Arts Can Enhance The Economy

On Tuesday, Jan. 30 cultural, educational, civic and business leaders from Central Vermont will gather to discuss how to make the Randolph area a "creative community."

Not that it isn’t already. But getting together to find new ways of taking advantage of our rich inventory of artists and cultural organizations to strengthen the region’s economy is a timely idea.

With assistance from the Vermont Council on Rural Development’s Creative Communities Program, 10 Vermont towns are establishing new economic opportunities for themselves through imaginative partnerships between cultural, commercial and community resources.

• Bellows Falls has, among other arts-related projects, taken a vacant and deteriorating piece of key downtown real estate, the Exner Block, and transformed it into affordable housing for artists, with galleries and other retail space below. This has been the centerpiece in a revitalization plan that is getting buildings back into productive use, one by one.

• The restoration of the Vergennes Opera House in the mid-nineties—and the VOH’s diverse and attractive programming—was the key to the town’s current economic turnaround. From empty storefronts and unsuccessful businesses Vergennes has become a dynamic community that supports full blocks of new shops and restaurants. In less than a decade local revenues have increased dramatically.

• The reason Burlington was cited as one of the nation’s five "most creative cities" (with Austin, San Francisco, Seattle and Boston) is that it has been unusually good at attracting and melding commercial and cultural resources. When last studied a decade ago, the city’s creative industries were already showing sales of $515 million, a payroll of $135 million and a total of 2,800 employees—and the city continues to be a favored location for artists and entrepreneurs.

Now it’s our turn. While the Randolph area’s economy may not be depressed, it could certainly benefit from being secured and strengthened. And, with some creative partnerships, the region’s already remarkable cultural life could be even more remarkable.

The January 30 public forum will be held from 6:30-9 p.m. at the Gifford Medical Center. If you can’t attend but want to receive notices of future meetings, please email your name and address to kenrives@sover.net.

Anthony Keller

Braintree

Member of the planning team, Randolph Area Culture, Community and Commerce initiative

____________