MN Annual Meeting, New Member Induction and Program on the Creative Economy

As civic leaders, business owners, and community members, we experience the entertainment and educational value of arts and culture. We recognize the sector's ability to physically transform and stabilize districts and neighborhoods. In fact, we view the vibrancy of the arts as a key component in improved revitalization and economic development outcomes.

However, the economic and workforce contributions made by the arts and cultural sector remain largely overlooked and undervalued, and this limits the potential for a host of equitable and sustainable outcomes driven by this sector.

By engaging with the results of studies demonstrating positive contributions such as ancillary spending and inclusive and equitable skill development, we’ll discuss how this vibrant economic sector offers a host of potential equitable and sustainable outcomes for geographies throughout the region.

By providing clarity around terms like creatives, creative sector and creative economy and by dispelling gentrification myths, we'll engage you to think broadly about the dynamism within this for- and nonprofit ecosystem that produces solid revenues, fosters business, organization and job growth, and generates tax revenues.

Dr. Brenda Kayzar is a collaborative strategist and owner of Urbane DrK Consulting. Through research-based strategies informed by community, she provides strategic planning and advocacy leadership to government and nonprofits. After two decades of specialization in real estate finance, she earned her PhD in Geography at UC Santa Barbara. She draws on knowledge in economic development, urban policy, planning and design, and social and environmental justice to understand and evaluate complex urban issues.