Creative economy: What’s the plan?
Creative Monterey County
While lots of communities want to build a creative economy, too few are able to pull everyone together around a plan. Not so in Monterey County, where collaboration, research and dialogue led to a countywide blueprint for collective action. The process was led by the Community Foundation for Monterey County in tandem with the Arts Council for Monterey County. And it produced the first comprehensive approach to advancing local arts and culture.
Seeing the big picture
The attached report states the case for investing in a creative economy. It then presents goals, recommended strategies, and a timeline for implementing an action plan to advance this creative economy over a five-year period. It addresses the role of arts and culture in community life, makes a case for increased donor support to sustain arts and culture as part of a vibrant region, and describes an approach for increasing cultural patronage. It includes a review of local demographic trends pertinent to the arts.
Purpose and goals
The purpose of this planning was three-fold:
- To guide actions of and collaborations among artists, arts agencies and arts educators regarding research, program development and public awareness
- To guide public and private investment, including an array of short-term and long-term loans, grants and earned revenues
- To guide the Arts Council for Monterey County in leading countywide research, planning, advocacy and support
Four goals resulted from this process:
- Develop greater participation in Monterey County’s culture and creative activities by residents and visitors
- Build and strengthen the creative industries as a major economic cluster in the region
- Make effective use of arts, culture and creative opportunities to promote vibrant and healthy communities, including education and workforce development
- Develop visible support mechanisms to nurture and promote arts, culture and creativity
This planning activity was conducted as part of Communities Advancing the Arts, a major funding initiative of The James Irvine Foundation.
Filed under: Supporting nonprofits