Creatively inclined jobs catch up

The arts in Indiana are on the rise. \nArts-related businesses and employment dramatically increased in 2007, according to a study announced Feb. 25 by the Indiana Coalition for the Arts and the Indiana Arts Commission. The nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts, ‘the’ Americans for the Arts, prepared the Creative Industries report, which states that between 2006 and 2007 there was an increase of 986 arts-related businesses and 4,650 full-time jobs in Indiana.\n“These numbers reflect businesses who are involved with the creation and distribution of the arts: museums, performing art organizations, design, architecture, visual arts, publishing, advertising,” INCA president Sally Gaskill said. “We see the creative industries growing nationwide, and Indiana is no different.”\nAccording to the report, a total of 53,924 Hoosiers were employed by 8,905 businesses involved with the arts in the state this past year. \nIAC Director of Marketing and Communications, Rex Van Zant, said the findings of the study did not come as a surprise to him, as the increase in arts businesses has been steady over the past few years. However, the amount of increase drew his attention. \n“From 2005 to 2006, there was around a 7 percent increase. There’s a 12 percent increase from 2006 to 2007,” Van Zant said. “That’s a significant increase in one year’s time.”\nNationally, arts-related businesses experienced a 4.3 percent increase since 2006. The total increase from the amount in 2004 is 19.6 percent.\nVan Zant attributes this influx to a number of possible reasons. Local arts businesses around the state are likely prospering due to high gas prices, which make driving an hour for entertainment less appealing. \nAlso, he said smaller towns are realizing the economic advantages to be gained by focusing on the arts.\n“Towns that don’t have a heavy industry or are not in a metropolitan area are looking at other ways to attract businesses,” Van Zant said. “Having a really thriving arts community attracts other kinds of businesses. People will start to think things like ‘It might be a good time to open a restaurant downtown.’”\nBloomington, which Gaskill described as “one of the most art-centric communities in Indiana,” is attracting more than businesses. The town’s involvement with the arts drew grad student Anna Walker to IU to earn her master’s in A rts Administration. Walker received her bachelor’s degree at Otterbein College in Ohio.\nThe Arts Administration program Walker is in allows students to participate in projects and do internships to gain work experience. Walker spends much of her time at the John Waldron Arts Center downtown as the gallery director, thanks to the program. \n“There’s a lot of involvement with the community and students because they value the arts,” Walker said. “Compared to other places I’ve been, the community is really supportive and involved with the arts.”\nBloomington boasts several performance venues, museums and seven art galleries in the downtown area alone. From poetry readings to rock concerts, on any given night, options abound for those yearning for a taste of the arts. \nOne man involved with catering to the town’s creativity is Marc Tschida. As the performance and technical director for the John Waldron Arts Center, his duties consist of booking the center with events and running them. Tschida prides the center on its diversity of events. As an example, he said entertainment available in one week in late February included a Cuban jazz band, a transgender New York street performer and a one-woman theater production explaining the role of gender.\n“It’s really kind of fun. I have a different job every day,” he said. \nWhile Tschida acknowledges the avid arts following in Bloomington, he does not believe the town is in line with the Indiana study. \n“I don’t necessarily think there’s more activity than there has been,” he said. “Bloomington has always been a healthy space for the arts.”\nMiah Michaelsen, assistant economic development director for the arts in Bloomington, testified to the strength of the cultural community. She said the interplay between the community and the University is a great thing and it often draws alumni back. \n“I have encountered many, many people who have gone away for 15 years, or two or three years, and come back. I call it the ‘Bloomington boomerang,’” Michaelsen said. “People go away and can’t stay away.”