'Sky is the limit': State officials, industry leaders excited about new Creative Industries Division

Lee Francis always knew he wanted to start a business that dealt with the literary arts — specifically, by helping create resource material for students that can help change the perception of Native and Indigenous peoples in pop culture.

So Francis — from Laguna Pueblo — started Native Realities in 2014, an indigenous comic book company that has since expanded to include the world’s first Indigenous Comic Con.

To build Native Realities into a thriving business over the last decade, Francis received help from Santa Fe-based Creative Startups, a business accelerator that offers intensive, hands-on training through four-to-eight-week programs for startups in the creative industries. Francis participated in the accelerator in 2016, and after graduation, received a $25,000 investment to help kick-start and grow his company.

Native Realities, now a global company, is one of many businesses that got its start in New Mexico’s creative economy. While no precise data exists on the number of local companies in the industry space, New Mexico is considered a bustling hub for creative businesses.

To build on that strength, the state is now launching a novel effort to provide resources and technical assistance through a newly-formed Creative Industries Division at the Economic Development Department, or EDD.

“It’s phenomenal,” Francis said. “This (division) is tapping into one of the things that we are in abundance of in New Mexico, which is creative entrepreneurs.”

What are the creative industries?

There is no standard definition of what constitutes the creative economy. But in general, it includes everything from design, games, software and film to music, publishing and performance and visual arts.

Creative Startups founder and CEO Alice Loy said, in essence, the creative industries can be defined as “intellectual property.”

“If you write a book, that’s a creative process because it came from your intellect,” Loy said. “Whether it’s gaming, writing, publishing or whatever, all of that comes from some creative person who owns it.”

House Bill 8, which the state Legislature passed this year to create the new EDD division, provides an expansive definition of the creative industries that includes architectural businesses, museums, galleries, and computer technology that encompasses everything from innovative hardware development to coding and digital media.

Rep. Reena Szczepanski, a Santa Fe Democrat who co-sponsored HB 8, said the legislative definition is deliberately broad to allow the new EDD division to provide incentives for a wide range of creative endeavors.

“My priority is that New Mexico becomes the center of the universe for cultural and creative activity in the country,” Szczepanski told the Journal. “There’s a lot of untapped potential (here). … We’re so strong in the creative industries naturally that maybe it’s almost been taken for granted.”

The new division

The legislation received broad bipartisan support , but creating the new EDD division is still a work in progress. The Legislature approved $2 million for its first year of operations to set up the organizational framework for the division going forward, and to provide funds to award industry development grants to local municipalities.

Las Cruces Democratic Sen. Jeff Steinborn, who co-sponsored HB 8, said the Legislature earmarked a lot more money to kick-start the new EDD division than for other newly-launched programs in recent years. The Outdoor Recreation Division, for example, received just $200,000 in its first year.

“It’s a strong start … and the Legislature should absolutely give this new division recurring funding this upcoming session so it performs the way we would all like,” Steinborn told the Journal.

Once up and operating, the division is authorized to provide $1.8 million in grants to local municipalities for creative industry projects, educational programs and workforce training, said Shani Harvie, EDD’s justice, equity, diversity and inclusion coordinator who is overseeing the division startup.

That will include 18 different grants of $100,000 each for local governments that demonstrate the potential to stimulate community or economic development through the creative industries, Harvie said.

The state released a request for proposals last week for a contractor to help establish the division’s operational framework. The contractor will conduct a statewide study of the creative economy and the industry’s needs to help develop budget projections for the future.

The contractor will also likely review potential partnerships with other organizations connected to the creative economy, such as educational institutions like Santa Fe Community College.

The college could potentially work with EDD to facilitate workshops, training and continuing education programs, said Jim Wysong, dean of the School of Liberal Arts and the School of Arts, Design, and Media Arts.

“Where I see this having the greatest benefit is for people who are already practicing artists — giving them the tools to be more successful,” Wysong told the Journal.

Economic impact

A study in 2014 by the University of New Mexico’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research reported that, at that time, the creative industries in New Mexico directly employed about 77,000 people, contributing about $1.37 billion in wages and salaries.

But those estimates are likely very conservative because a much broader definition of the creative economy and businesses and professions that today would likely be included in the creative industry sector would greatly expand the estimates of the existing workforce and wages and salaries in New Mexico, said BBER Senior Program Manager Suzan Reagan.

Separately, a “state profile” of the creative economy from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, estimates $3.2 billion in local economic output from arts and cultural production, representing about 3% of the New Mexico economy.

Creative businesses, meanwhile, expect a big industry boost from the new EDD division.

Existing EDD assistance programs have already helped many creative businesses launch and grow in recent years, such as the artists’ collaborative Meow Wolf, which received state economic incentives to help grow its immersive “House of Eternal Return” entertainment venue into a booming business in Santa Fe. The company now employs about 1,200 people, including about 400 in New Mexico and the rest at Meow Wolf venues in other states.

The launch of a new EDD Creative Industries Division is uplifting, said Elisa Montoya, Meow Wolf’s vice president of planning and policy.

“There’s a lot of exciting things happening here in the state,” Montoya told the Journal. “We’re beginning to see increased job opportunities, education opportunities and training opportunities. When I think about the state’s commitment to establishing this Creative Industries Division — and I think about the future — I’m just struck with the (feeling that the) sky is the limit.”