Message From Executive Director | The CREATE Plan

Neil Kirschling, Executive Director

Since January 2023, Delaware Arts Alliance (DAA) has been working with a research team, Sound Diplomacy, and a group of Delaware stakeholders to develop a growth and recovery plan for the creative economy and cultural tourism sector in Delaware. In that time, we heard from 563 people from all three counties through surveys, focus groups, and meetings to contribute to the findings we are preparing to unveil. The resulting research unpacks the challenges facing our creative community, such as lost income, declining audience engagement, and unrealized potential, and charts a path forward. We are excited to begin rolling out this information this spring with a full launch being scheduled for mid-summer. I invite elected officials, business and community leaders, philanthropists, artists, and the general public to engage with the data and mapping tool, and utilize the insights and recommendations provided in the plan to ensure sustained growth of Delaware’s creative economy.

In Delaware, the existing creative economy is tied to a diverse range of industries that includes individual artists and creatives, for profit and nonprofit organizations. By definition, the creative economy is composed of a range of industries that generate their revenue primarily through “creative activities”, such as books & press, performing arts, storytelling, and audiovisual & interactive media. It also encompasses the regional suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers that create the supply chains of these sectors. This study’s goal was to strengthen connections between creatives and other industries and unite stakeholders around a shared vision to move the economic sector forward, in hopes of influencing strategic policies based on data and stakeholder recommendations. In studying the full creative economy at the state, county and city level, DAA puts creative and cultural industries at the forefront of the economic development conversation.

Over the next several months, the Delaware Arts Alliance will reveal the details of the Creative Economy Advancement and Tourism Expansion (CREATE) Plan, a growth and recovery plan for the creative economy and cultural tourism sector in Delaware. There are four major areas of the project we’ll highlight:

  • ECONOMIC IMPACT: The economic impact analysis provides a reliable measure of the importance of the creative economy in Delaware on three dimensions: direct, indirect, and induced impact. Additionally, the research contains an examination of earnings data and an analysis of sector changes within the creative economy since before the pandemic.
  • ONLINE ASSET MAP: A searchable index of 2,534 creative economy assets in Delaware. Users can explore and find creative professionals statewide by sector, subsector, county and city.
  • RECOMMENDATIONS: The CREATE Plan provides a clear, actionable roadmap of 25 recommendations for strengthening the state’s arts and tourism sectors. This plan outlines policy changes and investments that can support the creative economy’s post‐pandemic recovery and continued prosperity.

The CREATE Plan supports what stakeholders in Delaware have been echoing since before Covid-19: the First State boasts an abundance of creative talent; a passionate community; a long cultural history; and the vision to develop a unique, successful, and sustainable creative economy. I am beyond excited to share this unprecedented research, asset map and action plan with you in the coming months, leading up to a major launch of the full report mid summer. So stay tuned and stay engaged.

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