THE RURBAN FRINGE

Exploring Rural Development: Using the Arts as an Economic Driver

Posted on | March 5, 2010 | No Comments

Second in The ‘Fringe’s limited online series on rural/rurban development is Becky McCray, author of Small Biz Survival.  Not only has Becky created a great rural and small town business resource, she’s also an entrepreneur, social media consultant, and small biz speaker.  I was fortunate to connect with Becky last year, contributed a guest post to her site, and asked if she would be willing to share her insight here as well … and I’m glad she did.  I also offer a similar Canadian example below.  Enjoy! 

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Creating Artist Alley

By Becky McCray

At the recent Oklahoma Entrepreneur’s Conference, a panel of communities shared how they had become more entrepreneurial.  I want to share some stories from Mangum, Oklahoma. 

“If you count every man, woman, child, and chicken, we have 2,500,” Maxine Thomason said.  She is the mayor of Mangum, a former program manager of Mangum Main Street, and a 30-year teacher.

“Survival for a small towns is not a given,” she continued, “You have to work at it.”

Mangum chose the Main Street program as their stepping off point to work at survival.  “We don’t have the workforce or space for a manufacturer, so we have to offer a niche market,” Thomason said.

They ended up in the artist business.  Mangum’s Artist Alley is now famous in Oklahoma.  It started with an individual artist setting up a studio.  Then a few artists joined in … and it has now expanded to other entrepreneurial businesses moving into downtown.   

They do lots of advertising to bring in visitors.  One innovative tactic Thomason mentioned was an established business allowed artists to ‘piggy back’ on their newspaper inserts.

They made use of the state Main Street program.  Oklahoma Main Street has an architect service, at no extra charge.  Mangum used the Main Street architect to guide the remodeling of four storefronts.  It was formerly an Otasco [hardware store] and is now a local home centre, with a little bit of everything and is thriving.

The City of Mangum established a Revolving Loan Fund for local businesses.  They funded it through a grant by the United State Department of Agriculture.  The local Main Street committee offered $500 matching grants for facade improvements.  “It’s small, but it’s enough to start changes,” Thomason said.

The local Main Street also became a clearinghouse for available resources for small businesses.

“There’s lots of assistance out there,” Thomason concluded,” but sometimes it’s finding it.”

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In the case of Rosebud, Alberta, the arts became the means to an end … the end being the revitalization of their rural economy. 

Facing the decline of their community, concerned citizens created an arts school and rural theatre, retrofitting older, existing buildings for their use, and encouraging other street-level improvements.

This entrepreneurial activity, coupled with historic building facade restoration, encouraged related businesses to develop.  Today, individual art studios, retail shops, fine arts and crafts outlets, a general store, a museum, and a few B&B’s exist side-by side.  Jobs were created.  Shared facilities and resources were developed.  Enthusiasm grew.

It wasn’t easy and they didn’t do it alone.  Federal and provincial grants provided a variety of funding avenues, and partnerships with other businesses, community groups, and regional agencies provided invaluable contacts, access to resources, financing, and more.  

Motivated by this ongoing success, the Rosebud School of the Arts & Theatre is embarking on its largest project yet … restoring its historic mercantile building into a hospitality/administrative/retail space called Rosebud Centre.

All this … from a community of 100, but with a heart 10 times its size.

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