The Arts as an Economic Engine

- [Anita] Coming up on "ncIMPACT," arts are helping revitalize communities all across the state.

We'll find out the vision behind the efforts to spark an arts-based economy.

This is "ncIMPACT."

- [Announcer] "ncIMPACT" is a PBS North Carolina Production in association with the University of North Carolina School of Government.

Funding of "ncIMPACT" is made possible by.

- [Announcer] Changing the course of people's lives, that's the impact UNC Health and the UNC School of Medicine work to deliver every day.

Our 40,000 team members across the state of North Carolina are committed to caring for you, our patients and communities, as well as educating the next generation of healthcare professionals.

Individually, we can do a little, but collectively, we can do a lot to create impact.

- Welcome to "ncIMPACT."

I'm Anita Brown-Graham.

There's a growing trend among communities to develop what's called a creative economy, where the goal is to build awareness of a town's cultural assets and then leverage them to spur economic development.

ncIMPACT's Evan Howell visited an artist in Greenville to get a firsthand look at how one starts to paint a picture of the future.

- [Evan] Richard Wilson is a nationally known artist living in Greenville.

- Well, I've been drawing ever since I was about eight years old.

My dad was an artist.

- [Evan] He says what drives his art is forging a link between a town's past and its future potential.

- I think art is important because of the emotional connection, the feeling that people get when they see art.

I mean, it can make you happy.

It can make you sad.

It can inspire you to want to do something great.

- [Evan] He says art gives a sense of time, place, and a shared experience.

He credits his father for instilling the values important to helping build a strong community.

- [Richard] I see how people react to my work, and that encourages me to continue to do what I'm doing.

I see how it inspires people.

- Wilson says public support for art is critical to help other young artists but is also vital to any town that wants to revitalize itself and become attractive to both visitors and employers.

- [Richard] We have all these empty buildings around here, and I've been to like some of the city hall meetings and tried to talk to them about some of these buildings.

- [Evan] The situation is improving, but he says high costs forced him to sell his art out of state.

He soon will open a second studio in Raleigh, where he says there are more opportunities.

- [Richard] We have some great artists right here in Greenville but, you know, they're not seen because, for one, they can't afford the rent 'cause I was gonna move into a studio downtown, but they went up on the rent as soon as I was getting ready to move in.

- [Evan] He says it takes strong leadership and collaboration among local groups and businesses to make it successful and that all it takes is a bit of vision.

- We need to support the arts so that you can keep those talented artists that are right here in the community.

- [Evan] In effect, Wilson predicts that if you build it, they will come but says that until that happens, a town's fading culture will negatively impact its future financial health.

For "ncIMPACT," I'm Evan Howell.

- Thank you, Evan.

Joining me now is Nate McGaha.

Nate is the executive director of Arts North Carolina.

Nate, help us to understand what kind of economic impact arts and cultural production can have on a community.

- Absolutely, well, I mean, in the state of North Carolina, arts and culture makes up 2.6% of the employment and 2.8% of the overall GDP for the state.

So, overall, it's a massive impact, but it's not just centered in urban areas.

We see cultural projects remaking and helping to build and rebuild communities and economies all over the state.

A lot of local arts councils and arts organizations are engaged in creative placemaking, public art projects, engaging local artists in projects, and which is really driving the local economy not only to businesses from those folks within those counties and those areas, but also bringing folks from other counties and out of state as well.

- Well, we'll talk a little bit about how you home-grow your artists, but obviously to reach scale, there are communities that are trying to attract artists.

What are some of the challenges that community leaders face in getting artists and creatives to come and live among them?

- It's a problem that are faced across many industries, particularly affordable housing, access to affordable childcare, and gentrification.

We actually see, sometime particularly, we see in communities that actually invest heavily in the arts, and we see arts and creative businesses taking off, revitalizing otherwise completely abandoned areas and neighborhoods and industrial areas.

And then those property values go up and begin to force out the very artists through gentrification that they've been meaning to serve.

So, I would say housing, childcare, as as well as programs such as healthcare and unemployment benefits that really start to treat artists like small businesses.

An individual artist is, in a sense, a small business with a single employee.

And that shift is something that's gonna be necessary so that we can continue to attract the sort of artists that we're hoping to in North Carolina.

- That's a terrific way to think about it, and of course, we'll talk a lot about the economic impacts.

But I'm curious, what are the other benefits of a growing arts and cultural community?

- Well, I think that there's a, particularly when we talk about public art, there's a real sense of place.

I remember there was a piece of public art in the Romare Bearden Park that was put in place by the Arts and Science Council.

And I remember Robert Bush, who was running the ASC back then, telling me that he knew it was a success when that piece of public art showed up in prom photos all across the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region.

So it had transcended being a piece of art that was in a public space and had actually become part of the community with teenagers flocking downtown to make that public art.

We also see it connecting in historic preservation.

There's communities where we're activating storefronts.

Cabarrus County has turned their old courthouse into both a performance space and art gallery, historic homes that have been turned into galleries and art spaces.

And all of that helps to really define a sense of space and place within a community.

Not to mention, these arts events, festivals or performances, as well as these creative places give a community a place to come out, connect with one another, and feel connected in a way that they really, they can't sitting at home and watching television.

- I love it.

I know exactly what I'll be doing this weekend.

Stick with us please, Nate.

In the town of Danbury, one arts council has transformed the surrounding area into a growing arts oasis.

ncIMPACT's Andrea Corona reveals how one small event led to a thriving arts tourism community.

- [Craig] I was always drawing and stuff ever since I was a little kid.

- [Andrea] Craig Richards is an artist in Danbury, North Carolina.

- I still have some pictures of like Bugs Bunny that I did when I was like four years old and stuff, you know.

- [Andrea] Richards has worked in Danbury's The Arts Place and with the Stokes County Arts Council for over a decade.

- I have had the opportunity because of this studio, this nice space, to really be able to hone my skills.

- [Andrea] The Arts place allows artists to create, showcase, and sell their art under one roof.

- [Craig] It's amazing.

Danbury's a little, you know there's no stoplight, no stop sign, you know.

[chuckles] It's just one little main street, you know.

But all kinds of music, all kinds of events take place here.

- There you go.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- [Andrea] Sonya Godwin worked her way from volunteer to become a manager at The Arts Place.

- I love working with the artists.

I appreciate the art.

I love being a part of this community.

So that's what brought me here, and it's been wonderful experience.

- [Andrea] The Stokes County Arts Council expanded from a single gallery into a multi-use building.

It's taken nearly 50 years.

- If it were ever gone, you know, I can't imagine what life would be like.

- [Andrea] The arts economy is boosted by annual events like Reach the Peaks, Polar Plunge, and the famed Stokes Stomp.

- So the Stokes Stomp actually is older than the Stokes County Arts Council, but that's what led to the creation.

And it's been held every year on the banks of the Dan River.

♪ That water tower's got ♪ - It brings something into the lives of the people, for sure.

And that's not just, you know, somebody coming and seeing art and enjoying that.

I mean, people come through here all the time, and they're like, "Wow, this is a best-kept secret."

- [Andrea] The Arts Council works with 19 local schools, hoping to spark interest in the next generation of artists.

- We're not a small fish in a big pond.

We're a small fish in a small pond.

So you have to leverage the resources and partnerships and work together.

- [Andrea] And it's the school partnerships that keep Craig Richards optimistic.

- I think it's in you, you know?

And if it is, you gotta kind of do it.

- [Andrea] Danbury is no longer a secret but a stop for those seeking a cultural arts experience.

For "ncIMPACT," I'm Andrea Corona.

- Thank you, Andrea.

Joining me now is John Brown.

John is the vice-provost for the arts at Duke University.

John, let me pick up with you where we left with Nate.

What is the impact of community-building through arts education?

- Well, thank you for having me.

There's real power in how we can engage the arts and connect people with their thoughts, their ideas, their creativity.

And in the community, when we support and encourage that kind of activity, that only builds community from an individual level, and it helps inform what we do from a municipal level where we should make our investments in city infrastructure, city programming, and really where we should put our focus, on helping our citizens connect with their creativity and really be able to freely express that in a way that is supported from many different directions.

- Well, we surely saw that playing out in the story of Danbury.

I'm curious from your perspective, what do you think the pandemic taught us or reminded us about the value of the arts?

- You know, a magical thing happened during the pandemic.

We were forced into this place of solitude and isolation, and, frankly, the arts were there to save our lives.

From our very beginnings, if you can remember when, if you ever watch little children, they sing, they dance, they move, they draw.

And there's a sense of freedom that is born into us that is expressed in one of the most unique ways in artistry when we say, you know, "Mommy, look what I made," "Daddy, look what I made."

That's something that we all have in common.

Regardless of many things that society will implement to try to encourage us to find division, that's where we find commonality.

The arts are an empowering force that allow us to express ourselves to say, "This is something I love.

This is something I don't love.

This is something that makes me happy or unhappy."

But wherever we find that connection, as again, I believe that the pandemic forced us into that place where at the end of our days of solitude, we reconnected with our younger selves and found that book, that painting, that movie, that piece of music, that photograph, that really gave us a place of belonging, a place of connection.

And you know, though it was far from an ideal circumstance, one of the gifts of the pandemic was that connection.

- Yeah, no question about it.

I went to a couple of concerts on Zoom.

It's not quite the same thing as sitting out in a park watching other people dance or not, depending on what they're doing.

- Right.

- You mentioned earlier this idea of support, and I wonder if you could just talk a little bit about how crucial you see partnerships being to using the arts to stimulate economic development.

Who needs to be at the table?

- Everyone needs to be at the table.

I'm one who believes in collaboration.

I mean, collaboration is key.

Communication is key.

And it's rare one finds an argument where people and entities should not work together.

There's power in uniting, and where we all get around the table, whether it's two of us, three of us, whether it's individuals, whether it's entities, whether it's people who lead organizations, there's commonality among us all because of how the arts anchor the human experience.

And when we join forces, identify commonalities among our various missions, the creation of partnerships is really a strong foundation for limitless possibilities, in my opinion.

- Limitless possibilities, indeed.

There's a shining example of art being used as an economic engine in Star, North Carolina, where an abandoned sock factory has been transformed into an art mecca.

ncIMPACT's Sloane Heffernan takes us to Starworks.

- Starworks is in the middle of the state in the small rural town of Star.

With a population of roughly 800, it doesn't stand out, but Starworks is putting it on the map with artists from around the world.

- [Joel] Gotta kind of work the other end of it.

- [Sloane] This is the work that sets Joel Grant's soul on fire.

- My favorite thing about making glass is watching it go through the sort of magical transition from being a liquid into a solid.

- [Joel] Grant is a glassmaker whose work has been exhibited in galleries across the nation.

- I think I made this one too thin.

- [Sloane] He's the glass director at Starworks, and art-centered work community in Star, North Carolina.

- And the second I walked in the door, was just blown away by the scale of the building, the quality of the equipment, and was really just met with really nice people that were really excited to share what they were doing.

- [Sloane] Starworks is a place where artists come to create all types of art, from glass and ceramics to metal.

It's located in an old sock factory and former schoolhouse in the shadow of the Star water tower.

- So for generations, you had people that either worked here or went to school here.

So it was making and learning for its entire history.

We're just repeating what's always been done here for the past 100 years with a more modern spin on it, obviously.

- [Sloane] Locals come here to watch and learn.

Starworks also hosts classes and demonstrations for schools and at-risk youth.

- In a lot of rural communities, they are cultural deserts.

You don't have that opportunity a lot of times to learn about art, learn about making, to learn about other cultures, which is one of the things that art does.

- These are the clay from the ground.

- [Sloane] Starworks also has its own clay manufacturing facility, where artists make materials for other artists.

They use clay from the ground that is unique to our state.

- That could help local economy because you cannot find those anywhere else.

- [Sloane] Starworks says it ships 300 tons of its pottery clay to customers across the country and beyond every year.

- We're making jobs.

We'll never have as many jobs as this place had when it was a textile mill.

But we are employing people.

We're bringing tax dollars to the area, and we're also creating events and cultural opportunities for people to experience.

- [Nancy] Most people, when they- - [Sloane] Starworks' executive director says she hopes this concept sparks similar projects in other parts of the country.

- Starworks provides a model for communities to look at some of their physical assets like this to say, you know, what would be something really creative that we can do?

- [Sloane] A creative concept that is breathing new life into this old factory and its town.

- [Joel] All right.

- One of the biggest fundraising events at Starworks is their annual pumpkin patch, where the nonprofit sells 3,000 of their glass pumpkins to raise money for educational programs every October.

- Thank you so much, Sloane.

Let's bring back our experts.

And joining us for our "ncIMPACT" Roundtable table is Cynthia Deis.

Cynthia is the education director at Triangle Artworks.

Cynthia, we've seen a number of examples of creative placemaking, but define the term for us.

What does it mean, and how can communities best implement it?

- Well, first thanks for having me here.

This has really been great.

The program that they've got going on at Starworks is a perfect example of that.

They've created a creative place that is definitely creating a renaissance in their own community.

Creative placemaking is often also, though, used for the idea of a municipality creating a park or adding a sculpture or adding some sort of art to their community in a way that ties into the local history of the community, ties into the issues that are going on in the community, and also makes that spot where, like you mentioned, you're gonna go outside, sit on the park, listen to the music, and perhaps there's art around you.

So, creative placemaking, it's a very broad term, but it's something that I think is really important in our communities now.

- Absolutely.

Let me stick with you for a second, Cynthia.

What are some ways that community leaders can support artists in their community in order to help them thrive?

- Well, I think it's very important for artists to have the type of support, the workforce development support, that we give to other other sectors of our economy.

As Nate mentioned, artists are small businesses, and just as our government supports small businesses that are coming into our communities in other areas, I think artists need that kind of support as well.

They may need support through grant programs, which we see in a lot of towns, a lot of cities, around North Carolina, particularly.

But I also think they need the opportunities to get the type of training that doesn't exist necessarily in university programs and certainly doesn't exist for artists that come to art outside of those university programs.

- And what kind of trainings are you talking about here?

I assume you're implicating that as an artist, you may be brilliant in your craft, but then there're also some how do you run your own business?

- Exactly.

[laughs] - Skills that are important too.

- It's so important because if we want our artists to be able to create sustainable small businesses where they're able to participate in their community economically and create their art for the long term, they need to understand the accounting basics.

They need to understand legal basics.

They need to understand all of those things.

I mean, personally, I'm a graduate of a fine arts program at a university.

That's not covered, and it wasn't covered when I was in school.

It's not covered now.

It didn't need to be.

My fine arts credentials, you know, give me that ability.

But just as someone that goes to school, say, to become a dentist, may also need to learn about accounting and running a small business and, you know, handling their payroll and those sorts of things, an artist needs to know those things as well.

We don't wanna have burnout.

To have artists that really can step from our local North Carolina communities onto the national stage so that they're being pulled to do big commissions in other cities, we need to create a sustainable support system for them.

- Yeah, yeah, that makes perfect sense.

Nate, let me jump to you.

What kind of community-based art solutions across the state are showing promise in truly spurring economic development?

- Well, we see some really great examples all across the state.

Kinston, North Carolina is revitalizing storefronts as well as using, redoing houses to house artists and have really rebranded themselves as a culinary destination as well as an arts destination.

You know, Stokes County is another perfect example where an old historic, I believe it was a bank that actually Stokes County Arts Council's in that they built Art Place out of, bringing in folks across the country or from across the state, particularly right in the shadow of a state park.

So they get a lot of tourist traffic that way.

And, you know, we're seeing it out in the western part of the state as well with, I think that West Jefferson is a really great example of a program that started 30 years ago with a mural program and then picked up a barn quilt and really redefined the entire town as an art space.

That attracted small business owners to open galleries now, and now that town in Ashe County has become a destination for folks that wanna take a day trip to search for local artists with these galleries, both for-profit and non-profit galleries, that exist in that town.

So, there's a real...

It takes a little bit of vision because it doesn't, those transformations didn't happen overnight.

Those were all led by some visionaries that were willing to do the work early on.

And 10, 20 years later, we're really starting to see the benefits of those communities in not only supporting tourism but supporting the artists that are making the art and attracting those visitors.

- So John, I want you to jump in here.

We've heard about the importance of having physical spaces and having a lot of vision.

What other resources would communities need to think about in trying to create an arts-based economy?

- Well, the key word is support.

Among the keywords is unity, alignment, and sharing of ideas and sharing of resources.

I truly believe in better together, and among the missions that we have at Duke Arts is to indeed be in the community, be in a place where we are gathering people, gathering resources, so that we can create support and infrastructure for artists to thrive.

We use community resources and community partnerships that are intentionally on campus and intentionally outside of campus in the city, in the regions across the state.

So where we can pool our resources and support artists at every level, we will find the greatest success.

- Wow.

Cynthia, I'm gonna let you have the last word because everybody's sitting around going, "We wanna be Danbury."

"We wanna be Star."

So what else do they need other than space and vision and alignment and partnerships?

- They need to look for their local artists, and again, you have them.

In every community, there are those artists.

And support them.

And that may mean finding that empty storefront and allowing them to use it, getting a landlord to allow that to happen.

It may mean using them instead of hiring a graphic designer from some other part of the town, other part of the state or other part of the country, to create things that represent your local area.

You know, we need to support those local artists.

Local artists tell local stories better than anyone, and it's really, really important that our local communities are supporting them.

- This episode has made my heart happy.

Thank you all for what you do all across the state of North Carolina, and thank you for joining us this morning to share it with others.

And of course, we wanna thank the local leaders featured in this episode who are all doing such cool things and allowing us to share it with you, our viewers.

Finally, we don't ever end this show without thanking you, our amazing audience, for watching and engaging.

You know that there are solutions out there if we work together.

We want you to tell us what your community is doing or how we can help you.

You can email us at ncimpact@unc.edu, or send a message on Twitter or Facebook.

And be sure to join us every Friday night at 7:30 on PBS North Carolina for new episodes of "ncIMPACT."

Coming up on "ncIMPACT," North Carolina is growing quickly.

This population growth can strain natural resources.

We'll find out how communities are balancing development with conserving the landscape.

[upbeat music] ♪ - [Announcer] "ncIMPACT" is a PBS North Carolina Production in association with the University of North Carolina School of Government.

Funding for "ncIMPACT" is made possible by.

- [Announcer] Changing the course of people's lives, that's the impact UNC Health and the UNC School of Medicine work to deliver every day.

Our 40,000 team members across the state of North Carolina are committed to caring for you, our patients and communities, as well as educating the next generation of healthcare professionals.

Individually, we can do a little, but collectively, we can do a lot to create impact.