Successful Art Business, Planning and Marketing Tools and Techniques You Can Use

There is a lot of buzz right now about how the US is in a creative crisis.  According to the recent  Newsweek article The Creativity Crisis  – “Kim(Kyung-Hee Kim) found creativity scores had been steadily rising, just like IQ scores, until 1990. Since then, creativity scores have consistently inched downward. “It’s very clear, and the decrease is very significant,” Kim says.”"

Charlie Rose also had a segment on Creativity which featured Ashley Merryman who co-authored the Newsweek article as well as a couple of other creative guests.  I suggest you check out both the Newsweek article and Charlie Rose video – very interesting!

Even businesses are getting into the act as a result of the poor economy and the uncertain future.  In the recent study conducted by IBM –  ”2010 Global CEO Study: Creativity Selected as Most Crucial Factor for Future Success” executives cited creativity as the key to success – “More than 60 percent of CEOs believe industry transformation is the top factor contributing to uncertainty, and the finding indicates a need to discover innovative ways of managing an organization’s structure, finances, people and strategy.”

Clearly this is a broad application of “creativity”.  The world has changed and what worked in the past may not work now.  It will be interesting to see how businesses try to nurture and implement creativity into their organizations.

Some ideas on developing and harnessing creativity:

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You can help them — and they can help you

In the first article I discussed how the creative sector is the fifth-largest sector of the Colorado economy, directly employing over 122,000 people-plus another 75,000 supporting these creative enterprises. This puts it slightly behind biotechnology/biomedical, IT and telecommunications and larger than defense/security, agribusiness, food processing and technology in terms of employment according to a recent study by the Colorado Council on the Arts.

So what is the creative sector? The study described Colorado’s creative enterprises as: “The creative enterprises include nonprofit cultural institutions, commercial businesses that are producing and distributing products in which the creative content defines their market position, and, finally, the thousands of individuals who are self-employed.” Broadly speaking the creative sector includes businesses and occupations in the design, film & media, heritage, literary and publishing, performing arts and visual arts & crafts fields. Read more

The creative sector of Colorado’s economy is the 900-pound gorilla that few have really noticed until now. According to a new study by the Colorado Council on the Arts, this sector is the fifth-largest of the Colorado economy, directly employing more than 122,000 people – plus another 75,000 supporting these creative enterprises.

The true story of the impact of the creative economy is not just shown in the direct employment figures, however. There is a multiplier effect, where each creative enterprise job contributes to additional jobs and revenues for other firms-like yours. If you own a restaurant or other business near an arts district, you are directly benefiting from the traffic generated by the creative sector. For some Colorado towns, like Creede, the arts community is vital for the area’s survival. Read more