Art Port Townsend is celebrating its 16th year as an annual event with a juried exhibit, studio tours, juror’s talk and art reception.

Currently, Northwind Arts Center and the Port Townsend Arts Commission present the event, with the support of the Washington State Arts Commission and patronage, sponsorship and contributions from local banks, businesses and individuals.

With Port Townsend having the highest numbers of artists and arts activities in the state of Washington, the future of Art Port Townsend could expand to become a monthlong festival, including a full calendar of art happenings involving participation from the many galleries in the area, and partnering with organizations such as the Northwest Maritime Center, Centrum and others.

Thus, events like Art Port Townsend, which has served as a model of community-wide participation, have the potential of attracting more visitors to the city over a 30-day period when travel is at its peak.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

A recent study titled “Arts & Economic Prosperity” was conducted across the country in more than 150 regions to determine how the nonprofit arts and culture industry impacts economies.

The results showed these organizations to be resilient, locally rooted entrepreneurial businesses that employ individuals and purchase goods and services direct from the community. The Seattle study alone exceeded national averages in combined economic activity, earning nearly $500 million annually.

In citing arts events in particular, visitors accounted for 30 percent of attendees and spent twice as much as locals.

Another study tool highlighting participation, the Creative Vitality Index database, is now being accessed in Port Townsend currently through a grant opportunity that the Jefferson County Community Foundation (JCCF) received from the Washington State Arts Commission.

The local CVI partners (Centrum, Fort Worden Public Development Authority, the Port Townsend Main Street Program, City of Port Townsend, and Key City Public Theatre) in conjunction with JCCF, are “mining” the data to determine what impact arts organizations have on creative economies, not only from the nonprofit perspective, but the for-profit as well.

This data will help place development goals on organizations and businesses to enhance Port Townsend’s identification as an arts community by increasing new partnerships to create marketing plans for attracting more visitors, while better serving the resident population with arts programming and events.

ACCESS TO ART

With better partnerships and more effective goals, individuals within the community benefit by having access to the arts.

The CVI partners are taking the first steps in making Port Townsend, and Jefferson County, an inclusive place where arts organizations work together to serve individuals, both resident and visitor alike. With Port Townsend being a hub of art-related events and activities, maintaining a vital and healthy arts community is good for overall economic prosperity.

Community and economic vitality thrive when investments are made in the arts.

Port Townsend lives up to its slogan as an arts community not only by having so many creative artists and art lovers in a concentrated area, but by having key nonprofit organizations such as Centrum, the Northwest Maritime Center and Northwind Arts Center as anchors providing service to the arts. What makes an arts community distinctive is an adherence to the goals and objectives of organizations like these, which are made up of artists, residents and benefactors who ally to serve programs, events and cultural significance to the community at large.

With Port Townsend having the second highest nonprofit index in the state, the successes of these anchor organizations are tied directly to the community’s economic prosperity.

Ultimately, the vitality of the community itself is an engine for this prosperity. When individuals and foundations support and give to local arts organizations, this investment serves back to the community a healthy and vibrant economy.

(Michael D’Alessandro is the executive director of Northwind Arts Center in Port Townsend. Northwind has been connecting the arts and the community for more than 12 years and recently launched a capital campaign to purchase and renovate a space in downtown Port Townsend, in the historic Waterman & Katz Building.)