Kenosha Rising is a Kenosha Artist Community Assessment

You can download the full report here:
https://kenosharising.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/finalreport.pdf

OBJECTIVES

IllustrationThe study seeks to:
Determine the relative size, composition and characteristics of artists and cultural producers. Estimate economic contributions. Assess the strengths, needs and opportunities of the Kenosha arts sector in questions pertaining to the following categories:

  1. Discipline or area of endeavor of respondents
  2. Demographics (sex, age, educational attainment, race, years as artist)
  3. Work status of respondents (full or part time, amateur, student, etc.)
  4. Geographic distribution; places of residence and of production
  5. Social networks
  6. Organizational membership/involvement
  7. Respondents’ view of the adequacy of available creative resources
  8. Amount of direct local sales revenue
  9. Degree to which creative work produces a living income
  10. Venues for exhibiting art
  11. Opinions about what to preserve, how to better support/retain artists

CONTEXT

In January of 2012, the Kenosha Area Business Alliance and the City of Kenosha engaged the Lakota Group (Planning and Design), Goodman Williams Group (Market and economic analysis) and T.Y. Lin International (Transportation Planning) to initiate a planning process to develop a strategic revitalization and implementation strategy for Kenosha’s downtown.
Within the Downtown Strategic Development Plan, analysis of the creative economy is provided, speaking to the importance of the City Commission on the Arts (CCOA) as a driver of future economic development through the downtown district. The CCOA now considers creating Kenosha’s Creative Economy Strategic Plan.

SOURCES:

  • Florida, Richard. The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2012
  • Hembd, Jerry and Dane, Andrew. “Craftspersons and Artists in Northwest Wisconsin: Putting A Face to the Creative Industry.” Northern Center for Community Economic Development, University of WI-Superior/Extension. December 2006
  • Markusen, Ann., and Schrock, Greg. “The Artistic Dividend: Urban Artistic Specialisation and Economic Development Implications” Urban Studies, 2006 43: 1661
  • Creative Industries: A New Economic Growth Opportunity for the Milwaukee 7 Region. Creativity Works/A Joint Project of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee and the Greater Milwaukee Committee. Jan 2011
  • Madison Cultural Plan; Findings of the Arts and Creative Workers Survey. Mary Berryman Agard and Associates. 2010