Ray Meiggs

An Essential Element – The Arts!

Posted by Ray Meiggs, Mar 08, 2010 0 comments


Ray Meiggs

Everyone is feeling the pinch of the recession. In our small community in Northeastern North Carolina, as well as the rest of the nation, we are faced daily with headlines of higher unemployment and other general discouraging news. We’ve lost hundreds of jobs in the paper and automotive industries, banking and tourism industries have been severely impacted, and we hear of increasing numbers of our people needing assistance from food banks in our region. That said, in North Carolina, a gradual shift is taking place as we once again reinvent ourselves to face the new global economy–an economy where creativity and innovation will provide the competitive edge to our future global competitiveness.  

  • In Charlotte, once the hub of the banking industry, creative industry supplies 164,325 jobs, while the financial industry directly supplies 153, 075 jobs according to recent reports.
  • A University of North Carolina-Greensboro School of Business Economic Impact Study found that in North Carolina, the cultural industries create and sustain 5.54% of total state employment, 4.9% of the state’s total wages and benefits, and 5.86% of North Carolina’s total production.
  • Also according to the same UNC-G study, every 100 jobs in the arts in North Carolina can be expected to support an additional 29 jobs in other industries. Additionally, cultural offerings create a quality of life that recruits new talent and keeps skilled workers.

These statistics and studies have caught the attention of policy makers and business leaders in our state. In fact, the North Carolina State University Institute for Emerging Issues has identified creative thinking as the basis for true innovation. “Creativity, Inc”, the theme of their 25th Annual Emerging Issues Forum in February 2010, clearly identifies the call to state leadership and forum participants to “…find ways to make creativity the foundation for how we live, work and play in North Carolina.” This trend is a call to arms in a sea of bad news for arts organizations. It is proof positive of the increased recognition of the impact of the arts in building healthy communities and establishes the creative economy as a driver in successful economic development strategies.

Hard statistics and bottom line numbers like those listed above are exactly what businesses need to hear. At a recent meeting of local business leaders (our Committee of 100), I presented this concept of The Creative Economy and the statistics listed above. My goal was to gain support from industries critical to our long term success and presence in this community.  I could not have been more pleased with the response. Attendees were clearly energized by what Arts of the Albemarle and other non-profit partners (our Museum of the Albemarle, and our local science museum, Port Discover) had in store from our community.

For too long, the arts have been considered a luxury, a non-essential element, a place to direct philanthropic energy.  Armed with facts and statistics that reflect true economic value, we are able to make the case to business and government that the arts are in fact an essential element in the fabric of dynamic and financially successful communities.  We are true partners that contribute both directly and indirectly to the bottom line.  In these turbulent economic times, we’re finding that companies are buying into this line of thinking.  While the “Creative Economy” is not yet part of the daily vernacular in North Carolina, we’re getting there!

About Arts of the Albemarle: AOA serves as the regional arts council for the counties of Camden, Currituck, Gates and Pasquotank.  Through the support of local, state, national and international donors, AOA moved into its new home, The Center, in March 2009 at the culmination of a $5 million campaign to purchase and restore the historic Chesson Building on Main Street in Elizabeth City.  The centerpiece and anchor tenant of ongoing downtown revitalization efforts, The Center provides a world class facility enabling AOA to broaden its mission and economic impact as a multidimensional institution serving the creative economies of Northeastern North Carolina.

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