Maine Issues Guide for the Creative Economy

Maine Gov. Mark Baldacci has unveiled a new handbook intended to help communities to capitalize upon their cultural resources to spur economic growth. Maine’s Creative Economy Community Handbook: Maine State Government Resources for Communities offers advice for community leaders interested in building a creative and dynamic workforce. The guidelines it gives for designing a strategic plan could benefit communities across the country interested in similar initiatives.

The handbook is the result of two years of work by Maines Creative Economy Steering Committee following a 2004 conference on the future of the state economy. The study was requested after it was reported that the creative economy was generating $6.6 billion annually in cultural tourism dollars. The committee has drawn upon the work of Richard Florida, who has theorized that networks of educated and entrepreneurial citizens lead to dynamic local economies.

The state’s Creative Economy Council estimates that 8.3 percent of Maine’s workforce is made up of creative workers. These workers include artists, artisans, engineers, entrepreneurs and researchers. In Maine, this group has an average income 33 percent higher than the rest of the workforce. Florida and other theorists have described this creative class of workers as a decisive factor in determining regional success.

The University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Policy has developed the handbook’s most useful tool for communities in other states, a section entitled "Ten Building Blocks of the Creative Economy" that gives economic development groups a starting point to assess and cultivate their creative resources. These building blocks represent vital qualities of a growing creative economy. Each is accompanied by a series of questions, which can illuminate a regions creative strengths.

The Muskie School has assembled these blocks into a model of creativity-led sustainable growth. Two qualities, time and money, are "enhancers," elements that build on a community’s pre-existing strengths. With time and money, regions can become more attractive to highly-skilled and creative workers by building upon pre-existing "assets." Creative people, centers of education, cultural/natural amenities, business engagement, and infrastructure are the foundations of the creative economy. They are linked by "connectors," such as leadership, networks and strategies, which determine the availability of enhancers and lead to the effective use of assets. Together, these building blocks can be used to design strategic assessments and plans based on attracting a creative workforce.

To read Maine’s Creative Economy Community Handbook: Maine State Government Resources for Communities, visit: http://www.econdevmaine.com/resources/default.asp

Links to this report and more than 4,000 additional TBED-related research reports, strategic plans and other papers can be found at the Tech-based Economic Development (TBED) Resource Center, jointly developed by the Technology Administration and SSTI, at: http://www.tbedresourcecenter.org/.

Copyright State Science & Technology Institute 2006. Redistribution to all others interested in tech-based economic development is strongly encouraged. Please cite the State Science & Technology Institute whenever portions are reproduced or redirected.