Kentucky’s Creative Industry Report to be Highlighted at International Conference
The Kentucky Arts Council is celebrating 2015 as the Year of the Arts, but it could also be called the Year of the Creative Industry in Kentucky.
Kentucky’s Creative Industry Report has drawn praise from the National Endowment for the Arts and provided a baseline assessment of the number of people employed by Kentucky’s creative enterprises, the industry’s economic impact and an examination of its convergence with other important economic sectors. The report also includes recommendations for the Kentucky Arts Council, other state government agencies and creative industry stakeholders to consider in further expansion of the creative industry. The Kentucky creative industry includes all individuals and companies whose products and services originate in artistic, cultural, creative, authentic and/or aesthetic content.
Emily Moses, the arts council’s creative industry manager, and Lori Meadows, executive director of the arts council, will present findings of research done for the report at the Community Development Society’s 46th annual international conference, July 19-22 at the Hilton Lexington/Downtown.
Applications Being Accepted for Kentucky Crafted Program
The Kentucky Arts Council is accepting applications from artists interested in participating in the Kentucky Crafted Program.
Kentucky Crafted is an adjudicated marketing assistance program for the state’s finest visual and craft artists. It provides assistance to Kentucky artists through marketing and promotional opportunities and arts business training. The program is an ideal way for artists to open up a new market to wholesale buyers and work on their entrepreneurial skills. Carrying the Kentucky Crafted brand puts them among the best visual and craft artists in the state.
Artists accepted into the Kentucky Crafted Program are eligible to use the Kentucky Crafted logo, exhibit at Kentucky Crafted: The Market, be included in the arts council’s online directory for artists, sell work at the Governor’s Derby Celebration, and take advantage of cooperative advertising opportunities.
Madison County woodworker Jerry Hollon has been in the Kentucky Crafted Program since the early 1980s.
“Being in the program has meant a lot of work has come my way,” Hollon said. “It’s given me the opportunity to market my craft in places I never dreamed of. I went to New York in the early ’90s as part of the program and I was able to gain sales all over the New England area. Kentucky Crafted gave me the structure I needed to move forward in marketing my art and craft and it gave me the avenue to do it. When you’re first starting out, you need structure in how to do it, and the program helped me with that.”
The deadline to apply for Kentucky Crafted is Aug. 17. For more information about the program, contact Ed Lawrence, arts council arts marketing director, at [email protected] or (502) 564-3757 ext. 473.
5 Artists Juried into Performing Arts Directory
Three performing arts groups will join the roster of performers from a variety of disciplines in the Kentucky Arts Council’s Performing Arts Directory.
The directory is a go-to resource for arts programmers, event planners, libraries, businesses and anyone who wants to hire Kentucky talent for a performance program or private event.
Artists or groups who have been added to the directory include:
• Misty Mountain String Band, music, Louisville
• Mitzi Sinnott (All Here Together Productions), theater, Flatwoods
• Nick Hill (Phourist), music, Louisville
In addition, one individual and one group were readmitted to the directory:
• Erin Fitzgerald (A Girl Named Earl), music, Louisville
• TDH4, music, Lexington
In addition to booking and performance opportunities, participation in the directory also gives performers access to training in business and marketing and other professional development tools.
For more information on the directory, visit the arts council website or contact Tamara Coffey, individual artist director, at [email protected] or (502) 564-3757, ext. 479.
Lori Meadows is executive director of the Kentucky Arts Council.
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