Special Initiatives

MPAC

Working Together to Enhance Maricopa County's Economic Competitiveness

Maricopa Partnership for Arts and Culture (MPAC) Works to Build More Vibrancy in the Arts and Culture Sector

In an age where creative people can live, work and raise their families anywhere they choose -- thanks to an increasingly wired world -- the ability of communities to attract innovative people depends on factors far beyond a warm climate and 350 sunny days a year. 

“Creative people want to live and work in a creative environment,” said Myra Millinger, president and CEO of the Maricopa Partnership for Arts and Culture (MPAC). “A vibrant and eclectic community is a critical factor in competing for talent. Ultimately, the economic advantages of attending to the arts and cultural sector benefit us all.”

That talent equates to original thinking, innovations and breakthroughs that benefit the businesses and organizations that attract them as well as those who live in the community. For the past two years, MPAC has been working to increase awareness about the symbiotic relationship among a range of sectors that depend on creative new ideas and innovation – from science, technology and engineering to arts and culture, architecture and design – to illustrate how they intersect and support each other.

A new study released in May 2006, Creative Connections: Arts, Ideas and Economic Progress in Greater Phoenix, measures the impact of creative occupations on the community and compares those numbers to other regions. While Maricopa County employs more than 100,000 people in creative occupations, making up 6.1 percent of the total workforce and generating $5.8 billion in annual wages, it still lags behind communities like Seattle, Denver and San Diego in the percentage of people working in creative fields.

The study examines the creative workforce in more than 150 different occupations and differentiates those rooted in arts, design and culture and positions rooted in new ideas and methods across many disciplines (such as science, engineering and business).

In addition to studying the region's creative workforce, Creative Connections emphasizes the importance of branding the region as a place where innovators will find meaningful jobs and enjoy creative stimulation at a variety of destinations where creative people congregate. - coffee houses, restaurants, galleries, museums and performance centers.

The study is a continuation of three years of work that originated when four foundations – The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, the Flinn Foundation, the J.W. Kieckhefer Foundation and the Margaret T. Morris Foundation – set out to explore how arts and culture programs across the Valley could be strengthened.

With the charge to develop a regional vision and strategies to position arts and culture as central to future community development, MPAC’s staff and board of directors have laid the foundation for building regional distinction, reaching new audiences, developing youth education programs and expanding the role of arts and culture in the economic future of the Valley.

"In order to thrive economically, the Phoenix region needs to be branded as a center of creativity, a place where people are attracted to come and stay," Millinger concludes. "Creative places attract creative people who produce creative ideas and products. It's a cycle that affects – and depends upon – the support of all sectors.