What role did the arts play for you personally at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns?
Have you turned to the work of individual authors, visual or performing artists on television, films, the Internet, and other media for entertainment and well-being?
Have you relied on the programs of Delaware organizations such as museums, theaters, community groups, restaurants and other venues to unite us in creative ways?
I did.
Witnessing this innovation and resilience of the arts and culture sector made me proud, not only as a performing artist and supporter of the arts, but also as a Delawarean. For a small state, Delaware has a long list of artistic and cultural treasures, and yet we have not yet begun to more broadly recognize their full potential.
In nearly a year in my role as executive director of the Delaware Arts Alliance (DAA), the nonprofit advocacy group that serves as a unified voice for the arts in our state, I have spoken to creatives of all backgrounds, including individual artists, nonprofits, and for-profit creative businesses and art educators. They often feel underestimated, undervalued and banished to their own island. Still, they are confident that emerging from the pandemic provides an opportunity to position the creative economy as a key strategy for addressing other economic, social and political issues in Delaware, including attracting and retaining the state’s residents, workforce and visitors.
To achieve this and recognize the deep connection between arts, tourism and economic development, the Delaware Arts Alliance has embarked on an ambitious undertaking – creating a comprehensive plan to grow and support the creative industries through targeted policy changes and investments.
Delaware’s Creative Economy and Cultural Tourism Recovery and Growth Plan will be the first project in the country to provide a unified vision and an actionable policy agenda that spans not only the entire arts and culture sector, but also state levels of government. , district and local levels.
Using funds from the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) Travel, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Program awarded by Governor John Carney and the Delaware Division of Small Business, the DAA will do the following over the next year:
- Create an interactive, publicly available GIS map of Delaware’s creative industries.
- Conduct an economic impact study
- Create comprehensive Delaware recovery plans statewide, in all three counties and in select Opportunity Zones (Wilmington, Middletown, Smyrna, Dover, Milton and Georgetown).
A series of community focus groups, surveys, and meetings in summer/fall 2023 will set the direction of the project to ensure we hear from Delawareans from diverse backgrounds.
We know that both tourists and Delaware residents seek authentic and immersive experiences, ranging from visiting museums, historic sites and film and music festivals to attending art exhibitions and performances. By supporting individual artists and organizations that make up the creative economy, Delaware can harness a powerful engine for innovation, job creation and community development.
We can strengthen Delaware’s tourism industry and broader economic recovery and address pressing community issues, from housing to health care to education.
Learn more and get involved at www.delawareartsalliance.org/createveeconomy.
Complete our survey by October 15 to help develop this plan: delivr.com/2es2u.
Neil Kirschling is executive director of the Delaware Arts Alliance.
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