Into the Dog Days of 2020
Kelsie Steil performing in “Atelier”. by Rose Hutchins | Photo by Elisabeth Williams
While the arts and culture sector in New England has had to navigate new ideas for in-person events in light of the pandemic, there has still been much happening. Our region has been engaged in conversations around what an anti-racist and equitable creative community looks like – with virtual gatherings, murals and public art. Creative workers and organizations have already been dramatically impacted by Covid-19 and the sector is asking what the future of the creative economy might look like.
Speaking of changes, the CreativeGround team and our website developers are working on upgrades to the online platform to better promote and connect the sector as we move onward, hopefully to the end of the Dog Days and into a better future. At this time, we anticipate the new CreativeGround to be launched by the end of 2020.
Hatchery” at the School for Contemporary Dance & Thought |
Photo by Peter Raper
The creative economy is a powerful engine of growth and community vitality. Together, artists, cultural nonprofits, and creative businesses produce and distribute cultural goods and services that generate jobs, revenue, and quality of life. A thriving cultural sector leads to thriving communities.
Originally an agricultural concept for creating a self-sustaining garden, permaculture can be applied to the creative economy (and the systems therein) that ensure the creative sector’s persistence.
Permaculture:
a set of design principles centered on whole systems thinking, simulating, or directly utilizing the patterns and resilient features observed in natural ecosystems
can also be the set of tools to rethink and redefine communities by working with what IS – making permanently adaptable to change to create resilient cultures and communities.
Just as the creative economy is part of the permaculture of New England, the creative economy is made up of the relationships and resources that strengthen and support its own sustainability.