Check out highlights of this year’s Panel!
The Downtown Development District and Creative Alliance of New Orleans were happy to present a forum during Idea Village’s New Orleans Entrepreneur Week exploring the most effective strategies for combining real estate resources and creative industries production and programming for revitalizing urban neighborhoods and promoting economic development.
Leading off the discussion was the nation’s leading non-profit arts developer, responsible for 52 large scale arts facilities: Kelley Lindquist, President of Artspace.
Artspace specializes in repurposing properties for affordable residential, studio and workspace for artists, arts and cultural organizations, and creative businesses. 52 Artspace properties are in operation, and 7 are in development. Through the Artspace consulting division, Artspace has brought its hard-earned expertise to more than 300 cultural planning efforts from coast-to-coast.
Also on the panel were real estate leaders who have integrated creative uses in their projects, and who are part of citywide initiatives to grow the creative sectors of their cities, as well as creatives who we hope will grow their careers in New Orleans.
Panelists included:
Matthew Schwartz, CEO, Domain Properties. The significance of cultural programming, design features, and co-location with cultural entities as part of business plan for Domain Properties
Tara Hernandez, President, JCH Properties. The role the arts have played in her company’s project selection and her new role as chair of the New Orleans Music Initiative.
Brian Giattina, Steering Committee Chairperson, Create Birmingham. “Stoking Innovation in the Magic City: Birmingham’s Creative Industries, A Report to the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham”, 2014. How has that worked for Birmingham?
Jeanne Nathan, Executive Director, Creative Alliance of New Orleans and Co-Founder of the Contemporary Arts Center, on how the CAC enlivened a warehouse district in decline with the help of the Downtown Development District, Louisiana World’s Fair, warehouse developers and Preservation Resource Center
Jonathan Jackson, Independent filmmaker, Managing Partner at The Colored Section.
On creating short form content and films distributed independently through streaming
sites, the business of film, and future prospects to continue locally.
Moderator: Kurt Weigle, President and CEO, Downtown Development District
“The Downtown Development District has long been aware of how important businesses and producers of “Industries of the Mind” have been to the continuing health and growth of our city’s Central Business District, and indeed to the entire city,” said Kurt Weigle, President & CEO of the Downtown Development District. “We take pride in our long-standing commitment to the creatives of our city and hope this panel will further a broader understanding and commitment to the creative industries by entrepreneurs, public policy, business and educational leaders,” said Weigle.
“The Creative Alliance of New Orleans has enjoyed a productive partnership with the Downtown Development District in building on the creative businesses, galleries and leading arts destinations that have made the CBD their home for four decades. Our leadership helped birth the Contemporary Arts Center in the heart of an aging warehouse district, which, with important help from the DDD helped grow the Arts District of New Orleans and the destinations that have drawn residents, visitors, businesses and creatives into the area,” said Jeanne Nathan, Executive Director of CANO and co-founder of the CAC.
Kelley Lindquist will be revisiting New Orleans almost to the year since Artspace opened its doors for the $37 million Bell Artspace Campus in Treme. “The Bell Artspace Campus project was a labor of love that emerged from a shared community vision to keep the artists that contribute to the rich cultural heritage of Treme anchored in the community, for generations to come. I am thrilled to return to New Orleans to share our experiences in building art spaces throughout the nation and especially to celebrate our New Orleans Artspace campus at the former Bell School,” said Lindquist.
The Downtown Development District is a partner in the Greater New Orleans Inc.’s initiative to grow the music industry, and is developing plans to match that study with a project to better quantify, evaluate the economic impact of, and work with the Creative Alliance of New Orleans and other city initiatives to develop more robust investment in and growth of the creative industries sector of the city’s economy.