At KC Downtowners August, 2017 Luncheon, Speakers Dana Knapp, President & CEO, ArtsKC and Megan Crigger, Director of Creative Services, KCMO shared with us just how we are doing as a city.
No surprise, Kansas City leads the state of MO in the percentage of the hotel lodging tax monies spent on the creative arts and cultural events. The intent is to attract visitors and conventions to KC. The benefits to our local economy is represented on the graph. This indicates where people spend their monies for products and services. Most noteworthy is, those attending events in our area from out of town, spend roughly double then that of the locals.
So what is the social impact on a community? In Daniel Pinks’ audacious 2003 book “A Whole New Mind – Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.” He discusses the connection of communities that have a growing economy and their ability to attract the ‘Creative’ class of workers. Who are these people? They are creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. They are – artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers.
However, the key to economic growth lies not just in the ability to attract the Creative Class. But to translate that advantage into new ideas, new high-tech businesses and regional growth. Of which he mentions what attracts these people to these communities – is an abundance of activities that offer high quality, multidimensional experiences. In addition, the Creative Class is drawn to street-level culture because they can easily do several things in one excursion. Great book!
The Huffington Post list KC as one of the top ten cities for creatives (July 2015); Conde Nast Traveler rates KC as one of the most underrated cities for Millennials (Nov 26, 2014). We have the suburb planning and efforts of the Creative Services at the City Managers Office, ArtsKC, VisitKC and the Mayor Sly James to thank for rocketing us to this status.
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