It plans Web site, aid for small firms
BY JOHN GALLAGHER • FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER • May 4, 2008
In their efforts to attract more workers to the so-called creative economy, metro Detroit's business leaders are getting, well, creative.
The corporate leadership group Detroit Renaissance expects to launch a Web site in early June devoted to the region's creative economy. A marketing campaign to highlight the region's creative assets should go public at the same time.
And, looking ahead, Detroit Renaissance hopes to open a creative incubator in a downtown building on Woodward Avenue in a year to nurture small but promising creative businesses.
"This is really a very important initiative for the community," said Doug Rothwell, president of Detroit Renaissance. "It really builds off of the desire to retain talent, to attract a younger work force. This is a way to enable us to achieve those goals that other people have been talking about."
The term creative economy refers to those industries whose output is deemed to require some special talent or creativity, including advertising, software design, film production and architecture.
Such industries are considered attractive today by economic development officials. An analysis done for Detroit Renaissance by Angelou Economics, an Austin, Texas-based consultant firm, noted that creative industries are estimated to account for more than 7% of the world's total economic output, and that the annual growth of creative industries is twice that of service industries and four times that of manufacturing industries.
Moreover, salaries in creative industries tend to run above the national average. And creatives, as some people call workers in such fields, are more likely to cluster in urban areas, bringing a trendy vitality to downtown centers.
For all those reasons, the goal of establishing a creative corridor in metro Detroit makes sense, Rothwell said.
"It really is a chance to rebrand the image of the region," he said. "What better sector of the economy to gravitate to than this one, which would really have us viewed in a whole different light than we are today?"
Creative industries' impact
This attempt to boost the region's creative assets grew out of the Road to Renaissance plan, a multi-pronged effort by Detroit Renaissance to rebuild and reenergize the local economy as the region's automotive base declines.
Angelou Economics studied six creative industries for their possible impact on southeast Michigan's economy. The six industries were advertising, marketing and public relations; architecture and design; film production and distribution; digital and traditional media; music, and performing and visual arts.
Three of those industries stood out as recommended areas of concentration because of their large current employment base in metro Detroit and their likely growth rates. Those three were advertising, marketing and public relations; digital and traditional media, and architecture and design.
Taking advantage of Woodward
With the new Web site and marketing campaign coming in June, establishing the creative incubator will take a bit longer. Among other things, Rothwell said, Detroit Renaissance needs to get commitments from foundations to help bankroll the concept.
Then, an existing building must be identified on Woodward Avenue downtown to provide up to 50,000 square feet for the incubator. The incubator would offer office space, conference rooms and other facilities designed to nurture small creative firms.
Rothwell said locating the incubator on Woodward in the heart of downtown makes sense.
It's "a way to use Woodward Avenue to connect the dots in Detroit in a way we haven't done before," he said. "Woodward is the main street in Detroit, and the more we can build up Woodward Avenue to really be the connection between downtown, Midtown, New Center, the medical facilities, the educational center up at Wayne State, the more we can do that, that's a good thing, and this creative corridor might be the first time we've had a plan to really do that."
BY JOHN GALLAGHER • FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER • May 4, 2008
In their efforts to attract more workers to the so-called creative economy, metro Detroit's business leaders are getting, well, creative.
The corporate leadership group Detroit Renaissance expects to launch a Web site in early June devoted to the region's creative economy. A marketing campaign to highlight the region's creative assets should go public at the same time.
And, looking ahead, Detroit Renaissance hopes to open a creative incubator in a downtown building on Woodward Avenue in a year to nurture small but promising creative businesses.
"This is really a very important initiative for the community," said Doug Rothwell, president of Detroit Renaissance. "It really builds off of the desire to retain talent, to attract a younger work force. This is a way to enable us to achieve those goals that other people have been talking about."
The term creative economy refers to those industries whose output is deemed to require some special talent or creativity, including advertising, software design, film production and architecture.
Such industries are considered attractive today by economic development officials. An analysis done for Detroit Renaissance by Angelou Economics, an Austin, Texas-based consultant firm, noted that creative industries are estimated to account for more than 7% of the world's total economic output, and that the annual growth of creative industries is twice that of service industries and four times that of manufacturing industries.
Moreover, salaries in creative industries tend to run above the national average. And creatives, as some people call workers in such fields, are more likely to cluster in urban areas, bringing a trendy vitality to downtown centers.
For all those reasons, the goal of establishing a creative corridor in metro Detroit makes sense, Rothwell said.
"It really is a chance to rebrand the image of the region," he said. "What better sector of the economy to gravitate to than this one, which would really have us viewed in a whole different light than we are today?"
Creative industries' impact
This attempt to boost the region's creative assets grew out of the Road to Renaissance plan, a multi-pronged effort by Detroit Renaissance to rebuild and reenergize the local economy as the region's automotive base declines.
Angelou Economics studied six creative industries for their possible impact on southeast Michigan's economy. The six industries were advertising, marketing and public relations; architecture and design; film production and distribution; digital and traditional media; music, and performing and visual arts.
Three of those industries stood out as recommended areas of concentration because of their large current employment base in metro Detroit and their likely growth rates. Those three were advertising, marketing and public relations; digital and traditional media, and architecture and design.
Taking advantage of Woodward
With the new Web site and marketing campaign coming in June, establishing the creative incubator will take a bit longer. Among other things, Rothwell said, Detroit Renaissance needs to get commitments from foundations to help bankroll the concept.
Then, an existing building must be identified on Woodward Avenue downtown to provide up to 50,000 square feet for the incubator. The incubator would offer office space, conference rooms and other facilities designed to nurture small creative firms.
Rothwell said locating the incubator on Woodward in the heart of downtown makes sense.
It's "a way to use Woodward Avenue to connect the dots in Detroit in a way we haven't done before," he said. "Woodward is the main street in Detroit, and the more we can build up Woodward Avenue to really be the connection between downtown, Midtown, New Center, the medical facilities, the educational center up at Wayne State, the more we can do that, that's a good thing, and this creative corridor might be the first time we've had a plan to really do that."
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