PROFILE—The Creative Economy in Anson and Stanly Counties

THE CREATIVE ECONOMY

The creative sector within a larger economy primarily is concerned with firms and workers that produce and/or distribute products and services for which the aesthetic, intellectual, and emotional engagement of the consumer represents the chief component of value for those goods and services in the marketplace.

CREATIVE ECONOMY ASSETS—A SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

A community’s creative economy assets are the support infrastructure that helps develop and nurture an overall environment in which creative businesses and skilled labor markets succeed and flourish. These creative assets may include local and regional organizations, institutions, and physical spaces, as well as formal events and informal social networks. The presence of a robust support infrastructure often is a key factor determining why established businesses choose to locate in the local area, why entrepreneurial small ventures start up and eventually succeed, and why people with desirable talents and skills choose to live and work in a particular community.

The value of this creative economy support system is far greater than the number of people it employs or the income it produces. For example, formal and informal forums for associating, networking, and sharing ideas help stimulate and spread positive images about a particular community. Public and private schools and personal instruction help develop the next generation of creative people and enterprises as well as better-informed consumers of creative products. Planned events—festivals, fairs, exhibits, and shows— operate as marketplaces for creative goods. Some creative and cultural goods are placebased, tied to specific locations. Finally, creative enterprises always need resources, whether financial, technical, or business.

The ultimate strength of the creative economy is tied in large part to the quality and quantity of the social and support infrastructure, or community assets that support it.

CREATIVE EMPLOYMENT

Creative enterprises are an important part of the overall economy in any place. Creative employment—in both creative and non-creative enterprises—typically hovers at about 3 or 4 percent of the overall employment in both urban and rural areas.

In fact, that’s exactly the case here. The creative sector in this two-county region is made up of more than 100 different industries encompass a diverse range of creative endeavors. These firms and organizations employ 1500 jobs, which are just over 4 percent of the region’s total workforce of almost 36,000 jobs, measured in the fourth quarter of 2010.

So those 1500 jobs are nearly comparable to the 1600 jobs in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting. It’s more than in the wholesale trade or real estate, rental, and leasing. And it’s more than twice the number of jobs in wood products manufacturing or textiles and apparel manufacturing.

Keep in mind here that we’re talking about the full spectrum of creative employment. That includes self-employment, including part-time income that makes a difference at the margin, small businesses, non-profits, and larger companies, even manufacturing firms, which use creative workers.

Creative employment numbers typically represent an undercount, because not all creative employment shows up in the NAICS codes that the government uses to track specific employment. A potter, for example, might show up under industrial ceramics, but you wouldn’t necessarily know from the NAICS codes which ones are working artists.

Creative jobs are often more resilient than other types of employment, surviving and sometimes even thriving in the cyclical ups and downs that affect every economy.

From 2002 to 2008, employment in creative industries grew by eight percent. During that same time period, growth rates for all jobs in the region remained completely flat—meaning, they grew ZERO percent. Actually, Stanly County added just over 400 jobs during that time, while Anson County lost about 450.

Moreover, many jobs in the creative economy tend to be based locally and not tied to footloose corporations that are always in search of the next best tax incentive or lower wages. As such, they are less likely to be outsourced to other places.

Plus, creative jobs tend to pay better wages than other jobs—say, those based on chiefly physical labor. That’s because manufacturing firms today—as well as other kinds of businesses, including service sector companies—depend upon creativity, design, and innovation as a chief source of their competitive advantage.

In today’s economy, many workers whose jobs may not be categorized as overtly “creative” also need to use higher-order thinking skills—both creative and analytical skills—to perform their jobs well. They often need to function more autonomously, too, making immediate decisions without consulting their supervisor.

So the infrastructure that we develop to cultivate a more creative workforce actually has to address this need for higher-order thinking skills—balancing both left and right-brain skills—among a much broader spectrum of our workers than ever before.

THE REGIONAL ECONOMY—A BROADER VIEW

Even though in this project we chiefly are concerned with creative enterprises and with creative workers who are employed in other, non-creative firms, the creative economy of any place or region is inextricably linked to and interdependent with other sectors of the local economy—well beyond what one might more narrowly describe as the creative economy.

First of all, the vitality of the creative economy is closely linked with and even partially overlaps a group of allied sectors. The closest one is tourism and hospitality. But not all tourism destinations involve the aesthetic, intellectual, and emotional qualities of the product or service offered. Even so, they’re closely linked. After all, tourists purchase a lot of souvenir artwork from local artists—if you can get them here to see it in the first place!

Some of the other sectors that are closely linked to the creative economy are:

• Tourism 

• Agriculture and Food (Culinary arts and farmers markets) 

• Lifestyle and Wellness (Healing art and wellness clinics, yoga and acupuncture) 

• Construction (architecture and landscaping) 

• Science and Technology (Web design, computer gaming and simulation) 

• Consumer products (Fashion and Design)

The influence of the creative economy also is felt in additional economic sectors beyond just these we’ve just named as closely allied sectors. As author Richard Florida has pointed out, businesses that are considering a decision to relocate a particular place often seek the kinds of amenities that one typically finds within a vibrant creative economy.

Finally, a strong local and creative economy ties into the emerging trend toward buying local products and services, purchasing food grown or produced locally, and dining at restaurants that served meals prepared from food sourced locally and even featuring dishes inspired by traditional recipes drawn from the area’s cultural heritage.