Having just returned from a week long training NeighborWorks Institute in New Orleans, I could hardly wait to share my experiences, and the lessons I felt the Rural Northwest can take from The Big Easy.

The recovery of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005 has been much more expeditious than many initially dared to hope. Current numbers state that population is now nearly 80% of pre Katrina numbers. I’m definitely no expert on this issue, but I don’t think I’m alone in asserting that a strong local culture played a significant role in speedy reconstruction. It stands to reason that the stronger one’s sense of ‘home' (a network of people, traditions, dialects, foods, and places that are integrated into your personal identity), the more compelled one will be to return and rebuild. As far as strong local ‘flavor,’ there are few places in the US that can compete with New Orleans.
 

One of my instructors at the institute said that she had struggled to find a convincing argument for art as economic development. I would argue that culture, of which art is a large component, is the strongest force driving economics. People don’t put their futures on the line to rebuild an economy; they risk it all to rebuild ‘home.’ Conversely, economic activity serves as a primary catalyst for cultural development. This is demonstrated in New Orleans through the central role that the arts and music scenes have played in inspiriting and driving the rebuilding of the city.

Two organizations that I had a chance to visit are playing a key role in that process of cultural economic development. What makes these organizations noteworthy is the fusion of cultural and business development. More than promoting art for art’s sake, these organizations take a comprehensive approach to nurturing and growing artists, which necessarily includes a strong business education component and qualifies these programs as ‘economic development.’
 

New Orleans Arts Councils, among many other activities, offers Arts Business Programs to promote business skills for artists, organizing a monthly Arts Market to give artists direct access to their customers, and www.NOLAfunguide.com which seeks to “rebuild the area’s cultural infrastructure” by providing a comprehensive centralized events calendar. They also assist in accessing Louisiana Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, who provide free legal assistance to low to moderate income Louisiana artists, and addresses specific issues such as copyright law.
 

We also visited the Tipitina’s Foundation Incubator. The humble incubator space, filled with computers loaded with digital editing software for music, film, and other digital media, serves as a hub for artists looking to build up the business end of their operation. From their website:

Tipitina’s Music Office Co-Op is a five-city network of media business training centers, serving more than 1,800 Louisiana musicians, filmmakers and other digital media workers. The Co-Ops provide technology access, instruction, mentoring, networking, and practical business infrastructure for creative entrepreneurs.

I was incredibly impressed by this organization, not only because of the fantastic service they provide, but also the strategic approach they take to evaluating and documenting their impact. While the stories behind the work of this organization and the art that the members produce are quite compelling, it can be easy to write off cultural development efforts as ‘fluff,’ especially during an economic downturn.  However, when you’re hit with the stone cold data regarding the results of their efforts, it’s hard to ignore. To provide just two examples:

• Average music/media earnings among Music Office Co-Op members jumped 36% (from $4,726 to $6,427) in 2008. Despite small downturns in 2005 and 2007, average member earnings have increased 52% since the Co-Op began in 2003.
• Return on investment was better than ten-to-one; for every dollar spent operating the Co-Op, its members realized $10 in new income and investment.

The lessons I took home from New Orleans, and that I hope to share, are that successful business development and community revitalization efforts utilize both a ‘numbers based’ approach focused on dollars and jobs, and more visceral activities that tap into the heart of a community. For example, we know that successful downtown revitalization efforts tie in to community history and fun cultural events with strategic business support and financing. Cultural and economic activities do not need to be tackled separately, but can, instead, inform and support each other.

The most uplifting aspect of the lessons I came away with, is that this type of ‘cultural development’ is something we can all have a hand in. When I go to hear Hotqua (a local gypsy swing band) play at our local wine bar, I’m not only supporting the arts in my community, but directly contributing to our larger economic well being. While we as individuals may not be able to recruit a new industrial plant to our community, we can support those businesses, organizations, and activities that give our community its unique character.

The natives of New Orleans didn’t return to the city because it had a lot of the same things you can find anywhere else; they were drawn back by those aspects of place that were irreplaceable. The same goes for those of us out 'in the sticks.' Those who venture back to struggling rural communities often site cultural reasons for their return, and community lead marketing and recruitment efforts for frequently site the 'rural lifestyle' as a key reason for 'heading ot the hills.' Just because cultural aspects of develpment aren't easily quantifiable, doesn't mean they don't play a pivotal role in building resilient communities.

What aspects of your community informed your decision to call it ‘home’?

What about your community is irreplaceable?