Indiana’s Creative Economy Leadership Alliance
What is CELA?
The Creative Economy Leadership Alliance (CELA) is Indiana’s statewide trade association for the creative economy.
CELA represents creative sectors across design, media, music, film, fashion, architecture, digital content, and other creative industries that drive jobs, innovation, and place competitiveness. Its role is to do for creative industries what other trade associations and industry groups do for manufacturing, tech, life sciences, agriculture, and sports.
CELA exists to track and communicate data, align sector priorities, and advocate for policies, incentives, and investments that support the growth, sustainability, and competitiveness of Indiana’s creative economy.
In practice, CELA focuses on three core functions: defining and measuring the creative economy, coordinating voices across creative sectors, and lobbying on behalf of creative industries at the state and regional level.
Why this matters.
Indiana has long invested in industries it can clearly define, measure, and advocate for. Manufacturing, agriculture, life sciences, sports, and technology all benefit from dedicated trade associations, reliable data, and consistent representation in policy and economic development conversations.
Creative industries have not had that same support.
Despite employing large numbers of Hoosiers and contributing significantly to the state’s economy, creative sectors have often been treated as secondary or supplemental rather than as core economic drivers. The absence of shared definitions, standardized data, and unified advocacy has made it difficult for policymakers, funders, and economic development leaders to fully understand their scale, impact, and needs.
This has led to uneven investment, fragmented initiatives, and missed opportunities to grow creative businesses, retain talent, and strengthen regional economies.
CELA exists to change that.
By organizing creative sectors under a single trade association, tracking and communicating data, and advocating for policies and incentives that reflect the realities of creative work, CELA helps ensure that creative industries receive the same strategic attention and infrastructure support as Indiana’s other priority industries.
This matters because creative industries are not peripheral to economic growth. They shape workforce development, drive innovation across sectors, and influence how competitive and livable Indiana’s communities are over time. Treating them as a serious industry is not cultural advocacy. It is economic strategy.
The Power of the Creative Economy
In the United States, the creative economy is defined as comprising various sectors that focus on the production and distribution of goods and services rooted in intellectual property. These sectors contribute significantly to the nation’s gross domestic product, job creation, wage growth, and export earnings.
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