Americans for the Arts just announced a new study, some new findings, and a new mapping tool that seek to define the number and location of ‘creative industries’ in the United States, and how they cluster in cities, states, and towns. The study and mapping tool combine Dun & Bradstreet data and geo-economic analysis to draw conclusions (and pretty scatter maps) about a broader bucket of ‘creative’ organizations, from both the nonprofit and for-profit world. Says the press release:
The creative industries are composed of arts-centric businesses, institutions, and organizations that range from museums, symphonies, and theaters to film, architecture, and advertising companies. Nationally, creative industry businesses number 548,000 (4.3 percent of all U.S. businesses) and they employ 2.99 million people (2.2 percent of all employees). The creative industries also provide the essential fuel that drives the ‘information economy’ — the fastest growing segment of the nation¹s economy.
Sure to ensue is a series of local and regional articles on the massive importance of creative industries — broadly defined — in city and state economies. The Denver Post is already on board in this regard.
The numbers and maps are fascinating bits of information, and sure to be useful tools in government arts advocacy efforts (especially since the maps can be drawn by congressional district, city, or any other political zone desired). But as with all such rankings and numberings, the conclusions fall short of showing causality, or suggesting a policy response (we’ve got a bunch of creative industries in our region…is that good? would more be better? would less be better? do we have more advertising firms, movie theaters, or symphonies than a comparable city? do we care?).
A resolution passed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors (coordinated with the release of the new study) seeks to connect these dots a bit (creative industries attract a quality workforce, are rooted locally but exported internationally, encourage cultural tourism, etc.). But we’re still strugging to figure the mix and balance of creative activity in a community that really gets us there (nonprofit/for-profit, professional/amateur, incorporated/informal, ‘high’ art/popular, etc.).
An essential next step is to move beyond counting the number and species of fish, and to start understanding how they all interconnect and relate within a vital ecology.
For the rankings addicts, the metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of creative industries were New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island and Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County. When measured for creative industries per capita, Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton and San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose jumped to the top of the list.
