Much Interest Shown
In 'Creative Economy'
By M. D. Drysdale

Joining in Tuesday night's forum concerning Creative Economies was Randolph furniture-maker David Hurwitz (foreground), as Rex Bence of the Three Bean Caf‚, and Diana Salyer of Underground Center for the Arts, listen in. (Herald / Bob Eddy)

In the childhood story of "The Three Little Pigs," two of the three don't come off very well. They're creative types; one plays the fiddle and one the flute. They are frivolous and lousy homebuilders who have to be rescued from the Big Bad Wolf by their brick-mason brother.

If this is what happens to creative pigs, why would anyone want to live in a Creative Community?

But about 60 people turned out Tuesday evening at Gifford Medical Center affirming that yes, Randolph wants to be a creative community, as defined by a new program of the Vermont Council on Rural Development.

And the story they heard from VCRD Director Paul Costello and Creative Communities program director Helen Labun Jordan was just the opposite of the children's tale.

Creative communities, Costello and Jordan said, are economic success stories. They are towns with a future.

In other words, the fiddle players and photographers and writers and poets and artists provide an economy that gives plenty of work to the stone masons and carpenters and service stations and general stores.

If you've got them, you want to keep them around. If you don't, you want to find them.

Such a town becomes "a place for a young entrepreneur to want to move to, a town on the move that 20-somethings will want to move to," he said.

Vermont's Creative Community program has identified nine Vermont towns and cities that want to position themselves in such a way that they benefit from the creative economy, Costello said. And there have been important success stories already:

Brandon has thrived partly because of its visual artists.

Vergennes has sprung to life following the resurrection of its old opera house.

Once-decrepit Bellows Falls has flowered because of several arts-oriented enterprises.

And Randolph, Costello noted, is "already way ahead of a lot of towns."

Core Hope for Future

Facilities such as the Chandler Center for the Arts, he emphasized as an example, are "not just a nice thing to have—they are the core future hope for a town's prosperity."

The interest in that vision was clear from the beginning by the sheer numbers of people who crowded into Gifford's conference room, and by the number of organizations represented. They included the town government, the Chamber of Commerce, RACDC, the schools, the Boys & Girls Club, Rotary, Vermont Technical College, and both performing artists and visual artists associated with Chandler.

Randolph's 'Assets'

After the inspirational opening, most of the meeting was devoted to a list of "assets" that may help Randolph become more of a "creative community."

After a long and enthusiastic rendering of such assets, Costello pronounced himself overwhelmed.

"You guys have everything here," he responded.

In fact, as a couple of speakers made clear, the main problem for Randolph may be to find focus that is narrow enough to serve as a "brand" while respecting the wide variety of creative interests in town.

Randolph may not want to consider itself another Brandon or Woodstock, noted Julie Iffland of the RACDC. "There's an integration between life styles here, it's something I'd hate to lose," she sathe id.

Starting process of analysis will be the job of Helen Labun Jordan, who will distill her notes of the meeting in time for a second meeting on March 1. She will be assisted by the local committee already established under the leadership of Sharon Rives of Braintree.

The list of creative assets in the general Randolph area included:

A considerable concentration of artists with "at least five art galleries," a large and accomplished musical community, a strong volunteer ethic, a respect for the needs of children and young people, a Boys & Girls Club, Vermont Technical College, Gifford Medical Center, being a regional center, the Stagecoach, The Herald, the RACDC, a thriving church community, a golf course and other great recreation opportunities, Kimball Library, Chandler, the Tecnhical Career Center, a strong agricultural segment, including food providers, good Victorian architecture, "sheer physical beauty," an active Chamber of Commerce, Garden Club and Rotary, a strong municipal government including a police force, a regular movie theater and a drive-in, a bookstore, the Underground Arts Center, and an active senior center.

"It's a thousand points of light, all right," Costello said. "Now let's figure out how to work together."

In other words, let's see what a fiddling pig, a fluting pig, and a stone mason pig can accomplish together.