For Immediate Release: August 24, 2008
Contact: Jeff Morgan
Public Relations
515.281.3858
Jeff.Morgan@iowa.gov
Local arts leaders discuss impact of creative economy on business relationships
(DES MOINES, Iowa)— Local leaders gathered in Des Moines last week for a working session to identify priorities and possibilities for creating a new collaborative network between the Des Moines area’s arts and business communities.
The Iowa Arts Council hosted the session at Azalea Restaurant & Lounge in downtown Des Moines as a follow-up to its June event, “Cultural Leadership: New Frameworks for the Changing Face of America.” Both events were part of the MetLife Foundation National Arts Forum Series, a program of the Arts & Business Council of Americans for the Arts.
“Arts organizations in Des Moines – especially some of the larger ones – have had very strong relationships with corporations and businesses in terms of event sponsorships and other areas of financial support,” IAC Administrator Mary Sundet Jones said. “But the increasing influence of the creative economy brings new possibilities for connections. This group was exploring possibilities for ways in which individual artists, smaller arts organizations, small businesses and corporate professionals might develop a formalized network that can truly be mutually beneficial.”
The June forum, a public event, featured keynote speaker, author and cultural analyst Patricia Martin, whose theory says that “RenGen,” short for “Renaissance Generation,” is a cultural movement created by the confluence of art, education, entertainment and business that has as its center a powerful new player: the cultural consumer.
It defines a growing stratum of Americans who thrive on information and ideas to fuel their creativity and shows how it will drive the next wave of innovation. Most importantly, the RenGen is a way of seeing how the issue of diversity has evolved from statistics and quotas to a new reality reflected in this new trend that crosses race, class, age and ethnicity.
The June forum participants concluded Des Moines is in need of a trusted, effective, efficient, and easily-identifiable mechanism designed to bridge the divide between those offering opportunities and those willing, able, and eager to seize them.
Arts organizations and individual artists may need business or marketing counsel and assistance, but they also provide something the for-profit sector needs – access to the cultural consumers who buy the services produced by business.
The consensus was that a mechanism of this type – if successfully developed and implemented – would be broadly supported and utilized; thus, addressing ways to satisfy this need was identified as the immediate top priority and the logical primary focus of the second forum.
Participants included leaders from Metro Arts Alliance, BRAVO Greater Des Moines, the Iowa Chapter of the American Marketing Association, Young Professionals Connection and others. Gary Steuer, executive director of Americans for the Arts’ Arts & Business Council, attended and provided information about models in other states and possible mechanisms to consider.
Participants agreed to discuss the concept within their own organizations, and to begin identifying where and how a new, formalized network might take root in the Des Moines area. More information will be announced as it becomes available.
The forum was made possible through the support of MetLife Foundation and was part of the Arts & Business Council of Americans for the Arts’ MetLife Foundational National Arts Forum Series.
###
The Iowa Arts Council is a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and works to enrich the quality of life for Iowans through support of the arts. Funding for the Iowa Arts Council and its programs is provided by the State of Iowa and the National Endowment for the Arts. Please visit www.iowaartscouncil.org for more information.