The Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development recently announced that the former Vermont film commission head would be tapped to lead the recently created Office of the Creative Economy in a reshuffling of the deck. The shuttered film commission had been under fire quarters in Vermont’s film community in 2011.

The year ahead is an opportunity that needs to be done right, to produce results that make the case government has a role to play in fostering creative sectors of our economy. Its unclear what the film commission’s results were in 2011. Perhaps there is an annual report on activities laying around one can get their hands on? Here are a few ideas about what the office could do in its first year, where it might focus its attention – I’ll look forward to seeing where this important new platform for advancing creativity in the state will go. I’d love to hear more ideas.

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Creative economy encompasses a vast array of business & fields. Where should the director focus your energy, what should be the goals, strategy & strategic partnerships identifying issues/concerns or risks?

First, define deliverables. Work with the Agency of Commerce – the Agency of Housing and Community Development and whomever, the OCE commission or steering committee if one exists – to define deliverables for year one. I suspect we’re going to want to have something to show, to convince the State House that we’re worth the public investment and a value added lever for the State’s economic growth strategy. Initial conversations may not focus on the how – that will come with stakeholder engagement – but politically on the what, which may shift with input. A second, related cut at this work is the need to get basic operations up and running – define key protocol, input and decision-making processes, oversight and accountability, outreach messages, etc.??Goal: define a set of internal priorities and benchmarks against which we can align external input.

• Goal: establish quickly a coherent and implementable framework for action in the short-term.

Second, build upon the work of the Vermont Film Commission. I understand that there is steady rhythm of permit requests to be handled in a very timely fashion. At the same time I get the sense that there is some work to do to re-engage the Vermont film community in a larger dialogue with the state. In part this means expanding the definition of “film” to include video production and delivery. And grow opportunities for Vermont filmmakers – consolidate and share information about grants, competitions, and showcase opportunities while promoting their work across and beyond the state.

Related to this work is the opportunity to expand the definition of the office to include key emerging sectors, from mobile application design to game design, new web enabled services to professional practices. All are being transformed rapidly; each has needs and opportunities the OCE could support. The challenge here will be to identify high-leverage points and identify ways to bring support to bear.??Goal: maintain standard, build trust and accord with the film arts community, and craft a shared agenda.

• Goal: Define an inclusive, dynamic, exciting office that has support and momentum behind it from key growth sectors.

Third, learn, integrate, synthesize. Start having conversations with stakeholders across the state to understand their needs and inform the agenda of the Office of the Creative Economy. Essential areas to focus this conversation include: the existing high-tech engines in Vermont, the state’s knowledge workers and creative base; the states arts and cultural enterprises, for and non-profit – learn what their customers and constituents need to do what they do, better; the investment community – how do they assess the creative economy in Vermont, both where are their activities focused and what’s around the corner; and the states education system – primary, secondary, and higher ed centers that are preparing Vermont’s next generation, creative work force.

A parallel track of this work is to align the work of the OCE in complementary ways to major emerging agendas across the state – from the Vermont Farm to Plate initiative to the Action Plan of the Vermont Working Landscape Partnership to broader frameworks like the Imagining Vermont Framework for Vermont – all important agenda-setting documents that point to pathways for the growth and contributions of Vermont’s creative workforce.

There is an opportunity to work with other state agencies here to identify opportunities to grow the creative economy in Vermont as a whole. This means thinking about finding ways to a) suit up our workforce for creative output – through education, training, professional development, and less formal modes of knowledge sharing; b) think about how we recruit a highly trained creative workforce to the state – what is it they (the creative workforce) wants that we can deliver or develop? and finally c) ways to support opportunities across the business community expand their creative output. ??Goal: identify key networks across the state from which relationships back to communities will grow.

• Goal: establish the OCE within Commerce as an invested, neutral convenor
• Goal: cultivate an ongoing dialogue with creative communities across the state that form the basis of advice and action
• Goal: elicit substance that can be used to shape research and policy advice

Fourth, foster relationships in the State house. Bring greater awareness and support for the Office of the Creative Economy by focusing on individual and group education – meetings, presentations, workshops, with the office and with our stakeholders.??Goal: identify allies and detractors alike whose support (or lack of it) is important to the success of the creative economy.

• Goal: foster an understanding of the basic definition, output, and importance of the creative economy in Vermont
• Goal: establish relationships that can translate into policy stewardship as a legislative agenda emerges within/from the OCE

Fifth, establish lines of research. Let’s figure out some leading indicators that help us direct the activities of the OCE in ways that both complement existing state strategies and help to uncover, define new directions for state support. This will include a significant engagement with state and out-of-state research-driven institutions and centers of excellence in public policy. The goal is to come out with a creative economy research strategy that accounts for social, educational, policy, and economic insights matched by a resource strategy that ensures its carried out.

• Goal: translate stakeholder and community input into a research agenda that can inform decisions, actions
• Goal: address gaps in value proposition, direction-setting that can be filled through better research
• Goal: use joint/shared research as a mechanism for building working partnerships across the state, for example with academia

Finally, have some fun. By engaging across the creative economy in – and beyond – Vermont, cultivate some buzz and excitement, some positive momentum behind this thing that excites others and helps to stimulate the imagination, the sense of what’s possible. This can be achieved through formal and informal activities – from local meetups to TED-like forums for sharing and learning.

Risks
At least five risks in this work include:

• Overly defining the scope of the OCE. The risk here is alienating key sectors of Vermont’s creative economy on the one hand, and defining it so broadly on the other that is loses clarity, focus, meaning.
• Focus on inputs rather than conditions. A critical error in fostering the creative economy would to emphasize inputs – financial investments, for example – without a recognition of the conditions that will attract and support a creative workforce. To build the latter requires conversations across agencies, sectors.
• Mission collision with key allies. It will be important to understand how the OCE can work with, and complement, existing related work – for example, the Vermont Arts Council and the Vermont Rural Partnership – rather than compete and impede.
• Fail to convince legislature of value. In many ways OCE success is in part tied to success building relations with state legislature – for example budget requests will be tied to performance and value proposition.
• Missing an historical moment. Perhaps the largest risk is to miss the opportunity to translate Vermont’s historical moment – the convergence of a turning point in our economy, a fresh cultural outlook, the coalescence of a lot of groundwork – to cultivate Vermont’s creative economy in a way that drives growth.