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Denver measures its business 'creativity'

James Paton, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 13, 2007 at midnight

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Visitors to the Denver Art Museum, the zoo or the local movie theater and workers at those venues are contributing to an index gauging the health of the city's "creative" sector.

The Denver Office of Cultural Affairs, seeking to highlight the role the arts play in economic development, is using the "Creative Vitality Index" to measure the city's progress.

The Western States Arts Federation conducted the study and found that Denver fared well against Portland but fell far behind Seattle, the two other cities that participated.

"In the arts, you want to tell the economic message as well," said Erin Trapp, director of the cultural affairs office. "People are familiar with an index. It's something almost everyone understands."

Denver scored 2.79 in the index, compared with 5.26 for Seattle and 2.16 for Portland. The office plans to commission the research again in 2008 and 2009.

"We're very pleased to be in the same range or even higher than Portland," Trapp said. "That's one of the cities we want to emulate. We're seeing a real renaissance in culture."

The index measures community involvement in the arts, examining nonprofit income, per capita book and music store sales and museum and movie attendance. It also looks at employment levels across the arts scene. The largest job categories in Denver are architects, editors and graphic designers, but Seattle has four times as many arts-related positions.

Fostering a community that is friendly and affordable to artists and related businesses, as well as attracting tourists, are important parts of the economic development discussion, Trapp said.

The city office, whose budget last year grew slightly to $1.2 million from $1.1 million, is trying to make sure artists can afford real estate in Denver while addressing several other top priorities.

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