Creative Economy Resource Center

Facts and figures
Toolkits and planning handbooks
Readings, talks, and inspiration
Resources
Wisconsin models
Models beyond Wisconsin
Creative placemaking

updated August 2021

Facts and figures about the arts, arts education, and creative economy in Wisconsin and beyond:

• The Arts and Creative Economy:  21st Century Growth for Wisconsin – a 2018 report on the state of the arts and creative economy in Wisconsin
• Talking points about the arts, arts education and creative economy in Wisconsin – our state’s vibrant arts community makes us a strong recruiting draw in the 21^st century economy and sets us apart from other states.
• Wisconsin Creative Industries, 2017 – The most recent figures available for Wisconsin show that nearly 9,200 arts-related businesses employ over 50,000 people throughout the state.
• Arts and Economic Prosperity V:     a comprehensive economic impact study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry conducted in Wisconsin 2016-2017, from the Wisconsin Arts Board and Americans for the Arts
• BEA/NEA Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (ACPSA):   Before the pandemic shutdowns started in March 2020…there was great info from the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Office of Research & Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), showing that nationally, the arts and cultural sector contributed $877 billion or 4.3% to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017. For Wisconsin, the arts and cultural sector impact is currently $10.1 billion and 3.1% of the Wisconsin economy, contributing 0ver 96,000 jobs (compared to 31,000 in Wisconsin’s papermaking sector and 35,000 in the state’s biotech industry). This info is from the latest report of the Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (ACPSA), produced by the Department of Commerce and the NEA. More info here.
• Arts and Creativity in Education:  Global research and practice show that students with high levels of arts participation outperform other students on virtually every measure from standardized tests to community participation, and that learning through the arts has a significant effect on learning in other areas, particularly in the early years.   We know that Wisconsin needs more workers proficient in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) studies.  We must add the arts for 21st century STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) in Wisconsin.

Toolkits and planning handbooks:

• Rural Prosperity through the Arts and Creative Sector, produced by the National Governors Association, the National Endowment for the Arts and National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, March 2019
• Arts and Culture Toolkit: Created by the regional planning unit for seven Chicago counties to help municipalities incorporate art and culture into their planning.
• The Cultural Mapping Toolkit reviews mapping as a valuable first step in generating new perspectives and preparing the ground for effective cultural planning.  From the partnership between 2010 Legacies Now and the Creative City Network of Canada.
• The Cultural Planning Toolkit includes an overview of key characteristics of a good cultural plan and a step-by-step guide to getting there.
• The Creative Community Builder’s Handbook: How to Transform Communities Using Local Assets, Arts and Culture by Tom Borrup, 2006.  Assesses 20 arts-centered community development projects and provides a step-by-step guide to building the economic, social, civic and physical infrastructure of communities through the arts. The book includes case studies from urban, rural and suburban communities and best practices related to ten successful community building strategies.
• Effective Community Arts Development: Fifty Years, Fifty Tips by Maryo Gard Ewell “reminds us of where we’ve been, what we’ve learned along the way, and how to best equip ourselves for securing the future of the arts in America through effective community arts development by local arts agencies nationwide.”
• Community Cultural Planning: A Guidebook for Community Leaders (Americans for the Arts) outlines five steps to developing a cultural plan, provides profiles of seven communities and their plans, and recommendations for effective planning.
• The Arts in the Small Community by Maryo Gard Ewell and Michael F. Warlum, 2006.  An updated version of the seminal The Arts in the Small Community, a National Plan, developed in the 1960s, follows up on the original five test communities and adds contemporary examples.
• A Toolkit for Starting a Non-Profit Gallery from the Macon Arts Alliance of Macon, GA. Based on their experience running The Gallery, a community-driven arts space, this toolkit helps prospective gallerists think through their conceptual and practical needs. Get it here.
• Arts Extension Service, UMass-Amherst

Readings, talks, and inspiration

• Sir Ken Robinson, Do Schools Kill Creativity?  TED Talk, 2007
• Ben Cameron: New Pathways in Times of Uncertainty.  Arizona State University, 2010

Resources and ideas from thought-leaders, decision-makers and institutions:

• Cutting Edge | The creative economy: moving in from the sidelines, UNESCO, 1-28-21
• Why we need the arts and humanities to get us through the COVID-19 pandemic, USA Today, 1-6-21
• Why the arts are the great underappreciated engine of the economy, Benjamin Wolff, Forbe, 3-19-19
• Creative Placemaking gains a foothold nationally, must address critical needs to earn widespread adoption, Kresge Foundation, 8-1-18
  “The deliberate infusion of arts and culture as an integral part of community development has gained significant inroads nationally, but can still feel like swimming upstream for community leaders and practitioners aiming to make it a commonplace practice…”
• The Future of the Great Lakes Region, a report from the Urban Institute, March 2017, providing policy and philanthropic strategies and a comprehensive analysis of recent economic, demographic, and social trends in the region, coupled with projections on how those trends will play out between now and 2040.  (Wisconsin fact sheet)  Listen to a WPR interview with one of the authors of the study, 4-4-17
• National Consortium for Creative Placemaking
• 101 small ways you can improve your community, Curbed, 9-22-16
• Arts-based Policies in Our Towns and Neighborhoods from the National Endowment for the Arts | May 2015
• Creative Placemaking Research and Resources – Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Community Development Investment Review, December 2014
• Impacts on Downtown Economic Revitalization, 1999:  Art-related economic development strategies in small towns
• U.S. Cultural & Heritage Tourism Marketing Council and the U.S. Department of Commerce:  Cultural and Heritage Tourism
• Cultural Tourism white paper, Americans for the Arts, 2014
• Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, St. Paul, MN:  Thriving Arts: Thriving Small Communities
• Rural Tourism Marketing
• National Assembly of State Arts Agencies – Creative Economic Development
  
• National Governors Association Center for Best Practices
  • Arts & the Economy: Using Arts and Culture to Stimulate State Economic Development
  • Strengthening Rural Economies through the Arts      
• The Urban Institute: Culture and Commerce:  Traditional Arts in Economic Development      
• Research from Ann Markusen, Director, Project on Regional and Industrial Economics (PRIE), University of Minnesota
  • An Arts-Based State Rural Development Policy, Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, 2007
  • Arts and Culture in Urban/Regional Planning
  • Defining the Creative Economy
  • Creative Placemaking – a white page for the National Endowment for the Arts’ Mayors Institute on City Design
  • More research at Project on Regional and Industrial Economics
• The Orange Economy (La Economía Naranja: Una oportunidad infinita) – Inter American Development Bank (.pdf)
• Creative Economy Report 2013 Special Edition United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
• American Planning Association- Community Character – how arts and cultural strategies create, reinforces, and enhances sense of place
• Association for Visual Arts, connecting artists and communities to support aspiring artists

Creative economy programs/projects/initiatives in Wisconsin:

• The New Economy: How Creative Communities Attract Growth, by Greg Wright, CREATE Portage County, December 2016 
• In the media:
  • Creating a New Economy
    Rhinelander Star Journal, 1-10-16
  • Artspace preliminary feasibility report completed
    Bayfield County Journal, 1-8-16
  • Rural Renaissance:  In small-town Wisconsin, the art are having a moment
    Reedsburg Times, 10-8-15
  • Small Towns Increasingly Attract Business Through the Arts, says Nonprofit DirectorWisconsin Public Radio, 10-28-15
  • Developing a narrative to advance an issue:  the case for creative placemaking in small towns
    Nonprofit Quarterly, 10-29-15
• RootWorks Redevelopment, Racine: Revitalizing Racine’s Urban Root River Corridor
• Developing the River Arts District in Wisconsin Dells
• Waunakee Creative Economy Initiative
• Widespot Performing Arts Center, Stockholm (arts center in a town of 66 people) 
• Life of the River public art project, Mayor’s Neighborhood Leadership Council– Green Bay         
• Middleton Public Art Plan – Middleton Arts Commission-city committee charged with public art project development and implementation         
• Nick Engelbert’s Grandview -Hollandale
• St Croix Festival Theatre auditorium revitalization project -St. Croix Falls   
• Kenosha Union Park Project
• Wisconsin’s Northwest Heritage Passage – cultural tourism/entrepreneurial program
• Downtown Fond du Lac Art, Education and Entertainment District
• Waupaca Community Arts Board
• Mural projects:
  • Ashland – Mural Walk
  • Wittenberg –Walls of Wittenberg
  • Shawano County barn quilt murals
• Local and regional film festivals
  • Wildwood Film Festival, Appleton
  • Beloit International Film Festival
  • Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison
  • Milwaukee Film Fest, Milwaukee
  • Flyway Film Festival, Pepin
  • Central Wisconsin Film Festival, Stevens Point
  • Driftless Film Festival, SW Wisconsin
  • Big Water Film Festival, Washburn

Models beyond Wisconsin:  resources, ideas, and creative economy programs/projects/initiatives nationally and globally

• Can art bring new life to a small town? Granite Falls, Minn., says YES

  Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 8-19-18
• State of Wonder – Arts and Small Towns, A Love Story Oregon Public Broadcasting, 8-15-15
• Why cities can’t afford to lose their artists, Atlantic CityLab, by Richard Florida, December 4, 2014
• Placemaking can boost profile of small towns hoping to attract tourism– Michigan Live, May 13, 2013
• Yearning for arts can spur small town development – Minnesota Public Radio, June 2013
• Artists shaking up and strengthening economies in rural America – Createquity, 2013
• What makes people attached to a city– Minnesota Post, 5/8/13
• Arts economy rises on the southwest prairie–Minnesota Public Radio News, 6/6/12
• The Creative Community: How Three Communities Used Art to Build a Future–Engaging Cities, 2/27/12

Creative placemaking