6 minute read
A Boost for Boise’s Creative Scene
Flowers for J.J. Saldaña (2024) by Bobby Gaytan. PHOTO BY WYTSKE VAN KEULEN, COURTESY OF BOISE CITY DEPARTMENT OF ARTS & HISTORY
Report Shows Arts Contribute to Economic Success
BY ALAN HEATHCOCK
Boise is a vibrant town, expressive and inclusive, filled with public art and music venues, dance troupes, live theater, literature, culinary arts, architecture, photography, and film. Not to mention all the ways that these artistic disciplines intersect with the greater business community, with technology, and even with sports and politics.
Scoggin Capital Investment CEO Andrew Scoggin spoke recently at an event hosted by the Boise Metro Chamber. “Good art is healing, it is inspiring, it is challenging, it is heartbreaking, but also uplifting. Art immortalizes, art transports us, art renews us, and art, at its best, improves each person it touches,” he said.
So how exactly do we quantify it? The City of Boise has taken on the challenge to define and measure the health of creativity in our community through a collaboration between the city’s Department of Arts and History and the Office of the Mayor, called the Creative Economy Assessment. The report is a comprehensive review of the city’s Creative Economy (the sector of the economy that focuses on creative and artistic works), which not only details how the arts improve the quality of life for citizens through leisure and enjoyment, but also draws a correlation between the arts and economic vitality. By referencing data from a variety of sources, the report allows a qualitative analysis to be used to form policy recommendations for the city.
“I think we’re at a place right now where our city has never felt more vibrant,” said Sean Keithly, the City of Boise’s director of economic development. “We’re trying to help an ecosystem and build around uncommon intersections in our community where you have representatives from government agencies, arts organizations, and the private sector. It’s a spirit of helping people become invested in the community that will ultimately drive a network-based support structure for creatives and the arts.”
The Creative Economy Assessment validates Keithly’s assertion that Boise is doing well. Through sales, occupational, demographic, and location data, a Creative Vitality Index (CVI) score has been determined. Boise’s CVI score of 1.39 is 39% above the national average, 79% higher than the metropolitan area, and 136% higher than the state of Idaho at large. That score has remained steady over the past decade. Since 2012, creative industry sales have increased by 116%, with a 20.33% increase in creative jobs, which make up 6.3% of all employment in Boise.
A Creative Economy with a robust CVI score suggests a place with cultural/artistic amenities that improve quality of life, but also is indicative of economic growth and vitality. To be able to give qualitative data that highlights the importance of the Creative Economy at large and be able to drill down into the data to find what’s working well and what needs improvement, can be employed as a tool of advocacy when policy decisions are being made.
Tilly Bubb, cultural planner for the City of Boise’s Department of Arts and History, who wrote her PhD dissertation on the Creative Economy, said, “One of the primary things that blocks policies that support the Creative Economy is politics. An elected official who doesn’t understand the Creative Economy, or has a preconceived notion about what art is, might block a policy. The CVI is data to help us understand conditions and how the Creative Economy stands up against other industries. It demonstrates the value of investing resources in this area as a city.”
Bubb is cautiously optimistic about the health of the city’s Creative Economy. “In terms of the number of arts organizations, and the number of creatives at work, Boise is doing well,” Bubb said. “But it feels precarious to me. We need to stay vigilant. We’re about to launch three surveys that will go into arts organizations, individual artists, and the general public, to try and evaluate how we’re doing. We need more feedback.”
Sean Keithly agrees that though data suggests Boise’s Creative Economy is doing well, more work can be done. “There are many success stories,” he said. “Idaho Film Society and Treefort Music Festival to name a couple. But at the same time, we need a broader base of support that will ultimately be part of future success stories. We need to do a better job of bringing people together to keep the Creative Economy thriving.”
Scoggin, and others like him, are dedicated to doing their part. “We are committed to investing both capital and time in supporting a thriving arts community in Boise and the Treasure Valley because we know the value, both personally and economically, in such investments. We want to continue to join with the many others in this community who also see this value in living in a place that is highly livable, vibrant and full of life,” he said.
To help the City of Boise understand how they can better serve the creative community and galvanize that crackling artistic energy that makes Boise a great place to live, take a few minutes to fill out the Cultural and Creative Industries Community Survey at: boiseartsandhistory.org.
