The Trenton Times recently ran a story that mentioned the work of Arts Build Communities in developing a cultural tourism plan in the city. ABC Director Leonardo Vazquez was also interviewed for the article.
Read the article: Trenton arts community seeks collaboration to drive economic growth in the city
Whether you're just starting to think about making the arts a bigger part of your community's fabric, or you're a leader in a community that is a regional arts destination, you can get a lot from the upcoming Arts Build Communities Cultural Planning Leadership Conference.
The conference will highlight new ideas and opportunities for building, growing and sustaining creative communities. Participants will explore best practices, learn about creative financing and other resources, and build connections with experienced and successful peers. Participants will also get a guide with resources for building creative communities and an opportunity to get coaching to help them turn their ideas into action.
The conference will be on February 11, from 9 am to 4 pm, at Rutgers University's Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy in downtown New Brunswick, New Jersey. There will be two tracks: One for those starting out in arts-based community and economic development, and another for experienced community and cultural leaders who want to build on their success.
In the morning, participants will hear from experts and successful practitioners. In the afternoon workshops, facilitators will help participants learn to use the tools to build their own strategies.
Here is the preliminary agenda for the event:
8:30 to 9:30: Networking breakfast and registration
9:30 to 9:45: Welcome
9:45 to 10:30: Keynote address: (Speaker to be announced)
10:30 to 10:45: Break
10:45 to noon: Breakout sessions
Session A: Best practices for starting arts-based community and economic development
Session B: Resources for sustaining and growing arts-based community and economic development
12 to 1: Lunch (provided)
1 to 1:30: From ideas to action: The ABC community coaching initiative
1:30 to 2:45: Workshops
Workshop A: Planning for successful creative communities and economies
Workshop B: Tools for growing your community's arts market
Workshop C: Regional strategies for sustaining creative communities and economies
2:45 to 3: Break
3 to 4 pm: Takeaways and reports
Register for the conference
For more information: Deborah Schulze, 732-932-3822, x635 or schulze@eden.rutgers.edu
The Arts Build Communities Leadership Program is designed for civic and cultural leaders who want to be more effective in building sustainable communities and local economies through the arts.
Participants will get expert advice in building customized and more cost-effective strategies for their communities. The Leadership Program has two parts.
It begins February 11, 2011, with an all-day conference on arts-based community development and economic development. Experts will share their advice and experiences, and be candid about the benefits and challenges of this work. The conference, at Rutgers University's Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, is open to everyone. The cost is $50, which includes meals and a free electronic resource guide.
The next part of the program runs from March to July 2011. In this part of the program, community-based teams will plan custom strategies for their communities. The teams will get technical assistance and coaching from experts in cultural planning, community and economic development, leadership and organizational development, and public policy.
All conference participants will be invited to participate in the second part of the program. Up to 10 teams will be selected, and each team must have at least one elected official (or high-ranking public administrator) and a cultural professional. Each team can have up to 10 members.
In September, the teams will return to Rutgers for a one-day convocation to share their experiences. The convocation will be open to the public.
Register for the February 11 conference
Applications for the full program will be available by January 2011.
For more information, please contact Deborah Schulze at 732-932-3822, x635 or schulze@eden.rutgers.edu
Just as there are multiple ways to define art, there are several ways to measure the creative economy.
As part of its forthcoming New Jersey Creative Vitality Index, Arts Build Communities has developed a set of measures for the creative economy as a way to gauge the vitality of the creative sector. The ABC measures are influenced by those used by Americans for the Arts and the New England Foundation for the Arts, two of the premiere arts advocacy organizations in the United States. But ABC uses a narrower definition of the creative sector than these other organizations do.
Another difference: the ABC measures offer a different way of looking at the creative economy. While other organizations focus on creative industry subsectors -- such as visual arts or architecture -- ABC draws attention to economic functions -- such as manufacturing and distribution. The creative economy matrix can help policy makers and leaders better decide where and how to invest limited resources.
For example, leaders of an industrial city who want to participate more in the creative economy, but are limited by competition from nearby arts destinations, could focus on attracting manufacturers of supplies and creative products. Thinking in terms of economic functions, rather than just "the arts," can help leaders be more creative about how to participate in the creative economy.
Note: Every measure of the creative economy, including those of Arts Build Communities, underestimates its true size. The numbers that everyone uses are drawn from government or business sources, and they don't count the thousands of people in New Jersey who are part-time artists, or participate in the arts as a hobby. No measure fully counts all of the creative people who work outside of businesses that are part of the creative sector. (People in 'creative occupations' -- such as a graphic designer in a bank -- are a fraction of creative people in our economy.
In the end, those of us who try to measure the creative economy are like scientists trying to measure climate change. The world is too big and dynamic to try to see everything at once. (Imagine trying to count the number of waves in the ocean.) We focus our lenses differently, and together we can tell a complete story about what is happening.
Read the report
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