There is a new phenomenon in the economic development world that warrants attention: talented workers are increasingly looking for a place to live before looking for a job. Furthermore, talent driven companies are increasingly interested in a community’s arts and cultural profile as they consider opening or moving offices. The result is more attention is being given to communities’ arts and cultural resources.

Although the arts have had longstanding ties to power and wealth, this public mixing of arts and economic development is still new. Nevertheless, it is becoming increasingly clear that the arts can be a powerful economic development tool – growing a region’s economy by enhancing quality of life, drawing a new workforce and attracting new businesses.

To ensure Johnson County remains a community of choice in this changing economic development world, the Arts Council of Johnson County is taking a leadership role in exploring arts policy and advocacy initiatives that will raise the arts profile of both suburban Johnson County and it’s metropolitan Kansas City area.

The arts have a long history of enhancing quality of life. At the same time there is increasing evidence that the arts are vital to many regions’ economic development.

REGIONAL IDENTITY
The arts can define a region’s identity, an identity that creates a sense of place for residents while also attracting tourists. Kansas City’s arts identity has been enhanced recently with the new Bloch Building and Nerman Museum. When the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts opens in 2 years that image will be further enhanced.

NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION
Locally, a thriving arts “community” can help revitalize neighborhoods such as the Crossroads District in downtown Kansas City. Unused commercial buildings make perfect inexpensive spaces for artists’ studios. Next galleries, restaurants, bars and boutiques follow restoring once vacant or rundown buildings and bringing new visitors to the neighborhood.

RETAINING & ATTRACTING TALENT DRIVEN COMPANIES AND WORKERS
In turn, such amenities help attract talented workers and companies with high paying jobs. In the end, the arts are becoming integral to regional economic development: drawing tourists, rebuilding once dilapidated neighborhoods, employing a growing artistic workforce and attracting creative people and companies.

The Arts Council of Johnson County, KS, is on the leading edge of ensuring the arts are a part of the future economic development of suburban Johnson County, KS and metropolitan Kansas City.

The agency’s primary initiative over the last four years has been an annual arts and economic development symposia. The annual symposia have:

• championed and advocated for more public art programs that help define the metro area through their scale and excellence,
  
• explored the economic development implications of people increasingly choosing a place to live before seeking a job,
  
• analyzed public funding issues for the arts as they relate to Johnson County and the metropolitan area, and
  
• explored building a museum of suburbia and policy institute in partnership with the Johnson County Museum and The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.

At the heart of each symposium is a community dialogue that is followed by additional symposia and/or advocacy as appropriate. Recently, the Council was the lead advocate for a Johnson County Government 1% public art program. With help of over 200 individuals, the Board of County Commissioners established the program in December 2006 and it is now commissioning work.

View Video Clips from the March 2008 Arts and Economic Development Symposium

Americans for the Arts

NGA Center for Best Practices: The Role of the Arts in Economic Development

RAND Corporation: Strategies for Sustaining Arts and Culture in the Metropolis

Smart Communities

The Artistic Dividend

The Creative Class – Richard Florida

The Kansas Arts Commission