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Sunday, May 2, 2004
Drawing on the creative side of Maine
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An industrial designer in New York City, Douglas Green could have picked almost anywhere to start his own furniture manufacturing business. Without a second thought, he chose Maine. Green, a Bowdoin College graduate, felt Maine had a critical mass of talented craftspeople, as well as a reputation for workmanship and creative freedom. In 1994, he opened Green Design Furniture on Portland's Commercial Street. Today, Green has 14 employees and an expanding business that sells $4,000 dining-room tables, mostly to out-of-state customers. His business isn't unusual in Maine, Green said, just under-appreciated. "Entrepreneurial life in Maine is vibrant, but not organized," he said. "We don't have lobbyists." Green and those who say artists, designers and other creative professionals can make a larger contribution to Maine's economic health will have a forum on Thursday and Friday in Lewiston, at the first Blaine House Conference on Maine's Creative Economy. Green is scheduled to serve on one of the panels. A goal of the conference is to acknowledge and examine the factors that draw creative people to a place because that's where they want to live, not because specific jobs are available. Maine already receives significant benefits from the creative economy, according to new research that will be presented at the conference. At least 7,500 Mainers work directly in businesses that are centered in the cultural, fine or applied arts, according to Charles Colgan, a professor at the University of Southern Maine's Muskie School of Public Policy. Those jobs ranged from architects and landscape designers to jewelers, painters and dance school instructors. The sector paid $210 million in wages in 2002, comparable to the state's real estate sales and rental sector. In terms of employment, it was in line with the wood products industry. Viewed as a share of Maine's overall economy, direct arts employment and wages make up roughly 1 percent of total wages and jobs. But while the arts are the focus, some creative-economy advocates broaden the definition to include a host of technology positions. They make the case that computer-software designers, for instance, are drawn to communities with the cultural, educational and social amenities to support innovation. By adding job sectors such as information technology, advanced materials and composites, biotechnology and precision manufacturing to the mix, Colgan found that 56,000 Mainers are part of a creative economy that pays $2.3 billion a year in wages. By that wider definition, the technology side of the creative economy rivals health-care services - Maine's top employment sector - and accounts for 10 percent of total employment and 14 percent of total wages. A former state economist, Colgan used U.S. Department of Labor data to arrive at his conclusions. He acknowledged that not everyone will agree on the boundaries of the creative economy, and he expressed concern about limitations in the way government statistics capture employment. But while the measurements may be crude, Colgan said, the concept is valid. Maine should take steps to encourage its creative economy, he said, because it has a strong potential to grow. The upcoming conference is based largely on concepts championed by Richard Florida and his best-selling book, "The Rise of the Creative Class." He will be the keynote speaker at the conference. Florida, who has been a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, is a sought-after guru for cities seeking a fresh formula for economic development. He argues that quality of life, not the tax rate, is a bigger factor in attracting creative people and businesses. Access to bike paths and hiking trails, a vibrant night life, the presence of colleges and cultural diversity, he suggests, can do more to boost a city's economy than traditional development tools such as low taxes. Florida's formula is aimed mostly at urban areas, so one challenge of the conference will be to apply these principles to Maine's largely rural landscape. Beyond that, skeptics and detractors have attacked the underlying premises of the creative economy. An article this winter in City Journal, an urban public-policy magazine published by The Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, compared job growth in cities that ranked high on Florida's creative index, such as San Francisco, Austin and San Diego, with cities on the bottom of the list, such as Las Vegas and Oklahoma City. The article found job growth to be higher in cities ranked low by Florida. These criticisms are recognized within the administration of Gov. John Baldacci. Officials don't expect the creative economy to dominate future development in Maine. But the concept is intriguing enough that it's worth exploring, according to Jeff Sosnaud, deputy commissioner at the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development. And as Colgan's research indicates, Maine already has some of the underpinnings of the creative economy. "People have been doing this in Maine for years," Sosnaud said. "We just haven't put a label on it." The cultural amenities in Portland and Camden, for example, have long attracted creative professionals. Each has developed what advocates call a creative cluster, an overlapping presence of people, places, businesses and organizations. The Baldacci administration, Sosnaud said, is hoping the conference will help shape some strategies and policies for expanding these clusters into rural Maine. Although the conference has been promoted largely by the arts community, Sosnaud said registration indicates that many economic-development officials plan to attend. Interest has been so great, he said, that attendance has been capped at 600 people. Maine has a total of 600,000 workers who receive $17 billion a year in wages, according to Colgan's figures. The bulk of the $2.5 billion in wages generated by the expanded creative economy is in the state's three major urban areas, Portland, Bangor and Lewiston-Auburn. But Colgan also found that the county with the largest percentage of arts employment is Knox County, at 2.5 percent. Many of these jobs are tied to summer visitors who flock to museums, galleries and craft stores in the Camden and Rockland areas. One challenge for expanding the creative economy in Maine will be to replicate this environment in rural, inland communities. At the conference, Colgan and other researchers will present additional information about the creative economy and its potential. At Green Design Furniture, Douglas Green said the conference is coming at the right time. There's a growing backlash by consumers, he feels, to the flood of inexpensive, low-quality merchandise found at major retailers. The artisans and designers in Maine can tap into that trend. Green said he would like to see state government invest more in helping these businesses grow, as opposed to providing tax incentives to corporations that take much of their profits out of state. Green Design Furniture has outgrown its 9,000 square feet of leased manufacturing space. Green said he plans to move to a new factory in the Portland area in the next year or so. The creative economy conference, he said, may help raise the profile of successful businesses like his and what they need to grow. "It's a wise thing to be looking at this aspect of the economy," he said. "It's a natural fit for what's here already."
Staff Writer Tux Turkel can be contacted at 791-6462 or at:
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