Clearly, there is something to this idea of a “creative economy.”
The Boston-based New England Council, a coalition of businesses, academic and health organizations, and public bodies that lobbies for economic growth in this region, has for three years been studying and attempting to verify the very idea that our “creative economy” could serve as the impetus for economic prosperity.
By “creative economy” the organization refers to nonprofit institutions, commercial businesses and individual artists, as well as people in creative occupations who may or may not be directly employed by cultural organizations, yet are involved in creative work.
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Now, the New England Council is beginning to show some hard numbers and is taking that effort a step further by establishing a Creative Economy Council, composed of 70 leaders of business, government and the arts. That group met last month and is working to develop policies and programs that will “harness the power” of the creative sector.
The research that has been completed on this subject by the New England Council is telling.
The group has found that 245,000 New Englanders, or 3.5 percent of the region’s total work force, are employed in the “creative economy.” And even more important, is the group’s finding that the occupations that make up this sector are growing at a faster rate than other occupations in the general economy. The New England Council also found that the “creative economy” is responsible for generating $6.6 billion annually in this region in terms of tourism revenue.
We support the New England Council’s efforts to develop a strategic plan that New England states can follow in attempting to get the most out of their own creative resources.
Rhode Island, it would seem, is a state that could truly benefit from a coordinated effort to foster economic growth through a “creative economy.”
This is a message we have heard before, specifically, from Professor Richard Florida, of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Florida is an economist and the author of “The Rise of the Creative Class.” Back in February of 2001, he was the keynote speaker at the Rhode Island Technology Council’s annual dinner at the Providence Marriott.
In an interview at that time with Providence Business News, Florida spoke to the idea that Rhode Island is in fact an attractive place for those in creative professions to live. But too many of those individuals choose to live elsewhere.
“Probably because no one’s focused on this, and I think that Providence is a place that’s on people’s radar screen,” he said. “Lots of people I talk to would love to move here. You have all the cultural assets in place to make it attractive…It seems to me that you have to go out and try to attract these people and build ways to connect to them.”
Florida’s message rings true today. With the progress we have made – and we expect to make – in growing our biotech sector, the idea of building our “creative economy” makes sense. We do have the theaters and restaurants and academic atmosphere that other states envy.
Rhode Island officials should follow the work of the New England Council closely and become as involved in the group’s research as possible.
We have much so much to offer the businesses and individuals that make up the “creative economy,” it would be a shame for them to overlook Rhode Island as a place to prosper.
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