Resources

Creative Economy

Increased investment in the creative sector will help grow and stabilize Wisconsin’s creative economy, workforce, and communities. Wisconsin’s arts and cultural assets are more important than ever to revitalize the economy, develop a 21st century workforce and incubate, attract and retain talent, provide opportunities for all, and help our communities, large and small, thrive.

General Resources

The Arts and Creative Economy: 21st Century Growth for Wisconsin

A report on the state of the arts and creative economy in Wisconsin

Wisconsin Creative Industries

Wisconsin’s creative sector is a $11.9 billion industry, according to the US Department of Commerce and National Endowment for the Arts, encompassing over 89,000 jobs - more jobs than the state’s beer, biotech and papermaking industries.

Arts and Economic Prosperity VI

A comprehensive economic impact study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry conducted in Wisconsin 2018-2023 by the Wisconsin Arts Board and Americans for the Arts. The Arts and Economic Prosperity 6 study reveals that Wisconsin's nonprofit arts and culture industry generated $933.3 million in economic activity in 2022. That economic activity - $437.1 million in spending by nonprofit arts and culture organizations and $496.2 million in event-related spending by their audiences - supported 15,851 jobs and generated $190.1 million in local, state, and federal government revenue. Spending by arts and culture audiences generates valuable commerce to local merchants, a value-add that few other industries can claim.

America’s Creative Economy

Research from October 2015 on creative economies across America – especially focused on how regions and organizations conceptualize and track that segment of their local economy that fosters and taps imagination, creativity, and innovation to create and deliver goods, products, and services.

Culture Track

The largest national study focused exclusively on the ever-changing attitudes and behaviors of U.S. cultural consumers

Arts and Creativity in Education

Research on the value of arts and creativity in education.

Toolkits

Rural Prosperity through the Arts and Creative Sector

Toolkit produced in 2019 by the National Governors Association, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

Arts and Culture Toolkit

Created by the regional planning unit for seven Chicago counties to help municipalities incorporate art and culture into their planning.

Cultural Mapping Toolkit

Reviews mapping as a valuable first step in generating new perspectives and preparing the ground for effective cultural planning. From the 2010 Legacies Now and the Creative City Network of Canada.

Cultural Planning Toolkit

An overview of key characteristics of a good cultural plan and a step-by-step guide to getting there.

The Creative Community Builder’s Handbook: How to Transform Communities Using Local Assets, Arts and Culture

Produced by Tom Borrup in 2006. Assesses 20 arts-centered community development projects and provides a step-by-step guide to building the economic, social, civic, and physical infrastructure of communities through the arts.

Effective Community Arts Development: Fifty Years, Fifty Tips

Maryo Gard Ewell “reminds us of where we’ve been, what we’ve learned along the way, and how to best equip ourselves for securing the future of the arts in America through effective community arts development by local arts agencies nationwide.”

Community Cultural Planning: A Guidebook for Community Leaders

Outlines five steps to developing a cultural plan and provides profiles of seven communities and their plans, and recommendations for effective planning.

The Arts in the Small Community

By Maryo Gard Ewell and Michael F. Warlum, 2006. An updated version of the plan developed in the 1960s, follows up on the original five test communities and adds contemporary examples.

A Toolkit for Starting a Non-Profit Gallery

From the Macon Arts Alliance of Macon, GA. Based on their experience running The Gallery, a community-driven arts space, this toolkit helps prospective gallerists think through their conceptual and practical needs.

Conducting a Community Cultural Assessment, Volume I

Outlines a three-phase process to collect data and opinions, develop a summary profile, and draw conclusions and develop recommendations.

Developing a Strategic Cultural Plan: Volume II

Leads the reader through the process of creating a plan, including leadership, budget, timelines, community involvement, and evaluation.

Inspiration

Do Schools Kill Creativity?

A TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson, TED Talk, 2007

New Pathways in Times of Uncertainty

By Ben Cameron, Arizona State University, 2010

Why the arts are the great underappreciated engine of the economy

By Benjamin Wolff, Forbes, March 19, 2019

Creative Placemaking gains a foothold nationally, must address critical needs to earn widespread adoption

Kresge Foundation, August 1, 2018

The Future of the Great Lakes Region

A report from the Urban Institute, March 2017, provides policy and philanthropic strategies and a comprehensive analysis of recent economic, demographic, and social trends in the region, coupled with projections on how those trends will play out between now and 2040.

Cultural and Heritage Tourism

U.S. Cultural & Heritage Tourism Marketing Council and the U.S. Department of Commerce

Cultural Tourism white paper

Americans for the Arts, 2014

Thriving Arts: Thriving Small Communities

Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, St. Paul, MN:

Creative Economic Development

Essential creative economy data and curated resources from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA)

Culture and Commerce: Traditional Arts in Economic Development

A review of 8 cultural projects by The Urban Institute

The Orange Economy (La Economía Naranja: Una oportunidad infinita)

Introduced key concepts and areas of debate around the creative economy, by the Inter American Development Bank

Creative Economy Report 2013 Special Edition

A special edition report focusing on the creative economy at the local level in developing countries by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Community Character

A report by the American Planning Association on how arts and cultural strategies create, reinforce, and enhance the sense of place

Association for Visual Arts

Connects artists and communities to support aspiring artists