As an industry, artists and arts organizations have always had to get creative about how they communicate their craft to demonstrate their value beyond aesthetics.

Not given to succumbing under the pressure of a challenge, the creative community has reinvented itself and its business model to diversify revenue streams and maintain sustainability in a changing marketplace.

In Michigan, artists and arts and culture organizations have endured systematic cuts to funding support, resulting in a 91 percent decrease over the past decade, placing the state among the bottom five in per capita arts funding.

Arts organizations and managers intensified their grant-writing and fundraising initiatives to continue providing critical programs and services for the community, while becoming even more strategic and efficient in their promotions to attract new audiences.

Unfortunately, the number of arts-focused journalists in the state can be counted on one hand, leaving an abundance of inspiring success stories – from community and economic development to entrepreneurism to education to artistic expression – without a prominent platform to tell them.

ArtServe Michigan, Michigan’s leading statewide arts and cultural advocacy organization, refused to allow the power of the creative industries to go unnoticed.

ArtServe formed Creative Impact Michigan, a statewide, bi-weekly e-magazine and events website, with monthly video features, hosted at CreativeImpactMichigan.com, to generate awareness for the significance of the creative industry.

To increase access to audiences outside of the traditional arts circle, ArtServe enlisted the help of a professional, dedicated Web publishing team and a promotional partner. Public and private grants build and design the publication, as well as fund issues for the first year.

Launched in May 2011, Creative Impact Michigan illustrates how artistic and emerging talents are being utilized to meet current and future challenges and embrace opportunities within the state. Creative Impact Michigan also offers evidence of the contributions of artists and creative practitioners to vibrant communities and in attracting and retaining talent, businesses and residents.

By focusing on entrepreneurs and practitioners who are redefining the industry and taking an innovative approach to their craft, as well as the organizations and projects progressing the sector, the e-publication positions how the creative industry strengthens economic resilience, shapes youth to take the reigns of innovation and attracts new audiences, advocates and supporters.

The robust, fully searchable events calendar database is free and user-generated. The service has been especially valuable to regions of the state that do not have an established resource for posting regular events and projects.

The e-publication now reaches more than 60,000 subscribers (both inside and outside the state) and the events database has more than 400 regular contributors. Stories also are shared via social media platforms, primarily Facebook and Twitter, consistently increasing organic reach.

In the short term, the goals for the CreativeImpactMichigan.com communications project are focused on growing subscribers, increasing CIM content-sharing & traffic via social networks, and continuing to increase awareness among the state’s arts organizations and general public while cultivating corporate sponsors to support the project’s growth and continued operation.

Looking further down the road, ArtServe Michigan is positioning the website & publication to continue to reach outside “the choir” and grow new audiences for the state's arts and cultural industry as well as for grassroots arts advocacy action. The opportunity to generate "earned income" revenue through corporate sponsorships also can be used to help support ArtServe Michigan's core nonprofit advocacy and capacity-building programs which we provide to the state's creative sector.

As ArtServe continues building the multi-faceted case for the support of the arts in Michigan, the consistent growth in appetite for more content is encouraging. Creative Impact Michigan is proof that as an industry, it is imperative to share these positive stories, even if an entirely new platform must be created to do so.
 

Preview Image retrieved via Flickr: Michigan Muncipal League, Creative Commons Attribution.
Heidelberg Project : The Heidelberg Project is art, energy, and community. It’s an open-air art environment in the heart of an urban community on Detroit’s East Side.