In the midst of metal sculptures, bright garden colors and the strains of musicians’ instruments, many of Snohomish County’s “creative class” celebrated last week.
After several years of planning, their masterpiece came to life in the form of the Snohomish County Arts Commission. It’s about creating a voice for and on behalf of local arts interests, said Fred Wong, Lynnwood cultural arts supervisor.
Its economic development impact is likely to be even more profound if certain economists are right about the changing face of America’s workforce.
Most people would agree the arts are a wonderful thing in a community, but when the economy is in turmoil art funding is often the first thing to go. In an economy long based upon natural resources, factories and timecards, art was the fat that had to be trimmed to make ends meet so the “necessities” could be maintained.
Now that economy is changing. Industries once expected to live forever can suffer major cutbacks or vanish, as we well know in the Puget Sound. County business leaders have been crying out for some time that a diverse local economy is a must if this area is going to grow and sustain itself for generations to come.
Much of this diversity has come in the form of a new working class referred to by some as “the creative class.” Bring in the arts and the diversity and you bring in the business, they say. The reason? In this new economy our biggest resource is our brains, said Lanie McMullin, Everett’s executive director. Companies will locate where those “brains” want to live and they want to live in areas of the country where there is a strong presence of art, culture, diversity and outdoor opportunities.
All this diversity can be threatening to some people. Critics of the creative class theory say it’s a ploy to make communities more tolerant of behavior and people they might not agree with. But the lines shouldn’t be so rigid as to divide the creative class and traditional family-oriented communities – values can and do overlap. Snohomish County is already diverse in many ways and despite the issues that flare up, we have managed to survive and continue the efforts of revitalization in spite of – or because of – our differences.
The arts will always be with us, but it remains to be seen how long the creative class theory will maintain such a considerable presence in the American workforce. The key to being an economic power, according to some economists, is a the ability not only to adapt to innovation and changes within a culture, but to embrace those changes and develop them according their community’s needs and values. Who can say what those changes will be a few generations from now, or even earlier?
Until then, we have the creative class. Maybe someday soon a staunch economist will step forward and declare, “It’s the arts, stupid.” If so, Snohomish County will be prepared.
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