[Forum] Boston Globe: Report encourages arts in the Berkshires

[Joshua Field]

  Boston Globe:


  Report encourages arts in the Berkshires

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/03/09/report_encourages_arts_in_the_berkshires/

By Adam Gorlick, Associated Press Writer  |  March 9, 2007

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. --Capitalizing on more than just popular attractions 
like Tanglewood and the Norman Rockwell Museum would bolster Berkshire 
County's economy, business and community leaders say.

A two-year, $1 million study released Friday by the Berkshire Economic 
Development Corporation pushes for more development, support and 
marketing of the area's creative and artistic resources.

The so-called Berkshire Blueprint shows that about 6,000 people -- or 10 
percent of the workforce in Berkshire County -- are involved in some 
arts-related business that the report defines as a "creative cluster."

"Art means business in the Berkshires," said Laurie Norton Moffatt, 
director of the Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. "Until now, the impact 
of the creative cluster on the Berkshires hasn't been fully understood. 
It is an area ripe for economic development."

Berkshire County has been plotting an economic rebound since the 
mid-1990s, when General Electric Co. 
<http://boston.stockgroup.com/sn_overview.asp?symbol=GE> closed most of 
its operations there and laid off about 25 percent of the region's 
workforce.

"Most of the good jobs just evaporated, and we were left with high 
unemployment and all the problems associated with it," said Tyler 
Fairbank, president of the economic development corporation. "But our 
economy here is no longer made up of just one large employer base. It's 
about entrepreneurs and artists. We have an eclectic economy that's 
creative in its focus."

The Berkshire Blueprint suggests providing more training, marketing and 
infrastructure improvements in the area's towns to stimulate and support 
arts-oriented businesses.

The Pittsfield region topped six other urban areas in jobs growth -- by 
percentage -- in the one-year period ending in January, according to the 
Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development. The 3.6 percent gain 
was nearly double the next highest urban region, with trade, 
transportation and utilities sectors leading the way.

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