Building on a Legacy of Creativity: UNDERSTANDING AND EXPANDING THE CREATIVE ECONOMY OF THE NORTHEAST KINGDOM A Report to the Vermont Arts Council and the Vermont Creative Network Prepared by Melissa Levy, Community Roots Michael Kane Stuart Rosenfeld Stephen Michon, FutureWorks Julia Dixon December 21, 2018 This publication is the result of tax-supported funding from the USDA, Rural Development, and as such is not copyrightable. It may be reprinted with the customary crediting of the source. Funding for this project was also provided by the Vermont Community Foundation 2 Acknowledgements This report was prepared for the Vermont Arts Council and the Vermont Creative Network by a team of consultants working through Community Roots, LLC. The team consisted of Michael Kane, Michael Kane Consulting; Stuart Rosenfeld, formerly with RTS, Inc.; Melissa Levy, Community Roots; Julia Dixon; and Stephen Michon, formerly with FutureWorks. The report was co-authored by Kane, Levy, Rosenfeld, and Dixon. Pamela Smith copyedited and formatted the initial draft report. The primary sources of funding were grants from USDA Rural Development, the Vermont Community Foundation, and the Vermont Arts Council. The team worked closely with Amy Cunningham, Vermont Arts Council and Jody Fried, Catamount Arts. They helped the team understand the region, identified key individuals and companies, made the contacts needed to gather information, and generally supported the research process. Amy organized the Advisory Committee meetings and played a major role in organizing focus groups. The members of the Advisory Committee, which met three times and offered feedback at crucial junctures in the process were: • Scott Buckingham, Friends of Dog Mountain • Jennifer Carlo, Circus Smirkus • Evan Carlson, Lyndon Economic Development Task Force • Ben Doyle, USDA Rural Development • Ceilidh Galloway-Kane, WonderArts • Patrick Guckin, St. Johnsbury Academy • Annie Houston, Highland Center for the Arts • Jerry Johnson, League of Vermont Writers • Adam Kane, Fairbanks Museum • Joe Kasprzak, Town of St. Johnsbury • Jim Kisch, Passumpsic Savings Bank • Lynn Leimer, QNEK Productions • Abigail Long, Kingdom Trails Association • Isobel Marks, MAC Center for the Arts • Jim O’Reilly, The Wildflower Inn and Juniper's • Leanne Porter, Community College of Vermont • Gillian Sewake, Lyndon institute • Katherine Sims, Northeast Kingdom Collaborative • David Snedeker, Northeastern Vermont Development Association • Mack Varnum, the Foundry • Molly Veysey, Old Stone House Museum • Sarah Waring, Center for an Agricultural Economy • Amanda Weisenfeld, Northeast Kingdom Artisans Guild • Kevin Wiberg, Vermont Community Foundation • Steve Wright, Jay Peak Resort 3 Table of Contents PROLOGUE ............................................................................................................................ 6 I. THE SCALE OF THE CREATIVE ECONOMY ........................................................................... 10 A. Size of the Creative Economy .............................................................................................. 10 B. Segmenting Creative Industries ........................................................................................... 12 C. Measuring the Scale and Distribution of Creative industries .............................................. 12 D. Creative Occupations ........................................................................................................... 13 E. Convergence and Indirect Impacts ...................................................................................... 15 II. LOOKING BEYOND THE NUMBERS: THE SHAPE OF THE SEGMENTS ................................... 18 A. VISUAL ARTS & CRAFTS: The Wellspring of Creativity ........................................................ 20 B. CULTURE AND HERITAGE: Restoration and Preservation ................................................... 26 C. DESIGN: Embedding and Scaling Up Creativity ................................................................... 32 D. LITERARY ARTS AND PUBLISHING: The Art and Business of the Written Word ................. 37 E. PERFORMING ARTS: Showcasing Creativity ........................................................................ 43 F. SPECIALTY FOOD & CULINARY ARTS: Giving Meaning to Eating ......................................... 49 G. FILM AND MEDIA: Projecting and Distributing Creativity ................................................... 55 III. SUPPORT FOR THE CREATIVE ECONOMY ........................................................................ 60 A. Associations and Networking .............................................................................................. 61 B. Education and Training: Developing Creative Talents ......................................................... 63 C. Festivals and Events: Temporary Assembly of the Arts ....................................................... 66 D. Places and Spaces ................................................................................................................ 69 E. Business and Technical Services .......................................................................................... 71 F. Financial Resources ............................................................................................................... 73 IV: GOALS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................. 77 V: CONCLUSION ………………………………………………..………………………………………………….…………… 88 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ 89 4 Table of Figures Figure 1: Size of the Creative Economy in the Northeast Kingdom in 2018 ................................. 11 Figure 2: Convergence among clusters ........................................................................................ 16 Figure 3: Distribution of Employment by Segment ...................................................................... 18 Table of Tables Table 1: Jobs in Creative Industries by Segment and Type of Employment, 2017 ....................... 13 Table 2: 15 Largest Creative Occupations in Region in 2017 ....................................................... 14 Table 3: The Region’s Seven Creative Industry Segments, with Numbers of Commonly Related Occupations .................................................................................................................................. 15 Table 4: Employment for the Visual Arts and Crafts Segment ..................................................... 20 Table 5: Visual Arts Organizations ............................................................................................... 23 Table 6: Employment for the Culture and Heritage Segment ...................................................... 26 Table 7: Employment by Type and Sub-Segment for the Design Segment .................................. 32 Table 8: Employment for the Literary Arts Segment ................................................................... 37 Table 9: Employment for the Performing Arts Segment .............................................................. 43 Table 10: Examples of Community Theater .................................................................................. 46 Table 11: Sub-Dividing the Specialty Food and Culinary Arts Segment ....................................... 49 Table 12: Employment for the Film and Media Segment ............................................................. 55 Table 13: News Companies in the Region .................................................................................... 56 Table 14: Categories of the Creative Economy Support System ................................................. 60 Table 15: Examples of Membership Organizations in the Northeast Kingdom ........................... 61 Table 16: Examples of Statewide Associations ............................................................................. 62 Table 17: Forms of Arts and Design-Based Creative Career Development ................................. 63 Table 18: Examples of Festivals/Events in the Northeast Kingdom ............................................. 66 Table 19: Additional Examples of Venues ..................................................................................... 70 Table 20: Examples of Business, Entrepreneurial, and Technical Services .................................. 71 5 PROLOGUE Vermont’s three northeastern counties, while still among the poorest regions in the U.S., have changed remarkably since they were first labeled the Northeast Kingdom in 1949. John Gunther wrote in Inside U.S.A in 1947 that “Vermont was the only state in the union that … the industrial revolution never hit” and that Vermonters were particularly “suspicious of outsiders.” 1 The economy at that time was dominated by farming, logging, lumber mills, and sugar bushes, with a scattering of talented folk and fine artists, traditional musicians, and writers all making marginal incomes from their art. Here and there a philanthropic Vermonter invested in the region’s culture. The Fairbank Museum is the most prominent example. Founded in 1889 by industrialist Franklin Fairbanks, it has become a regional and national landmark. Modernization came slowly and was not always welcome by residents, but it came.2 The movie “Northern Borders” by local filmmaker Jay Craven, based on a book by local author Howard Frank Mosher, portrays very