good said she hopes that with this grant the group can develop online marketing or a website that would help artists market themselves. “We need to look at the best way to promote the creatives here,” she said.
The deadline for the Creative District application was Jan. 30; now the group awaits the results. Until then, the North Fork Creative Coalition will continue to explore ways to be more active, and to be an economic driver, in the local economy.
