The Edmonds Creative District Advisory Committee is at the beginning stages of implementing a state-required five-year strategic program. In November, Edmonds was designated as the first and only Certified Creative District in Washington. The program includes goals and milestones, established by community members and stakeholders.

When asked what this designation really means for Edmonds, Frances Chapin, City of Edmonds arts and culture manager, described it as “a commitment and an acknowledgment. It’s a way of focusing and leveraging opportunities.”

This focus will not just be on arts and culture, but on all creative businesses.

“We are hoping to find a way to capitalize on the wonderful arts and culture business environment we have created,” added City of Edmonds Economic Development and Community Services Director Patrick Doherty. “Arts and culture are often on a shoestring or volunteer budget and so you want to create a strong economy around them to sustain them.”

Goals of the program include strengthening and expanding creative identity, as well as leveraging and connecting creative experiences within the Edmonds Creative District.

“There’s always been a strong commitment to the arts in Edmonds,” Chapin said. “But this is a way to really tie the other creative businesses into that arts and culture core.”

The creative sector includes businesses like design, photography, videography, breweries and architecture.

“It’s the creative expression that spins out of the arts and culture heart,” Doherty explained.

Chapin noted that it is an especially significant time to merge the sectors.

“There is a such a blending of art and technology in today’s art world,” she said.

The Creative District designation encourages enhanced focus on opportunities for inclusion and diversity, life-long learning, and affordability.

A program milestone in 2019 includes convening a creative learning task force to expand and support learning opportunities for people of all ages, abilities and cultural backgrounds.

Possible education opportunities that could be leveraged include internships for youth within the creative sector.

“You create sustainability by creating opportunity for the next generation of creatives,” Doherty said.

According to Chapin, the Edmonds Arts Commission will be presenting a high school digital art exhibit in the Youth Art display case at the Frances Anderson Center, made possible with a community grant for equipment from the Edmonds Arts Festival Foundation. The first show will be in June and features digital photography and short videos produced by students in the area.

“They are on a path that may lead them to a career in the creative sector, so we are thinking about how we can support and foster that,” Chapin said.

The Creative District Advisory Committee is currently working on defining metrics of success. The committee is made up of 19 representatives that embody civic organizations, arts and culture, creative businesses, other city commissions, and at-large members.

The most recent meeting was May 9 at the Edmonds Library Plaza Room. Tracy Felix, owner of ARTspot Edmonds and former Downtown Edmonds Merchants Association president, raised a concern about increased revenue per business being used as a metric of success for the program. This could lead to rents increasing and therefore becoming too expensive for creative businesses, she said.

Doherty agreed with Felix’s concerns and said in a later interview: “We are interested in growth, but we’d like to focus on growth that feeds the arts and creative community.”

According to Doherty, efforts will therefore center on increasing the amount — rather than the revenue or value — of creative businesses, as well as increasing jobs.

“So, it isn’t necessarily about more value per business, but more so about diversifying our business sector downtown. We need more creative businesses downtown,” he said

Retaining and supporting businesses and nonprofits already in Edmonds is an additional area of emphasis.

“That may include looking at what kind of services and training that ensure those businesses stay successful or just bringing more awareness to our vibrant community,” Chapin said.

According to Chapin and Doherty, a possible best-case scenario would be a richer mix of creative businesses in downtown, as well as engagement from the entire community, not just the downtown area.

“Edmonds is a lot more than the charming downtown sector,” Doherty said.

The next Creative District Advisory Committee meeting will take place June 6, at 5:30 p.m. in the Plaza Room above the Edmonds Library.

— By Elizabeth Drolet