Rural Economies Get Big Boost From The Arts

Wormfarm Institute’s Farm/Art DTour – a self-guided tour through more than 50 miles of Sauk County – features art installations highlighting the region’s farmland and creativity, including these corn cribs

I just watched a great segment on PBS about the Rural Arts and Culture Summit held last month in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Totally “got it” since many of my coolest trips have been to rural towns with amazing art scenes, e.g., Donald Judd’s Chinati Foundation in Marfa or Bombay Beach by the Salton Sea in California.

Rural counties that are home to performing arts organizations experienced population growth three times higher than rural counties that lack performing arts institutions.

National Governors Association
My curiosity led me to a report issued by the National Governors Association

It is chock-full of information on how governors are using their states’ arts and cultural assets to strengthen economic opportunities in rural communities:

  • In 2015, arts and cultural production contributed $67.5 billion to the economies of states in which 30% or more of the population lives in rural areas.
  • North Carolina and Tennessee are the two largest rural arts economies.
  • Rural counties that house performing arts organizations provide residents with higher incomes (up to $6,000 higher) than those without.
  • Two out of three rural businesses report that arts and entertainment are important for attracting and retaining workers.
  • Historic preservation and reclamation of abandoned spaces for the creative sector improve the quality of life.
Scroll down for 9 of my all-time favorite rural arts destinations
1. Marfa Texas (population: 1714)

One of my favorite places EVER. Unfortunately, I visited long ago, way before I had an iPhone so no personal photos from the trip.

Donald Judd installations
Donald Judd’s Chinati Foundation
Outside of town is a famous permanent art installation by Elmgreen and Dragset called “Prada Marfa.”
2. Bombay Beach, a census-designated place located on the Salton Sea. (Pop: 295)

I was in Palm Springs for Desert X but ended up more excited and impressed by the Bombay Beach Biennale. Also blown away by the nearby Slab City/Salvation Mountain art scene.

Drive-In by Stefan Ashkenazy, Sean Dale Taylor, Arwen Byrd
Bombay Beach Disco Lighthouse by Shigley & Ruspoli
Salvation Mountain/Slab City
Slab City
Slab City
3. Bentonville, Arkansas (population: 49,298)

I visited earlier this year with Karen Stone Talwar’s Adventures in Art to tour Crystal Bridges, James Turrell’s Skyspace and the fabulous Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs. But I also discovered some amazing street art. I would come back here in a heartbeat. Very cool town.

James Turrell’s Skyspace
Buckminster Fuller at Crystal Bridges
Leo Villareal’s lighted sculpture Buckyball at Crystal Bridges
Street art in Bentonville, Arkansas
4. MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA. (pop: 12,970)

Extraordinary museum in every way. I visited for the first time this year.

Natalie Jeremijenko
Spencer Finch
Trenton Doyle Hancock
5. Sun Tunnels by Nancy Holt in Wendover Utah (pop: 1454)

We discovered this on our way to Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson who, unbeknownst to us was Nancy Holt’s husband.

6. Spiral Jetty, Robert Smithson’s masterpiece, on the Great Salt Lake, Utah. The closest town is Tremonton (population: 8626)
7. The Hayward Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, Wisconsin (pop: 2302)

One of my all-time favorite trips. Incredible collection of trophy fish and folk art fishing lures. Approximately 100,000 visitors tour the museum each year. The 143-foot-long muskie sculpture is the world’s largest muskie.

8. Ugo Rondinone’s Seven Magic Mountains near Sloan (pop 105) Nevada

Phenomenal outdoor art installation. It’s comprised of seven 30ft to 35ft-tall limestone cairns in the desert about 12 miles from Las Vegas. It has drawn more than 1 million visitors since it opened in 2016.

9. DIA in Beacon NY (population: 14,523)

I haven’t been here since it opened but clearly need to revisit.

Next on my itinerary (hopefully!!): James Turrell’s Roden Crater in Northern Arizona.

Turrell has been working on it for 45 years! But now that Kanye West coughed up $10 million, he’ll hopefully finish the piece in the next year or so. The rural community around Painted Desert is waiting (as am I)!

And a few more “best in class” rural arts and culture destinations from the governors’ report.
mural in historic downtown goldsboro, north carolina.
the annual red pants music festival in sulphur springs montana attracts 18,000 people and generates $3 million in direct economic activity

Appalshop, a nonprofit that fuses technology and art, located in Whitesburg, Kentucky, in the heart of the southern Appalachian region of the United States. With their media-production facilities, 150-seat community theater, and art gallery, they manage to pump $1.5 million a year into the local economy.

Rolling Rez Arts, a mobile artist studio, in South Dakota.

This classroom, bank, and marketplace travels across South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in support of Native American artists. The bus brings creative career resources to arts entrepreneurs who would otherwise not have access to them including business workshops, digital equipment, film-editing software and a safe to help with banking needs. Through “buying days,” the program connects artists and their work to markets that are inaccessible because of geographic distances, lack of public transportation or other reasons.

Links:

If you’re still with me, here is the 7-minute PBS segment that got this whole post rolling. Worth watching!

Rural Arts and Culture Summit link.

Link to National Governors Report

Bottom Line.

Cultural heritage tourism is the next big thing. The more rural and off-the-grid, the better.

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