A story in the online magazine, Next City, details the path Berea, Kentucky, took to invest in its most prized local asset, its artists and the arts, to revitalize its local economy. The city made the decision to raise taxes, and then use the revenue generated to build up the local arts scene. The move has transformed the small town into the officially state-designated Arts and Crafts Capital of Kentucky, and has ushered in a new era of economic growth. New artists are opening galleries, local restaurants continue to move into old storefronts, and the population has been steadily increasing, while the unemployment rate decreases. From the story:
Since 2010, the population of the city has grown by nearly 12 percent, making it one of the fastest growing places in the state, according to census data compiled by the Kentucky State Data Center at the University of Louisville. Local officials say Berea’s population continues to grow at a rate of 8 percent, which matches that of Lexington, the state’s second-largest city. Many of the cities closer in size and geography to Berea are hollowing out as young people leave to find opportunity elsewhere. With new people and businesses moving in, the city’s unemployment rate is four percent, compared to a statewide rate of five percent and a rate of seven percent in nearby communities, 2016 Census Bureau data shows.
Berea has relied on partnerships to make this shift stick. The city worked with Berea Tourism, Berea College, the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development and the AIR Institute at Berea College to establish programs to help local artists learn business skills so they could open galleries and keep them open. They’ve also worked with artists to think differently about offering experiences as well as products to buy. It’s all added up to 10 years worth of work to rebuild a thriving economy for the 21st Century, in an era that behooves local places to think bigger abbot what is possible.
In this time of economic upheaval, when the future of work looks nothing like its past and job insecurity is ubiquitous in rural places, it’s worth cultivating best practices from any and all available sources. It just so happens that Eastern Kentucky can look to a neighboring small city that took a chance on the arts, and it paid off. (Read more)
