When I joined Main Street America as a Program Officer in March of this year, I was excited to once again be a part of the Main Street Movement. 

My Main Street career began in 2013 as Executive Director at Downtown Oregon City Association, a 2018 Great American Main Street Award winner. From 2019 until joining Main Street America, I was Executive Director at Creative Flagstaff, Flagstaff Arizona’s art, science, and culture agency. My family drew me to Arizona, but I brought Main Street with me, applying its principles of community-led transformation to the arts and culture sector in Flagstaff. Through that experience, I gained a deeper appreciation for the arts and the role that the arts play in our communities.

In my current role, I know that art and culture will continue to be an important part of my work. The arts and artists are important to all Main Streets — even if they may not be expressly identified as a transformation strategy or work plan goal.

As Main Street leaders, we talk a lot about placemaking and place keeping, cultural events, and public art. Over the past several years — especially with the onset of the pandemic — we’ve seen even greater investment in, and activation of, our public places. Why do we gather for arts and cultural experiences? Why do they matter and why might we lean into them in new ways?

Art Fosters Empathy, Dialogue, and Engagement

We often say Main Streets are the heart and soul of our communities. A thoughtful, well-maintained, and well-designed district is nothing without the people that bring it to life. We gather in downtowns and commercial corridors to enjoy good food, partake in outings with family or friends, or to be present in our neighborhood public and third spaces.

We also gather to experience art together — live music at festivals, murals on buildings, paint night at a wine bar, Shakespeare in the park, or shopping at an eclectic art gallery. Whatever the art experiences, we are immersed in the creative expression of others (and sometimes ourselves) and taken on a shared emotional journey.

These collective experiences are not dissimilar from the community engagement and community buy-in efforts that are critical to our Main Street work. Research backs up the this link to the Main Street Approach: according to the Americans for the Arts’ Arts Impact Explorer Tool, we know that participatory arts increase the desire for engagement and brings people together. Including the arts in our planning processes leads to more vibrant communities. 

Art is Economic Development

Recently, my community in Flagstaff conducted a broad intercept survey as part of a larger research project by Americans for the Arts called Arts and Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6). We learned that the nonprofit arts and culture sector in Flagstaff generates $86 million in annual economic impact and over 1,000 jobs. One of these 40+ nonprofits is Dark Sky Aerial, an aerial theatre company. In 2018, they embarked on an inspiring collaboration to create a place-based production, TILT, that included an immersive multi-room play inside a historic hotel. 

Nationally arts and cultural economic activity comprise 4.4 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (by comparison, agriculture is 5.6 percent). In 2019, the National Governor’s Association produced a report that outlines the role of arts in rural economic development. It summarized many key points including:

1. Rural counties that are home to performing arts organizations experienced population growth three times higher than rural counties that lack performing arts institutions. Those counties also had incomes up to $6,000 higher.
2. Two out of three rural businesses report that arts and entertainment are important for attracting and retaining workers.

While becoming an ​“arts district” may not be a Main Street organization’s ultimate objective, data demonstrates that the inclusion of the arts in economic development strategies is essential.

Art Involves All Points of the Main Street Approach

When we think about the arts and the four points of the Main Street Approach, we often immediately think of Promotion or Design. It is no surprise, then, that Main Street programs commonly engage in events that include temporal cultural experiences or beautification with art. The arts, however, are essential for Organization and Economic Vitality as well. To strengthen the role of the arts in your efforts, consider bringing the following questions to your board, committee, staff, and strategic planning meetings:

1. Are artists actively engaged in your committees? Do you use participatory art to help collect community input? Are there grant opportunities to support the arts? What partnerships should you pursue?
2. Is thoughtful, locally-driven, public art a part of your design projects? Are local artists helping to determine the kinds of art that are pursued? How does art support your cultural preservation work?
3. Are you paying artists fairly, especially if you pay other professionals? (To help answer this question, check out Wage for Work, a powerful tool to help you determine appropriate rates for your contractors.)

The arts are essential to our community work. I look forward to exploring the role of arts in Main Streets as I hit the road working with communities across the country. If you have an innovative or exciting arts program that you would like to share with us, please reach out!