Did you know that Hastings County has a creative rural economy? According to business data I’ve reviewed, about 1/3 of businesses in our County are part of the creative economy. These businesses are run by people paid to think and they earn higher salaries than other wage categories. Jobs in the creative rural economy are also set to grow by 40% over the next decade. It is driven by knowledge and innovation and includes science and engineering, architecture and design, education, arts, health and wellness, and entertainment. Their main function is to create new ideas, new technology and/or new creative content.
In rural communities, we have something that creative rural entrepreneurs want, and that’s “place”. They are attracted to our small quaint downtowns, our numerous bodies of water, our outdoor recreation opportunities, the countryside and so on and so forth.
We work to enhance our communities to attract even more to invest here and often communities have focused on the hard infrastructure improvements like parks, good restaurants, affordable properties, museums and cultural centres. These are all excellent and important.
But recently an Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO) Exchange Newsletter asked the question about whether we consider “good parties” as an attraction tool? The article uses the example of the bohemian social scene in New York which has thrived with its global leadership in fashion, art and music.
Urban planner Elizabeth Currid published a book titled The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art and Music Drive New York City and she argued in it that the parties and clubs in New York aren’t a sideshow, they actually help fuel economic prosperity. Economic prosperity depends not only on physical institutions and resources, but primarily on participation in a concentrated social community.
For example:
By hanging out in the same places, running into each other on the street and sharing ideas and news about creative projects under development – and getting to know each other, figuratively and biblically, through parties, gallery openings, music clubs and all manner of social events – creative artists in New York find opportunities and promote their products and skills in ways that no institutions can replicate.
The relevance to Hastings County and to rural economic development is Currid’s revelation “that continuous social interaction is the engine that powers cultural producers operating in a high-value cluster”. That is why our economic development office is planning some Creative Hastings networking events to take place across Hastings County in 2012.
The first Creative Hastings networking event is tentatively set (save the date) for March 21 at West Wings Espresso Bar and Book Store in Stirling. The second event is planned to take place in North Hastings. More details to come and we will post them here and on our Twitter and Facebook pages.
