Comprehensive plan aims to support Delaware's creative economy: Open Call
What role did the arts play for you personally during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns?
Did you turn to the work of individual writers, visual, or performing artists across television, movies, online and other mediums for entertainment and well-being?
Did you rely on programming from Delaware organizations like museums, theaters, community groups, restaurants and other venues for creative ways to unite us?
I did.
Witnessing this innovation and resilience of the arts and culture sector made me proud not just as a performing artist and patron of the arts myself, but as a Delawarean. For a small state, Delaware boasts a long list of artistic and cultural assets, and yet, we have not begun to gain broader recognition of their full potential.
In nearly one year in my role as executive director of the Delaware Arts Alliance (DAA), the nonprofit advocacy organization that serves as the unifying voice for the arts in our state, I have spoken to creatives from all backgrounds including individual artists, nonprofits organizations, for-profit creative businesses, and arts educators. They often feel underappreciated, undervalued and relegated to their own island. Yet, they feel hopeful that emerging from the pandemic provides an opportunity to position the creative economy as a key strategy for addressing other economic, social and policy issues in Delaware including attracting and retaining residents, workers, and visitors to the state.
In pursuit of this, and recognizing the profound connection among the arts, tourism and economic development, the Delaware Arts Alliance has embarked on an ambitious endeavor — the creation of a comprehensive plan to grow and support the creative economy through intentional policy change and investment.
Delaware’s “Creative Economy and Cultural Tourism Recovery and Growth Plan” will be the first project in the nation to deliver a unified vision and actionable policy agenda that aligns not only the entire arts and culture sector, but also state, county and local levels of government.
With funding from the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) Travel, Tourism & Outdoor Recreation program awarded by Governor John Carney and the Delaware Division of Small Business, the DAA will, over the course of the next year:
Produce an interactive, publicly available GIS map of Delaware’s creative economy;
Perform an economic impact study
Create comprehensive recovery plans for Delaware statewide, all three counties, and in select Opportunity Zones (Wilmington, Middletown, Smyrna, Dover, Milton, and Georgetown)
A series of community focus groups, surveys, and meetings summer-fall of 2023 will inform the direction of the project to ensure we hear from Delawareans from all backgrounds.
We know tourists and Delawareans alike seek authentic and immersive experiences, ranging from visiting museums, historical sites, and film and music festivals to partcipating in art exhibitions and performances. By supporting individual artists and organizations that make up the creative economy, Delaware can tap into a powerful engine of innovation, job creation, and community development.
We can bolster Delaware's tourism industry and overall economic recovery, and address pressing community issues from housing to health to education.
Learn more and get involved at www.delawareartsalliance.org/creaveeconomy.
Complete our survey by Oct 15th to help inform the development of this plan: delivr.com/2es2u.
Neil Kirschling is executive director of Delaware Arts Alliance.
Season of Shakespeare: An exciting fall and a leadership change at Delaware Shakespeare: Open Call
Say yes to the dress: Winterthur honors Ann Lowe, unsung designer of Jackie Kennedy's wedding dress
Hip-hop summit: Delaware lures hip-hop icons Young Guru, Grandmaster Caz & more to new cultural summit
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware Arts Alliance aims to supporting creative economy
