Economic development...by design: Crafting a blueprint for New England's creative economy

New England Journal of Higher Education, The, Fall 2002 by Brett, James T

Crafting a Blueprint for New England's Creative Economy

During 2000, the New England Council found that the New England arts and culture sectors-nonprofits, for-profits and individual artists-provide jobs for 245,000 New Englanders, generate more than $4.4 billion in payroll alone and surpass other touted employment sectors such as biotechnology and computer software in numbers of jobs and growth potential. This so-called "creative economy" employs nearly 4 percent of the region's workers, on par with computer and communications hardware and significantly larger than health care technology's 1 percent. Moreover, from 1993 to 1997, the creative cluster added jobs in New England at a rate of 14 percent-surpassing the 8 percent growth in all jobs.

Within the creative economy, the council found a particularly vibrant design industry. Design-related firms employ 30,996 New Englanders from designers to administrative assistants. At the same time, thousands of other designers work outside the design industry.

Now, as the council's Creative Economy Initiative moves from economic impact study to blueprint for development, one area of focus is the design sector, The council has enlisted presidents of two leading New England colleges of design-Roger Mandle of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and Kay Sloan of the Massachusetts College of Art (Mass.Art)-to spearhead a sub-project focused more specifically on design. Earlier this year, they held their first meeting of representatives from the academic and business worlds. "It's really about bringing the players together who have common interests, but who may not be working together already," Sloan says.

Beyond visual arts

Mandle notes that design has long been an important industry in New England-and the basis of many other industries in the region going back to early furniture making, textiles, jewelry, clothing, shoes and more.

In the 19th century, New England was a major center for those businesses. The region produced few raw materials, but resourceful New England manufacturers would craft leather into shoes, for example, and buy cotton to turn it into fabric which would later be "designed" as clothing. Those New England industries depended on design for a competitive edge.

Printing and publishing, another longstanding New England industry, attracted graphic designers. Today, more than 3,700 graphic artists work in New England, according to the council's Creative Economy survey published in 2000.

In the second half of the 20th century, designers played a key role in the technology industries that developed around Route 128. Extensive scientific technology went into designing computers. Says Mandle of the computer development process: "Once the math is figured out, how a computer works and looks is a design issue."

While New York retains its distinction as the "design capital," the New England design sector is holding its own, according to Mandle. The Providence-Boston axis probably has a higher concentration of designers than any urban area its size.

Sloan says the competitiveness of New England's design industry is evident in the recent choice of Boston and San Francisco as the only two U.S. stops for visits from the British Design Council, the Danish Design Council and New Design Ireland. "They came to visit MassArt, RISD and some local design firms with the intention of visiting only two places in the United States," says Sloan. "These areas are seen as two important design centers in the United States and all of the colleges of art and design are in the thick of it."

Initiative goals

The design initiative aims to promote New England talent and resources nationally to attract business. "This might attract people from places like Chicago and Atlanta to utilize the services of the people in our area," says Mandle. "It will also serve to enhance the local reputation of our people."

The initiative also aims to instill in government a regional sense of responsibility to the enhancement of the design industry." Mandle envisions a regional conference of governors and economic development officers to examine how the states can work together to enhance regional design elements here and grow it even more.

As a first step, Mandle and Sloan are taking inventory of what is known about the region's design industry through local chapters of groups such as the American Institute of Architects, American Institute of Graphic Artists, Industrial Design Society of America and Graphic Artists Guild. They will then determine how a New England-wide initiative could add value.

Among other things, the initiative will provide a regional forum that brings people together and creates the critical mass needed to influence public policy in support of design and creative industries as significant factors in the New England economy, Sloan says.

Policy issues that may unite this group include funding for arts education in public schools. Studies have demonstrated that arts education helps students perform well in other subjects as well. Also, some communities have introduced tax incentives for artists to assist in the revitalization of downtown areas or inner-city neighborhoods. These types of public initiatives could become models for the region. "We want to bring groups together to understand how important design is to good business," says Sloan. "We don't want to just have designers talking to other designers. We want to have an ongoing and broader network."