SCC Communications Class assists in laying the Framework

Dana Chaney's Communications Class at Stanly Community College has taken on the class project of analyzing and mapping the agencies involved in economic development for the creative segment in Stanly and Anson. Students will be contacting a variety of agencies and non-profits to collect information such as their missions and current projects as well as the challenges they are currently facing in completing those projects.

There is a lot happening in the groups already involved in economic development. We want to make sure that this CASE initiative supports those projects already underway for economic development and initiates activities that actually enhance what is already happening.

Their report will be back on March 6th so stay tuned as we roll out information about what is already happening in our area and start the discussion on how to proceed.

Anson Singers Concert

Anson Singers Concert, Sunday, December 4

The Anson Singers, a choral group made up of people from throughout Anson County, will be in concert on Sunday, December 4 at 3:00 p.m., immediately preceding the Wadesboro Tour of Homes. The choir, conducted by Emily Litaker Privette, will sing a program of traditional Christmas music, both sacred and secular. The concert will be held in the First United Methodist Church of Wadesboro, and will be completed in time for listeners to begin the Tour of Homes. First UMC, while not on the official tour, will be open for visitors after the concert until 7:00 p.m.

A small group of the Anson Singers will also be Christmas caroling at the Boggan-Hammond House from 4:30 until 5:00 following the concert, in conjunction with the Tour of Homes.

The Anson Singers began in the spring of 2011 as an arm of the Anson County Arts Council. This will be their second performance. The public is warmly invited to attend this free holiday event.

Lively Discussion at Public Meeting Helps Identify and Refine Strategic Priorities For Strengthening Anson-Stanly Creative Economy

Strengthening the Regional Creativity Economy of Anson and Stanly Counties

An Open Community Forum ~ Dennis Vineyards and Winery, Albemarle, NC

Thursday, April 14, 2011 ~ 6:30 pm until 8:45 pm

Finding new, collaborative ways to encourage and market Anson and Stanly Counties’ artist venues, grassroots festivals, and natural environment will be essential for strengthening and growing the two-county region’s shared creativity economy.

Anson and Stanly Counties also should place a high priority upon tracking their college-bound youth after high school in order to encourage them to return home and work for local employers during the summer months. 

Positive experiences with summer employment—building resumes and extending their personal networks—may help persuade students to resettle back in Anson and Stanly Counties following their graduation from college.  The overarching goal would be to mitigate the loss of talent and expertise, often referred to as “the brain drain,” that many rural places experience as their young people move away.

These recommendations comprise the top tier of a set of strategic priorities that emerged from

an evening of lively discussion and balloting among more than 100 Anson and Stanly County residents who gathered at Dennis Vineyards and Winery in Albemarle on Thursday, April 14. 

February 15—Refining the Preliminary Recommendations

On February 15, a small group of local residents from Anson and Stanly Counties met at Piney Point Golf Club in Norwood to revisit the draft strategic recommendations from the January 14 public meeting.  

From that list, they sought to identify some initial strategic activities that might be launched right away and yield early accomplishments to build momentum for the overall effort to strengthen the regional creative economy.

After much discussion, the working group ranked the following action strategies as their highest priority recommendations.  These draft action strategies will be presented to the public meeting on April 14 for further consideration.

Learning from Other Communities

It is not necessary to reinvent the wheel. We can learn from what others are doing to build up and profit from their creative economies, both here in NC and elsewhere. We can learn from places including:

• Paducah, Kentucky—which began its artist relocation program in 2000. The city has persuaded more than 50 working artists to relocate from elsewhere to live and work in the downtown arts district.

PROFILE—The Creative Economy in Anson and Stanly Counties

THE CREATIVE ECONOMY

The creative sector within a larger economy primarily is concerned with firms and workers that produce and/or distribute products and services for which the aesthetic, intellectual, and emotional engagement of the consumer represents the chief component of value for those goods and services in the marketplace.

CREATIVE ECONOMY ASSETS—A SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

A community’s creative economy assets are the support infrastructure that helps develop and nurture an overall environment in which creative businesses and skilled labor markets succeed and flourish. These creative assets may include local and regional organizations, institutions, and physical spaces, as well as formal events and informal social networks. The presence of a robust support infrastructure often is a key factor determining why established businesses choose to locate in the local area, why entrepreneurial small ventures start up and eventually succeed, and why people with desirable talents and skills choose to live and work in a particular community.

Project Context and Significance

At the public meeting on January 14, Diane Cherry of the Institute for Emerging Issues described both the context and significance of the ongoing project to strengthen the regional creative economy of Anson and Stanly Counties.

Project context

• There are three distinct partners in this project—the Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI), a public policy organization at N.C. State University; Regional Technology Strategies (RTS), a non-profit economic development organization in Carrboro; and North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension. Each brings a unique perspective and skill to the project. (Of course, the citizens of Anson and Stanly Counties also are a partner—in fact, the most important partner.)

• IEI has experience with running a statewide program on creativity and facilitating community conversation around building a creative culture. RTS has developed and mapped the creative assets for states such as Kentucky, Arkansas and North Dakota.  Finally, Cooperative Extension has experience working with residents in counties all across North Carolina on issues within their communities.

• This project is funded by the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center and both the community-based process and results will be used to help train other counties in North Carolina. Cooperative Extension has an important role in serving as the trainer for others.

Why should a community undertake a discussion on creativity?