This is from my policy brief on boosting Boston’s Creative Economy
According to the Creative Economy Report 2008, presented by the United Nations, trade involving creative goods and services rose dramatically each year between 2000 and 2005. Creative services, in particular, increased 8.8% annually between 1996 and 2005. These upward trends were evident in all global regions and are expected to continue to rise.
Our city and our Mayor are not doing enough to foster economic growth amongst our populations of artists and commercial gallery owners. These artists and galleries are moving out of our city at an alarming rate because we have not made it easy for them to make a living. My Creative Economy brief cites how numerous cities and neighborhood development groups are encouraging artists to move into homes vacated by the foreclosure crisis by creating incentives like low rents and mortgages, as well as offers of creative control over renovation projects.
In Paducah, Kentucky the new artists that have relocated to the neighborhood as a result of housing incentives have helped funnel an estimated $35 million into the local economy. We need to institute similar policies in our city and begin to view the arts sector as a resource that we can use to help balance our city’s budget.
Our city actually hosted the 2007 and 2009 Conference on International Opportunities in Arts and participants traveled from all over the world to serve as presenters and visitors of Boston. Mayor Menino did not even attend the conference. This conference is the only one of its kind in the U.S. and has consistently been a missed opportunity for our city, and specifically our Mayor, to personally welcome these participants, showcase the City’s cultural assets, and participate in much needed conversations about how Boston and its international partners must better support its artists and grow its creative economy.
In tough economic times like these, we need to embrace new and different ways of bringing in revenue to our city.
Michael Flaherty
Candidate for Mayor of Boston
Politicians could help artists best by raising the incomes and buying power of local residents who see our art the most. Too much of the art economy here is based on universities and public grants, and that’s about “who you know”. The population of the city is generally too poor or has a stagnant state/city worker income.
If Mr. Flaherty thinks it was remiss of the Mayor not to attend the 2007 and 2009 conferences, then why didn’t he attend himself?
As someone who worked on and during the conference, I know that the mayor was formally invited in 2007 and for 2009. In both cases neither the mayor nor anyone in his cabinet chose to attend. In fact in 2007 he felt attending a softball game was a higher priority.
In the case of Michael Flaherty, he was not officially invited to the conference and only recently found out about the conference from several artists who were very upset neither the Mayor nor any one from his cabinet attend the conference.