Belchertown Cultural District Formation
June 2023 - presentThe Belchertown Creative Economy Initiative utilizes the creative economy as a lens and methodology to enrich local economic vitality, strengthen sense of place, and improve quality of life. The creative economy is the organizations, businesses, people, and town departments and assets that participate in or platform the production and distribution of artistic and cultural goods and services to the community. The creative economy includes traditional arts and culture assets like performance venues, galleries, craft shows and artisan markets, museums, and arts education facilities along with the individual artists and artisans who both educate and produce work for these spaces. It also includes a wide range of creative businesses like designers, print shops, and tattoo studios, and is ripe with opportunity for crossovers to adjacent sectors including agriculture, outdoor recreation, food, beverage, and hospitality where the arts can also be integrated, such as with public art to activate and mark physical sites with community meaning, and bringing food trucks and other enterprises to cultural gatherings.
Grounded in the goals and recommendations set forth in the Economic Development section of the Town Master Plan, the LRRP, and Cultural Plan, I have developed a vision and strategy for the Town’s creative economy in order to ignite broader economic impact. This work is done in close collaboration with Town leaders, cultural organizations, artists associations, history & humanities scholars, and other local stakeholders.
More details on the process can be found on the Town of Belchertown page.
And updates and events can be found on the Belchertown Creative Economy facebook page.