Innovative Sustainable Strategies for Small-Town Rural Economic Development
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This document summarizes an economic development plan for the town of Ashby, MA focused on innovative and sustainable strategies. The plan recommends developing cultural assets like festivals and creative industries to attract tourists. It also suggests improving infrastructure like public water and creating shared work spaces. The goal is to nurture Ashby's creative economy and attract young residents through arts and culture-based development.
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Innovative Sustainable Strategies for Small-Town Rural Economic Development
- 1. Innovative Sustainable Strategies for Small-Town Rural Economic Development Jennifer Siciliano, City Planner of Woonsocket, RI Eric Smith, Principal Planner, Montachusett Regional Planning Commission
- 2. Ashby Sustainable Economic Development Plan Ashby, MA Jennifer Siciliano City Planner City of Woonsocket, RI
- 10. Cultural/Creative Economy Plan Town of Ashburnham, MA Eric R. Smith, AICP Principal Planner Montachusett Regional Planning Commission
- 22. Ashburnham and the Montachusett Region
- 38. Map of Cultural Assets
Editor's Notes
- This definition comes from Mt. Auburn Associates… “ The enterprises and people involved in the production and distribution of goods and services in which the aesthetic, intellectual, and emotional engagement of the consumer gives the product value in the marketplace.”
- Employment and Payroll data from 2000 the New England Council’s Creative Economy Initiative Report NEFA released new Nonprofit Sector Report – other reports help quantify CE Economic Impact across NE States www.nefa.org
- Bellows Falls, VT. Has experienced a revival following several historic preservation efforts including a renovated opera house and new theatre company. The Bellows Falls Opera House is located on the first floor of Rockingham Town Hall in the center of downtown Bellows Falls, Vermont. Town Hall was constructed in 1926 in the Classical Revival Style and has a distinctive six-story clock tower. The building is a Bellows Falls landmark and serves as the cultural and civic heart of the community. The Rockingham Town Hall underwent a $3.7 million renovation from 2004~2006 that restored the Bellows Falls Opera House to accommodate both movies and live performances A 2 nd project is the Exner Block Building project. The $1.2 million restoration of the historic Exner Block at 7 Canal Street in Bellows Falls, Vermont was completed in August 2000, which has created 10 affordable live/work spaces, with preference given to artists, and 6 retail storefronts. Rockingham Arts and Museum Project (RAMP)
- Pittsfield – Colonial Theater restoration project: “The Colonial is an appropriate symbol of the re-emergence of Pittsfield as the economic and cultural center of the Berkshires. A restored and active Colonial Theatre, together with Pittsfield’s other cultural attractions and businesses, is creating jobs, attracting and inspiring audiences, contributing to rising real estate values and adding vitality back to a city that has been recreating itself as a people-center from its earlier days as a manufacturing center.” from colonial theater website Storefront Artists Project – Pittsfield, MA. The Storefront Art Project was an important early step in connecting creative people with the City of Pittsfield. The idea was developed when Maggie Mailer, a painter from Brooklyn, NY (and daughter of the Pulitzer Price-winning author Normal Mailer), arrived in Pittsfield in 2002. Mailer, who grew up in the Berkshires, had the idea to persuade landlords to let artists use the empty spaces as studios. For more information visit http://storefrontartist.org/.
- North Adams, MA – MassMoca! Which took over the former Sprague Electronics factory complex. North Adams had become economically devastated since the factory close in early 80s. Community has since turned things around since opening of MassMoca in 1999…
- Walpole, NH small town in SW NH bordering VT. The Town’s Planning Board is working to incorporate Creative Economy elements within their Economic Development chapter to the Master Plan Agricultural: Alyson’s Orchard (Agritourism)+ Dairy Farming element to community. Farmer’s Market + Arts/Culture
- Americans for the Arts has tools to assist with documenting of economic impact. For example ArtsAlive!, a regional arts & culture organization serving the Monadnock Region of NH, worked with American for the Arts, on the Monadnock Regional Economic Impact Analysis Study – $5-6K You can get the study at www.monadnockartsalive.org SWOT – Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats
- Ashburnham part of the 22 community MRPC…. The Town applied to MRPC in 2010 for DLTA (funded by Comm of Mass) to have MRPC develop a Cultural/Creative-Economy Plan for the community.
- Second bullet - 20 Lakes located within the Town of Ashburnham… 6-8 larger lakes with “summer camps” most now converted into year-round homes Third bullet – Mt. Watatic identified as of one of Mass 1,000 Places to Visit Cushing Academy prestigious private prep school in/adjacent to the Village Center The impetus for the development of the cultural/creative economy plan goes back to the “ Ashburnham Industrial Land Suitability Study” prepared by UMass Amherst Graduate Students in the Fall of 2006 and finalized in December 2007. The Study revealed that both existing market conditions and lack of infrastructure placed the Town in a situation where the residential tax burden would not be corrected through the development of a large scale Industrial Park in the short to mid-term
- Online database maintained by the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA). A good tool to start working with.
- Piano Study Center attendance the past couple of fiscal years has been consistent: both FY 2008-'09 and 2009-'10 saw about 275 people per year. Within SML - Malcolm Stewart Room, Preservation Room
- The Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area includes communities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire that share unique historical, natural, and cultural resources. The region is home to a series of historic events that influenced democratic forms of governance and intellectual traditions that underpin concepts of American freedom, democracy, conservation, and social justice. These 45 cities and towns share common themes that have contributed toward this special landscape of American History. 17 of MRPC’s 22 communities are within the FWHA.
- Ashburnham Concerts on the Green - Held at the Winchester Park – does anyone know more details of organizers of this concert series? Rebecca Rice Dance is based on the vision of Artistic Director Rebecca Rice (also Chairperson of ACC) through the creation, research, teaching and presentation of original dance compositions. RUSSES SUITE (2009) 20 minutes . five movements Music: Stravinsky, Shostakovitch, Provokiev, Khachaturian Premiere: Symphony Hall, Boston, MA . guest of Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops . May 19, 2009. Performance part of the "Boston Ballets Russes Festival 2009 - 100th Anniversary Celebration"Peter Rand and Anna Winestein, driectors.
- Ashburnham Residents listed on GALA: Steve Hjelm, Watercolor Ed Schneeflock, Photography & Painting Ellen Schneeflock, Painting Julie Tremblay, Photographer Filmmaker and Sculptor We want to find more local individual artists out there in the community.
- See report for Greg Berry’s detailed inventory of Oakmont’s Visual Arts and Summer Art Studio Programs
- Analysis and Discussion of Ashburnham’s Cultural/Creative Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (“SWOT Analysis”) See print out and highlight a few from each category
- Cultural Districts – Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill into law over the summer that allows communities to create “state sponsored cultural districts” to stimulate new arts and cultural activity and attract creative businesses. The law directs the Mass. Cultural Council to create a new program that designates local cultural districts to “attract artists and cultural enterprises to a community, encourage businesses and job development, establish tourist destinations, preserve and reuse historic buildings, enhance property values and foster local cultural development.” Cultural districts can help local arts, humanities, and science organizations improve the quality and range of their public programs so that more local families can benefit from them. They can enhance the experience for visitors and thus attract more tourist dollars and tax revenue. And they can attract artists, cultural organizations and entrepreneurs of all kinds - enhancing property values and making communities more attractive. Legislation offers no new funds for MCC, so the Cultural District program will offer no grants or other financial rewards to communities, at least in the first year. It directs MCC to work with other State governmental agencies, to “ID State incentives and resources to enhance cultural districts.” The MCC is to work over the coming months to create guidelines for the program with input from those agencies, the cultural community, and the broader public.
- MRPC was able to leaverage some of our DLTA funding for the Ash Plan by hiring Berkshire Creative and Mt. Auburn Associates, with their previous experience to assist in the Goals and Recommendations phase of the Project. Mt. Auburn Associates (a leading national consulting firm in the field of creative economy-based economic development) and BerkshireCreative (a nationally recognized creative economy support and development organization in western Massachusetts )
- the following recommendations were suggested to achieve the goals above
- Talk more about the latter bullet in a few minutes
- Michael Kane
- Last bullet then segue into next slide…incorporating a Regional Cultural/Creative Economy element within MRPC’s HUD Sustainable Regional Planning Grant Application