Want to be a New Economy Magnet? Get Certified!
By Jeanne Mozier
Does your community benefit from cooperation between arts and humanities groups, business leaders, social and jurisdictional agencies? If the answer is yes, you may as well get the gold star that proves it.
The West Virginia Certified Arts Community designation is for communities that reap the benefit of high-level cooperation in town and county leadership.
Only two communities, Berkeley Springs and Lewisburg, have earned the official certification, but several other West Virginia communities could achieve it if their leaders recognize its importance and apply to the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.
Like earning a sports “letter” and wearing it on your jacket, having the designation of West Virginia Certified Arts Community lends prestige. Branding your town, city or county as an art town tells the world you have substance and accomplishment. You can tout your certification in all marketing, publicity and promotional material. It will be useful in everything from tourism advertising to recruiting for industry and business.
The State Arts Plan of the West Virginia Commission on the Arts encourages the establishment and promotion of certified arts communities as a way to achieve its goal of making West Virginia an arts magnet for creative industries, working artists and cultural tourists.
Reading the grant application at http://www.wvculture.org/arts/grants.html will give you a summary of the steps involved in the certification process.
The application process itself is instructive. Questions to be answered help local leaders appreciate art activity and cultural planning, underscoring the value of collaboration. Most important is the requirement for a resolution from either your county or town “recognizing the importance of the arts to economic development, educational quality and civic involvement.” The certification process motivates community leaders to recognize that arts are crucial to economic development.
Approaching the WV Division of Culture and History takes the process one step further in gaining wider recognition of arts activities in your community. Samples of resolutions from Berkeley Springs and Lewisburg are available from the Arts Section of Culture and History.
Once the designation is awarded, exploit it. Launch a full-blown media campaign to announce it to the world. Have a press conference and share the stage with the elected officials who passed the resolution. Send press releases to all media in your region, especially business-oriented publications. Note that you are a certified arts community on websites relating to your town and its activities. Put it on brochures. Encourage the local economic development authority and CVB to use the title. Polish it with use, and your West Virginia Certified Arts Community designation could be a gold star that stays bright forever.
Jeanne Mozier, author of the travel guide Way Out in West Virginia, is a member of the WV Commission on the Arts, founding member of Travel Berkeley Springs CVB and the Morgan Arts Council. She has been recognized nationally and in state for outstanding community service.