New Mexico Senator Tom Udall is working to pass the CREATE act to help support the creative economy, as part of the effort he is holding conversations around the state with arts professionals and the business community to help determine the best way to grow the creative economy.
Local Arts Professional Irene Oliver-Lewis says the creative arts is an important part of economic development, and Las Cruces is a great community for it.
“An artist is producing art,” Oliver-Lewis said. “They’re buying their materials from another business, that business is making money, and then it just goes on and on and on and on. So, the multipliers of art is very, very important. And the nature of New Mexico, our vistas, our land, our landscapes, our culture, our everything that we have is ripe for creating an economy, and having jobs for people in their area.”
Arianna Parsons, Executive Director of the Downtown Las Cruces Partnership, says a thriving arts community helps improve quality of life, which can bring in business.
“There is a definite trend in many large corporations moving into more urban settings, and that is specifically the reason,” Parsons said. “The Quality of life for the employees of larger businesses, smaller businesses, and families, retirees even. They all want to have a pretty setting. I mean we undervalue what public art means to our community.”
Irene Oliver-Lewis says it’s important for people from different areas of the community to be involved in discussions on the creative economy.
“You have consumers of art, you have advocates of art, and you have producers of art,” Oliver-Lewis said. “And all of those three groups have to come together to do the creative economy. And so you have somebody, if your not an advocate, if you don’t think oh I can buy this art and have it in my house. Instead of thinking, oh no I can just go to a museum to see this art. We’re never going to have the consumer who creates the business and has the money to buy this art.”
Arianna Parsons says there also needs to be more programs for artists to learn how to turn their talent into a business.
“Technical assistance and training just like any other business is key to the success of those individual artists,” Parsons said. “We’re really fortunate to have partners like WESST, like the small business development center, and like SCORE that have staff dedicated just to helping artists take that next step.”
Irene Oliver-Lewis says artists can help bring new types of business into a community because they think outside of the box.
“Artists realize that better than anyone,” Oliver-Lewis said. “Because artists go from nothing to create something, and they have that innovation and creativity and imagination to change the world.”
