So, what is the creative economy?

The creative economy encompasses the artists, cultural nonprofits, and creative businesses that generate jobs, revenue, and quality of life. For example, the creative economy can include visual art, music, photography, graphic design, marketing, non-creative jobs within a creative agency, creative jobs within non-creative agencies, and much more—if we listed every job the creative economy encompasses, we’d be here for a couple years at least. So how’s the creative economy doing here in Indiana?

So yeah, it’s doing pretty dang well.

Even so, we as a state need to keep nurturing our creative economy—otherwise, Indiana could lag behind in the race for talent. If we leverage our strong creative economy through a statewide strategy, we will propel our economic growth. What’s the first step in creating this statewide strategy, you ask? Forming a coalition of stakeholders—which is exactly the goal behind Pattern’s Creative Economy Summit.

At our inaugural summit last year, we gathered an impressive 225 leaders and creative economy stakeholders. The most popular discussions surrounded:

• Film tax credits

• Funding mechanisms

• Collaboration between creative and traditional industries

• Expanding specialized support for creative entrepreneurs

• Funding the Indy music strategy

When attendees were polled, 75% found the content useful and learned new concepts, 84% rated the event very good or excellent, and 70% said they would definitely attend the 2024 summit. 

Even outside of the summit, though, we at Pattern are working hard every day to strengthen the creative economy. Through internships and fellowships, the SPACE program, the magazine, and more, Pattern is your ally in making Indiana’s creative economy stronger.