Posts Tagged ‘creative economy’

Why rural communities need artists

August 20th, 2010

If I were in charge of giving out awards at the Midwest Rural Assembly, I’d give Becky McCray the “Best Tweet” award.  While listening to Deb Marquart speak about the role of artists in communities, Becky tweeted:

“Grow more artists, not just corn and athletes. Artists are the ones who reimagine a place, help create the future. Deb Marquart #mra10“

And if I were able to give out a “Most Insightful” award, I’d give it to Deb Marquart.  I’ve been thinking about the role of the arts as an economic development strategy lately, but Marquart tuned me onto another potential impact artists can make.  We need artists to help us solve the significant problems facing rural communities.

Marquart described artists as problem solvers, with a gift for looking at the world differently than the rest of us.  We need artists to bring those problem solving skills and perspective to the table as we deal with the economic and social challenges confronting our rural communities.  It’s key to helping us reimagine our futures. 

There was a lot of wisdom in Marquart’s words, so I attempted to recapture some of it in a short interview following her presentation.  You can watch that video below.

 

(Source:  “Deb Marquart on Why Rural Communities need Artists,” Youtube, Rural Learning Center, Aug. 16, 2010)

I think Marquart is right in her assessment of artists, especially if it includes a wide definition of the term.  Sadly, our communities don’t include artists enough in our community work.  Even worse, we make little effort to cultivate their development in our schools and communities. 

Later in the day, I participated in a discussion about the importance of teaching entrepreneurship to young people.  It was at that moment that I began to think about potential connections between artists and entrepreneurs.

Similar to the way Marquart views artists, I’ve always looked at entrepreneurs as problem solvers; they see an economic problem and attempt to find a business solution.  It’s got me thinking there’s a connection between teaching art and teaching entrepreneurship.  Perhaps programs and classes that cultivate artists could help grow more entrepreneurs, and vice-versa. 

Whether it’s artists, entrepreneurs, or someone else, we need to harness the energy and skills of people who bring a different perspective to the table and are good at overcoming obstacles.  Our reimagined future depends on it.

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Posted in Community Development, Economic Development, Rural, education | Comments (1)

Creative Class: Rural Massachusetts style

July 30th, 2010

The Boston Globe reports that the arts have saved the rural town of Pittsfield in western Massachusetts.   After losing a GM plant, the community of 45,000 residents invested in attracting the Barrington Stage Company and building a strong arts community as a central part of its economic development strategy. 

As the Boston Globe article states:

“Once-vacant buildings in downtown Pittsfield are filling with galleries, theaters, residences, and restaurants. North Street, the city’s long-depressed main drag, now hosts regular street festivals, open houses, and art shows that draw thousands of residents and visitors. People are starting to believe that Pittsfield is an attraction, rather than a moribund pit stop on the way from Tanglewood to Mass MoCA.” (source:  “The Art of Saving a City,“  David Filopov,  Boston Globe, July 24, 2010.)

Sounds like the creative class theories of Richard Florida have worked in this rural community. 

Not everyone is buying this talk

Some community leaders, however, oppose the strategy and don’t think it’s been successful.  Dan Bianchi who recently lost a close election to become the community’s next mayor is quoted in the article saying: 

“It’s great that we attract the arts and support it,” he said. “But you can’t point to one significant business that relocated as a result of arts.”

Business relocation.  If that’s the only measurement for the strategy, this strategy is bound to be viewed as a failure.  After all, the major emphasis of the strategy is attracting people who will create their own business ventures. 

I like what Pittsfield has done.  It sounds like it makes a lot of sense for the community. But I’m not sure it plays out the same in small, rural communities in the Midwest.  After all, a town of 40,000 in Massachusetts is very different from the small towns that make up Midwestern landscape. 

It has to be authentic

Here I turn to advice offered by Dr. David Ivan of Michigan State University’s Land Policy Institute, and a presentation he made at the 2009 Small Town & Rural Development Conference  titled “Can Small Towns be Cool?”  While lifting up cultural and artistic sectors as a part of economic development strategies, Dr. Ivan acknowledged that successful cultural efforts “are genuine, often organically-driven by creative individuals within the community.”

Dr. Ivan goes on in the presentation to highlight how efforts to build the arts must be “authentic” in order for them to be successful. 

“Authentic” is very popular word in the marketing community today.  It suggests you can’t try to promote yourself as something you are not. 

Answering “what’s authentic?” is not easy.  But I think it’s something communities should be thinking about if they chose to consider the development of the arts as a part of their economic development strategy.

 

Photo Credit:  bvcphoto - Flickr, Sculture, Pittsfield, MA
Note:  Thanks to the Daily Yonder for bringing the Pittsfield story to my attention.

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No outdoor amenities: What do you do?

July 16th, 2010

If you live in a rural region with natural amenities, you’re in luck.  According to a study titled “The Rural Growth Trifecta: Outdoor Amenities, Creative Class and Entrepreneurial Context,” rural communities with natural amenities are positioned well to grow a knowledge economy.  Unfortunately, the study paints a bleaker picture for rural communities who don’t possess those amenities.  Sadly, that’s most of the rural Midwest where I live.  It leaves me wondering: could the future of our rural communities be decided simply because we are sans mountainous views or serene beaches?

The Study

At its core, the study (conducted by scholars David McGranahan and Timothy Wojan of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Dayton Lambert of the University of Tennessee) attempts to better understand the opportunities for economic growth in rural communities by examining the synergies created by connecting outdoor amenities, talent, and entrepreneurship.

There’s a lot of good stuff in the article, but I’ll just highlight the major points for now.

I’ve been wrestling with the findings of this study for over a week.  Deep in my heart, I know that rural communities who don’t possess loads of natural amenities can become places where talented people want to live.  I had hoped to conclude this post with advice for communities with low amenities.    But I’m not ready to offer that quite yet. 

One comment I will make today, however, is that talent attraction in rural communities without abundant natural amenities needs to look different than talent attraction in those communities with abundant amenities - much like urban and rural talent attraction strategies must follow different forms.  But the devil will be in the details. 

So, I’m curious what you think.  Whether it’s a gut reaction or an example of a low-amenity rural community that breaks the mold, your thoughts would be appreciated.  It’s too important of an issue for us to not talk about.

Update:  Cory Heidelberger at Madville Times has provided some analysis on the subject.  Check out his post titled “Boost Rural Entrepreneurship:  Build Bike Trails.” 

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Urbanophile and People Attraction

July 9th, 2010

Attracting and retaining people is a hot topic in the community and economic development fields today. I first started thinking about it years ago after reading a study titled “Natural Amenities Drive Rural Population Change” by David McGranahan (1999).  That interest was kicked up a notch when Richard Florida released The Rise of the Creative Class, identifying a clear connection between the ability of a community to attract knowledge workers and economic growth.

Although I have a love-hate relationship with the ideas put forward by Florida in The Rise of the Creative Class and in subsequent work, I do wholeheartedly embrace its basic tenant that the economies of our communities today are being driven by talented, creative people.  In his light, communities would do well to make themselves places where talented people want to live. 

Recognizing that talent attraction matters to economic growth is pretty easy and benign.  But a closer look reveals more complexity.  First, most of the creative class theories are dedicated to urban areas.  Do the principles of talent, technology, and tolerance serve as important attractor roles in rural areas like they do in urban areas?  Second, people attraction strategies consume financial resources that could come at the expense of traditional economic activities like business recruitment.  Doesn’t it make more sense to invest in creating jobs than community amenities?

Those and others are pretty big questions that I hope to spend more time addressing in the near future.  Today, I want to share a post that helped clarify some matters related to the jobs vs. amenities debate.

 

Introducing the Urbanophile

If you are interested in community development, rural or urban, you need to check out Aaron M. Renn and his Urbanophile blog.  Although his outlook for rural communities is not as rosy as I would like, he offers incredible insights into what makes cities tick.  Elements of this are very relevant to rural communities, even when it’s stuff we don’t want to hear.

Recently I found one of his posts titled “Does Anyone Really Believe Human Capital Is Important” to be very helpful because it clarified some ideas about people attraction strategies.  I think they are worth sharing.

 

Does Marketing Matter? 

The first issue Renn tackles is the notion that marketing your community for people attraction is a waste of money because “what really attracts people is a good economy, quality public services, and efficient government.”

In laying out a defense for marketing, Renn offers two comparisons.  First, he describes the value of marketing for businesses selling to customers.  He writes:

In real life, as we know, corporations spend gigantic sums on sales and marketing. Clearly they wouldn’t do this if it didn’t work. That’s not to say that every dollar spent on these activities is effective…. But it is also critical to build awareness of your product in the marketplace, to effectively communicate its brand promise and value proposition, and to induce someone to make a buying decision.” (source:  Aaron M. Renn, “Does Anyone Really Believe Human Capital Is Important”, Urbanophile, June 13, 2010)

Second, he argues that if communities are willing to market for business attraction, why wouldn’t they market for people attraction?

I agree.  Especially about the importance of brand awareness.  In fact, I’d wager that brand awareness is a bigger issue for rural communities than urban. 

That said, I hope communities don’t look at this as a carte blanche endorsement to rush out and spend large sums of money on advertising.  I think there are a lot of steps to complete before a community is ready to advertise.  And there’s a lot more to marketing than advertising.  (If I had limited resources, I’d invest a lot more in building relationships.)

 

Do jobs follow people or people follow jobs?

The second and more important topic that Renn addresses is the “chicken or egg” issue of whether jobs follow people (as the creative class theory advocates) or the vice-versa.  This is an issue that has constantly tripped me up.  Although I accept the premise that talented individual are both more likely to choose location over job and create new job growth, I’ve never been able to say definitively that one is more important than the other. 

The real value in the argument Renn presents is that he calls on communities to think more deeply about “specific niches or segments of population” with their recruiting efforts.  In this regard, people attraction efforts are no different than any other marketing exercise. 

Renn goes on to say that communities should match labor and employment needs as they determine specific population niches to recruit and the civic investments they make. 

This is all good advice, and it should cause those of us in rural communities to think more deeply about how we build communities that are attractive to talented people.  It also suggests we have a great deal more to learn about the people we hope to recruit.

We can start this learning process by going back and looking at the research by McGranahan and others about the role natural amenities in rural population movements.  We should also use the Appreciative Inquiry method to understand what has attracted new residents to our communities in the past. 

There’s bound to be a lot of differences in what communities learn from this type of exercise.  After all, “if you’ve been one rural community, you’ve only been in one rural community.“  But it’s an important step if we hope to be effective at recruiting new residents. 

If your community has already started a process like this, I hope you’ll share it with us.

 

Photo credit: Derek Purdy - Flickr

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Posted in Economic Development, Rural | Comments (2)

Who’s ready to help build a new brand for rural?

March 19th, 2010

I love pictures of old barns.  Whether on the verge of collapse or meticulously maintained, they convey a beauty that captures my heart. 

My gut reaction to these photos has changed, though, as I’ve discovered that my searches for “Rural America” on Flickr are dominated by old barns, junked cars, and vast empty spaces.  It seems that “rural” and “abandoned junk” are synonyms online.  

Pictures are worth a thousand words; it’s no wonder that outsiders believe that all of the talented, creative people have left Rural America.  But what’s a person to do about it?

My short answer is: let’s take responsibility for our rural brand.  Let’s author a new brand for rural places that conveys an image of life, people, and opportunity.  I feel like the stories and images to accomplish this already exist; we just need to learn how to reveal them more effectively. 

That’s what I hope to learn from the OTA Sessions held in Sioux Falls, SD.  And it’s why the Rural Learning Center is offering a free ticket to the event for someone who shares our passion.  More on the free ticket later. 

OTA Sessions

To say Lindsey and I are excited about the OTA Sessions is an understatement. We’ll be there with a host of enthusiasts who want to “deny the lie” that our region lacks talented, creative people.  Hugh Weber, the event’s organizer, has lined up what I think may be the most talented group of creative people to ever grace the Sioux Falls Orpheum Theater’s stage.  Those OTA Sessions presenters include: Jonathan Harris, Tim Brunelle and Spike Jones. Your ticket also gets you admission to a separate event that morning, also hosted by Hugh Weber, featuring Chris Brogan, Mitch Joel, and Julien Smith.

When I first wrote about OTA Sessions a few weeks ago, I called on people to “make it a rural thing.”  My intent was a call to action for rural enthusiasts to (1) attend the event and (2) create a project that benefits rural places with what we learn.  Since that time, Lindsey and I have had on-again-off-again conversations with Hugh about what we could do to help make the later part of this challenge happen. 

OTA After-Hours

And, today, we’re pleased to announce that the Rural Learning Center will sponsor and host an OTA after-hours event for rural community leaders and everyone else (genuinely) interested in our rural places.  We’re calling it “Civic Riders - Discovering The Story of Rural America.” Best of all, speaker Spike Jones and organizer Hugh Weber will be there to guide our conversation and help us figure out how we can begin changing the perception (the brand, if you will) of our rural communities.  We’re going to do something together, and we want you to join us.

So, here are the details:  “Civic Riders” with Spike and Hugh–Friday, March 26 from 7:00-9:00 pm at the Orpheum.  If you are a rural community leader or resident, rural development practitioner, or just really care about rural places, we hope you’ll stick around after the conference and join us.  We’ll post more details about the after-hours event in the coming days, so stay tuned.

Win a free ticket

Oh, and as a part of our sponsorship, the Rural Learning Center has received a few OTA tickets, and we want to give one away.  So here’s the deal:

We also have scholarship tickets available.  These are half-price tickets ($75), but will NOT include any of the free books.  If interested, send us an e-mail (Lindsey.Karlson@RuralLearningCenter.org), and we will send you a special registration code. 

OTA and the after-hours event will be great opportunities for us to learn and then dream big about how we can change how the world looks at rural places. I can’t wait until Friday.

 

Photo Credit:  bulletproofsoul67 - Flickr

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Youth Engagement: A path to reinventing rural education

March 4th, 2010

We talk a lot about the importance of youth engagement in rural communities. It’s a great way to connect with young people, and make sure they realize how valuable they are to the community.

I recently discovered this great example of youth engagement in rural Perth County, Ontario. 

Under an initiative developed by the Perth County Econoimc Development Offices, MS2 Productions, a local production company, has been offering Social Media Boot Camp training classes to local businesses.  The training involves a 3-hour overview session on social media marketing and hands-on training focused on specific social media tools, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. 

To promote the training, the company produced a video which I’ve embedded below. (It’s so good, I wish Perth County, Ontario was closer so that I could have attended.)

 

Perth County Social Media Boot Camp from MS2 Productions - Your Complete on Vimeo.

But it is what’s happening behind the scenes that sets the training apart. In addition to encouraging businesses within each rural community to work together, they are engaging students as social media consultants.  As Melissa Schenk, Executive Producer of MS2 Productions explained to me via e-mail:

Local Businesses will hire CO-OP students to be their Social Media Marketers… The Baby Boomers learn from students how to use the Social Media Sites, but the students in turn - learn more about local businesses, how to better put these social media sites to good use, and are providing a valuable resource of information in their communities. Not to mention students are engaging more with businesses, that they might never have had the opportunity or an interest in otherwise.”

In short, young people and business owners are learning from each other.  And in the long run, these young people will better appreciate life in their rural communities and be better prepared to recognize business opportunities after completing their education.

Additionally, I think projects like this will lead to the educational reform that Richard Florida has been talking about lately: creativity, technology, and social.  All are 21st Century skills that young people need to be successful.  Come to think of it, those are the same skills rural communities leaders need as well.

Note:  Melissa Schenk  sent me a message correcting my initial post, which did not credit the Perth County Economic Development Office for the project.  My apologies to Bernia Wheaton, Perth County Economic Development Coordinator.  I love this story even more knowing that economic development professionals are leading the charge!

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Posted in Community Engagement, Economic Development, Gen Y, Rural, Training and Events | Comments (3)

ReImagining a more creative rural educational system

February 9th, 2010

Yesterday I highlighted a video interview of Richard Florida on Big Think, emphasizing the movement of creative workers to careers in industries not usually associated with creative types. 

But the bulk of his message, which I left untouched yesterday, is that we need to reimagine our educational system.  You may listen (or re-listen) to the interview in the video below. 

 

 (video source:  “Reinventing the way Workers Learn,” Big Think

Florida’s emphasis on the lack of social skill training in education reminded me of the advice Jim Beddow offered college students when he was the President at Dakota Wesleyan University back in the 1980s and early 1990s.  He encouraged students to develop skills that enabled them to: 

Jim still offers this advice to young people, and has since added a forth key; learn to network (both in personal and online).  To support his advice, Jim often cites successful individuals who embody these skills.  Two things strike me about his list of examples.  First, a great many create success outside of their chosen field of academic study.  And second, these individuals are incredibly entrepreneurial and creative. 

As regular readers recognize, I’m a former high school teacher, and am often a critic of the educational system in our rural communities.  My primary grudge is that our current educational model was developed for the industrial economy, which means we trained them to be successful in urban communities with stronger industrial economies. 

In the video interview, Florida tells us that “nibbling around the edges” of the educational system won’t develop the types of change that our country needs to grow our economy.  I would agree. 

But what does that mean for our rural communities?  Do we have to wait until business and political leaders are ready to transform education?  I hope not.

Instead, I would call on rural educators to look within their classrooms, and figure out ways that they can teach these skills to their current students.  Not only will students benefit as individuals, but I think our rural communities will benefit as well.

 

Note:  Readers may be interested in  these additional video interviews of Richard Florida on Big Think

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The Creative Class, moving into new industries

February 8th, 2010

I’ve often felt that a missing part of Richard Florida’s Creative Class theory has been a lack of emphasis on creative individuals who work in non-creative industries.  For those unfamiliar, Florida believes that cities must compete for talent because individuals who belong to the “creative class” drive our economy.  In short, cities that attract talent thrive; those that don’t die.

So who are these creative workers that cities need?  Florida finds them in the fields of science, research, health care, finance, computer science and the arts, to name a few. 

His research casts an ominous shadow on rural communities, both past and future.  Historically, he finds little evidence of creative workers in rural communities.  And in the future, he sees little opportunity for rural communities to attract them. No talent, no future.   

In the following interview on Big Think, however, Florida suggests creative works are migrating to jobs not usually associated with the creative class.  

(video source:  “Reinveting the Way Workers Learn,” Big Think )

Creative workers in home repair and food processing.  Those jobs don’t sound as foreign to rural communities as computer science and research. 

In this light, rural communities are still in competition with urban areas for creative individuals.  But the question becomes, how can we help them put their creativity to work building businesses that connect to the geographic advantages each rural community possesses? 

As Florida highlights later in the interview, that process becomes easier when we reinvent our school systems.  Let’s talk more about that later. 

I’m excited to see that the Creative Class theory is growing to be more inclusive.  At the Rural Learning Center we’ve always sense creative people in our rural communities are overlooked.  Too often, however, we’ve neglected to harness and apply their creativity.

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Can South Dakota’s small towns be cool?

January 29th, 2010

I’ve commented previously about efforts by travel magazines to identify “cool small towns” (read here and here). Although these lists provide some perspective for rural community development enthusiasts, I’m a bit skeptical of them largely because they are written from a “tourist’s point of view.” In other words, they’re about what urban dwellers believe is cool, and I’m not sure that always translates to what’s important to the future of rural communities.  But a new list caught my eye yesterday because it identifies small towns that “are cool” based on how well they are transitioning into the 21st century economy.  Now that’s a list worth looking at.  

Actually, the list is just new to me.  Dr. David Ivan at Michigan State University’s Land Policy Institute has been researching the subject for the last 4-5 years.   With Richard Florida’s “Creative Class theory” as the backdrop, Dr. Ivan centered his research around the question, “Can small towns be cool?”  Through his research, he has identified both themes of success (i.e. - best practices) and success stories (i.e. - what small towns are doing good things).  Rural community development enthusiasts will find value in both. 

Through review of Dr. Ivan’s presentation at the 2009 Small Town & Rural Development Conference, I was able to identify the following 10 themes being employed by successful small towns. 

 What a great list!  Readers at ReImagine Rural will recognize many of the themes as regular topics of discussion.  One theme I was surprised to see not addressed was school involvement. Granted youth are prominently featured, but most rural communities operate under the principle that the school is the heart of the community.  It causes me to wonder how we can have a successful community without school engagement. 

 

Where’s South Dakota in all this?

I became aware of this study because of Richard Longworth’s December 2009 blog post titled “Some success.” A Google search for “Can Small Towns be Cool” made me aware that I had missed an earlier post on the same subject (May 2009) from my favorite small town entrepreneurship blogger, Becky McCray. Both Longworth and McCray both identify specific towns that are on the “cool town list.”  Sadly, no small towns in South Dakota made the cut. What’s up with that?

As Longworth points out, Dr. Ivan is still conducting research and is interested in hearing of other successful small towns.  Hopefully, South Dakota’s towns haven’t been reviewed yet. But just in case, I’m going to suggest one.

 

How about Hills City?

I didn’t make the Design SD charrette in Hill City, SD last fall.  But from what Lindsey tells me, they should be on the list. 

Hill City terms itself “the heart of the hills” due to its location and proximity to major Black Hills attractions, including Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore.  But today, the town is probably better known for its arts economy.  Several years ago, a prominent artist made Hill City his home, and brought with him an idea that Hill City had the potential to develop an arts-based economy.  Since that time, the town’s leadership has embraced the idea and Hill City’s Main Street has transformed itself into an upscale shopping destination for tourists and residents alike.  Organizations like the Hill City Arts Council and Heart of the Hills Economic Development Corporation have joined forces to host events, encourage entrepreneurs, and build a stronger community (see their explicit goals here).  Hill City is definitely one of South Dakota’s cool towns!

I’ve got a few pressing tasks yet today, but I’m definitely going to send Dr. Ivan my recommendation.  And I hope you will share your recommendation as well. 

Additional Resources:

 Photo Credit: Cliff1066 - Flickr

 

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How will the Crash reshape Rural America

February 16th, 2009

Richard Florida has written an outstanding analysis about America’s future.  Titled “How the Crash will Reshape America,” it appeared in the March 2009 issue of The Atlantic.  Florida, as most community development experts know, is an urban enthusiast who believes our economy is being driven by creative talent.  Simply put, his theories argue that the places that succeed in attracting creative talent will thrive, while those who fail to attract creative talent will decline.  Sadly, he doesn’t see much hope for rural places at succeeding in attracting talent, but that’s a story for another day.

Beyond encouraging everyone to read Florida’s article, I wanted to lift the following quote for people to think about: 

“When a place gets boring, even the rich people leave.”

The quote is not from Florida.  Rather Jane Jacobs, the great urban theorist, told it to Florida in an interview a few years ago.  Florida believes places like New York City will survive the economic meltdown if for no other reason than they are interesting and attractive places to live.  This of course, connects well with his theories about what attracts talented people.  

Since Florida’s writing says little of rural, I think it’s appropriate for us to ask:

Will our post-crash rural communities be more interesting and exiting places to live? 

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