A rt s Regional Arts: Leveraging the Arts and Artisans for Economic Development

The River Valley Region is rich in arts and culture, from local fine artists and musicians, to quilt making, distilling and craft brewing, to the famous Pasaquan site in Marion County. Artists and artisans are important assets to community and economic development, enriching locals’ lives and attracting tourists and young professionals to an area.

Economic development around the arts and artisan programming not only promotes a stronger, shared sense of identity, it also creates pride and a sense of place that attracts visitors and entrepreneurs. In their existing Comprehensive Plans and in focus group discussions, every community expressed the desire to preserve their specific local character. By supporting local arts and artisans, a community can capitalize on what makes it special while generating economic activity that allows the community to grow and prosper in a way that preserves that culture.

www.rivervalleyccd.com

The pink pins on the map represent arts assets in the region. Maps on the project website have zoomed-in views of the communities and icons representing visual arts, artisans, musicians, and cultural assets. These icons specify the following categories:

Arts Venues – These locations showcase artwork such as art centers, galleries, museums, and performance halls.

Public Art – Public art includes murals, sculptures, and structures that can be enjoyed in public spaces.

Festivals and Events – These sites host events and festivals that draw people to the region annually.

Drinks – These locations include major breweries, wineries, distilleries, and any other places where people enjoy drinks made in the region.

Food – Major restaurants and any other places where people enjoy food in the region

Artisans – Makers and crafters

Music – Live music venues

Other Arts Assets

The decentralized nature of the creative industries can benefit residents of areas often thought to lack economic strength, such as rural areas and the urban core. At the heart of the creative industries are individual artists who are typically well-connected to the communities where they reside. Linking these artists with entrepreneurial opportunities both inside and beyond their regions offers many economic development possibilities.

Nationally, the arts accounted for 4.2% of GDP or $876.7 billion in 2020.79 In Georgia, creative industries represent a combined $29 billion in revenue, including 200,000 jobs that provide a total of $8 billion in income.80 Many Georgia communities have had demonstrable success implementing arts programs as a major part of their economic development strategies.81

The River Valley Region has a long history with the arts and has hosted a number of successful arts events. The Taste of Richland & Market was an annual event in Richland, Georgia, highlighting artisans in the region before it was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic. The Phenix City Artpark, an outdoor gallery in Phenix City, Alabama, also lost traction after 2020. The Talbotton Blues Festival is a major event each year in Talbot County. While these and the numerous other events in the region were severely impacted by the pandemic in recent years, funding for the arts stayed fairly stable, and many funding opportunities exist to support individual artists and arts organizations and help revive or reinvigorate the arts economy in impacted areas.

The next section highlights a small sample of the well-known past and present-day artists and artisans that continue to shape this region. It then proposes initial steps communities can take to build on the region’s robust history of arts and culture and to leverage existing arts efforts, including those that may have existed prior to the pandemic, for economic rural development.

This plan has three primary elements:

1. Asset mapping, a process to identify current assets as well as visualize the assets in a regional context

2. Identifying local champions and encouraging collaboration between communities through a Regional Arts Partnership

3. Developing a strategy for collaboration and funding across the region to promote mutually supportive arts and artisans programming

RIVER VALLEY COMMUNITY COMPATIBLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT