How Are You Creative, Ketchikan?

By the Numbers

• Community Participants: Estimated at 2,750 individual participants in Ketchikan, over the period of August 6-8, 2021.
• Community Volunteers: Estimated at more than 60 individual volunteers engaged in the process of coordinating, implementing and managing 11 events and activities supporting children and youth, community health, arts and cultures, commerce and other positive aspects of community vibrancy and connection.
• Artists: 218 community artists shared and presented art works through exhibition and performance.
• Community Partners and Sponsors: Ketchikan Area Arts and Humanities Council worked with public agencies, nonprofit organizations and businesses to accomplish the 46th Annual Blueberry Arts Festival in 2021. Alaska Airlines sponsored the festival, and community partners and sponsors include: the City of Ketchikan, Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Ports and Harbors, Fire Department, Ketchikan Public Library, Public Works, 49th State Security, Ketchikan Public Health Nurses, Alaska Market and Café, Misty Thistles Pipes and Drums, Community Connections. Other involved and sponsoring businesses include but are not limited to: The New York Café, Parnassus Books, Silly Munchkins, Tongass Business Center, Simply Bella, KPU TV, Ketchikan Charr, Community Connections Early Learning Program, The New York Café, SOHO COHO, Parnassus Books, and Chinook & Co. Greater Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce sponsored COVaid on the Mainstage and the Blueberry Vaccine Clinic.
• Vendors: 114 vendors including artists, makers, crafts people, food vendors, community organizations, and others operated booths on Saturday, August 7th.
• Economic impact: of the vendors selling goods through the KAAHC 46th Annual Blueberry Arts Festival booths on August 7th, revenue for individuals ranged between $700 – $6,000; vendors generated an average of $2,300 for that single day of sales.

Healthy, Vibrant Communities

At the Ketchikan Area Arts & Humanities Council 46th Annual Blueberry Arts Festival, we observed that artists and arts organizations are connectors and help build healthy, vibrant communities.

According to the lessons learned from four community projects documented by Rural LISC in their 2017 report Arts, Culture, and Community Outcomes: What Four LISC Projects Accomplished, “Cultural communities that affirm personal and community identity, as well as mutual respect, cooperation, and multi-culturalism, contribute to both personal and civic well-being.” Embedded in the name of the 46th Annual Blueberry Arts Festival, is a powerful symbol of personal and community identity in Ketchikan. The theme of the blueberry offers a potent image of time, place and culture, meaningful to this Southeast Alaska Community. Months of individual and cooperative preparation and conversation is required to implement a community festival, and through that process, community connection and cohesion grows.

Across the various events and activities of the 46th Annual Blueberry Arts Festival, artists and organizations presented a vibrant chorus of community perspectives. These many voices remind Ketchikan residents of the community’s diversity, celebrate their place and time, and introduce visitors to community cultural assets in a positive light. The location of the activities during the 46th Annual Blueberry Arts Festival activated a wide swath of Ketchikan’s downtown and waterfront, where visitors and residents intermingled during the three days of events. Particularly as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, this coming together around cultural vibrancy and sense of place can have a profound impact on individuals, families and communities. In the September 2020 edition of the National Lieutenant Governor’s Association’s series on State Strategies In Rural Affairs and Agriculture, Americans for the Arts, Vice President of Research, Randy Cohen notes:

“The arts also provide shared experiences in public spaces—a community connection that heals the loneliness caused by isolation and social distancing.

• 72% of Americans believe ‘the arts unify our communities regardless of age, race, and ethnicity.’
• 81% of the population says the arts are a ‘positive experience in a troubled world.’”

Learning Resources:

• Together with residents and partners, Rural LISC forges resilient and inclusive communities of opportunity across America–great places to live, work, visit, do business and raise families. Learn more about Creative Placemaking and read the 2017 report Arts, Culture, and Community Outcomes: What Four LISC Projects Accomplished.
• The National Lieutenant Governor’s Association published State Strategy Perspectives from NLGA members and NLGA Partners from September 2020 – February 2021.  This includes the post, The Rebuilding Power of The Arts in Rural Communities by Americans for the Arts, Vice President of Research, Randy Cohen.

Powerful Economic Impact

At the Ketchikan Area Arts & Humanities Council 46th Annual Blueberry Arts Festival, we observed that the arts can have powerful economic impact within and across a community.

114 vendors including artists, makers, crafts people, food vendors, community organizations, and others operated booths on Saturday, August 7th at the 46th Annual Blueberry Arts Festival. The economic impact of the people who activated public spaces across the three days of the Festival, engaged with Festival vendors and local storefront businesses, is significant. According to The Arts Economy of Southeast Alaska, a report published by the Southeast Conference in 2014, “Artists and arts organizations are a key part of the Southeast Alaska economy. They create products and perform services. They generate spending and attract audiences, who in turn spend money at restaurants, hotels, and other local businesses.”

This impact is not limited to commerce recirculated at the local level, but also draws increased economic activity from visitor populations, engaging directly with locally-owned and operated businesses. For rural communities in Alaska, in particular, as the State of Alaska focuses on the diversification of industries of opportunity, “Arts and culture are preexisting assets that communities can effectively harness and rapidly mobilize for economic growth.” This is one of the conclusions identified in Rural Prosperity Through the Arts & Creative Sector: A Rural Action Guide for Governors and States published by the National Governors Association in 2019.

Learning Resources:

• Published in 2014, The Arts Economy of Southeast Alaska study summarizes arts employment and wage data, as well as presenting the findings of The Economic Impact of Arts in Southeast Alaska Survey, which was taken by more than 600 artists and art organizations across the region.The study found that the arts economy is nearly three times as larger in Southeast Alaska than in the US as a whole, and is an important driver of the regional economy. Visit the Southeast Conference website to learn more.
• Rural America has a robust cultural history that has enriched the nation and its people. Rural America is also beset with social and economic challenges. The National Governors Association in 2019 published Rural Prosperity Through the Arts & Creative Sector: A Rural Action Guide for Governors and States, and gathered resources to support the action guide.

Supporting Artists

At the Ketchikan Area Arts & Humanities Council 46th Annual Blueberry Arts Festival, we observed that community arts organizations support artists and their development.

The planning, coordination, use of space and time, marketing and other logistics of the 46th Annual Blueberry Arts Festival was provided by a community organization: the Ketchikan Area Arts & Humanities Council (KAAHC). The mission of KAAHC is to “create and promote opportunities to experience the arts and explore the humanities.” Through this mission, and events like the Blueberry Arts Festival, KAAHC and its partners contribute to an infrastructure for local artists to conduct commerce, receive recognition for artistic excellence, engage with audiences, and offers spaces for exchange and conversation amongst individual artists. In Alaska, local arts agencies like KAAHC, are hubs for presentation and exhibition, artist professional development, dissemination of information in support of artist practice, and youth and adult arts learning. Support from local arts agencies for artists and their development is a critical element of a healthy arts ecosystem.

Organizations such as KAAHC that offer adult learning opportunities in the creative arts, are supportive to general, lifelong workforce development, both in and beyond the arts and culture sector. In 2018, NORC at the University of Chicago published the report, The Role of the Arts and Creative Expression in Employability and Economic Opportunity. In this report, a key takeaway is that “Workforce development initiatives that incorporate opportunities for artistic and creative expression can help bolster a person’s employability in a number of ways. Depending on the specific needs of an individual or group, arts activities may function as vehicles for the development and exercise of both hard and soft skills, and as points of entry for accessing other services and networks needed to find, retain, and advance in living-wage work.”

Learning Resources:

• Visit the “Artist Resources” section of the Ketchikan Area Arts & Humanities Council for information about artist professional development opportunities, calls to artists, video tutorials, and links to information, websites, and publications that support artists.
• In the face of rapid economic and technological change, it is important to look at every possible pathway for addressing and mitigating the barriers to economic opportunity that confront so many people in the United States today. Finding and maintaining steady, living-wage employment is a vital pathway toward financial stability. To learn more about the role of arts and creative expression in workforce development, visit the NORC Chicago website.

Action Items

How might you seek out arts learning opportunities, and promote the idea that Creativity is a sought after community asset? Below are some ideas for individuals, residents of Ketchikan, and other communities in Alaska!

• To connect with Ketchikan-based stories, opportunities and resources on this website look for the topics:  Ketchikan, ketchikanartliveshere, ketchikanarts, KTNblueberryarts, KTNhowareyoucreative
• What are the creative, arts and cultural assets in your community? Learn more about the groups and organizations that are offering learning opportunities in and through arts and cultural practice. Invite them to share about their work through this website…use the “participate” button to share stories, resources and opportunities in your community.
• Does your community have community fairs or festivals? Attend and get to know artists and creative community members and learn more about their practice.
• Do you like to volunteer? Connect with local arts and cultural organizations to see if they have opportunities to support these kind of events that build healthy, connected and vibrant communities.
• Read within this story about ways that engagement in and through arts and cultures, recognition of artists and culture bearers as community leaders, and arts learning can positively impact your community. Speak to your community leaders, elected officials, and others about what you learn; bring visibility to the public value of the arts and cultures in Alaska.