Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

ARDI Summit To Examine Creative Assets August 11

Registration Deadline Is Friday, August 1

Story by Bernadette Cahill

Mountain and creative people are well placed for the new economic reality, according to Chilton Rogers, deputy director of the Appalachian Regional Development Institute and one of the organizers of an upcoming conference at Appalachian State University. The new model “is not uni-dimensional, but multi-dimensional. It’s good for older people too,” Rogers said.

Mountain folk have, in fact, been doing for years what economists are now studying: the key role of individuals’ creativity in a growing economic model that economists anticipate will develop into the dominant economic structure in the coming years.

They have been studying this model in metropolitan centers and it is now to be the focus of ARDI’s eighth annual leadership summit—Accelerating Our Economy: Tapping Creative Assets—on Monday, August 11, at the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center. Registration starts at 8:00 a.m., and the day will finish around 4:30 p.m. Breakfast and lunch are included in the $65 fee. The registration deadline is Friday, August 1.

Examples of what works in this new economic model are a weaver who also sells produce from her organic garden to make a living and a potter who transfers her knowledge to the production of a staple such as bread.

Going back further in history, food production was the foundation of a family’s living, but they could also sell handmade crafts to bring in some cash or play their mountain music on a Saturday night and get paid for it. Or—to cite an example from the High Country today—an individual can be a farmer and the local well expert and also gather and sell honey.

Another local example of the new economic structure demonstrates the use of the relationship-building and networking abilities that are paramount in this new economic model: the ongoing work by the Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture to establish a distribution and marketing network for locally produced foods.

The industrial revolution starting about 250 years ago shifted economies to the exploitation of natural resources, to building and using financial assets, and to transforming people into cogs in a machine where thinking was a liability. Before then, creativity and networking were key aspects of economic relationships. Now those key aspects are coming back. People and their creativity are the backbone of the creative economy model.

One benefit is that the jobs this new economy will create can’t be outsourced to other areas or countries to cut production costs, and consequently could potentially provide a more secure economic foundation for regional economies like the High Country’s, said Rogers.

In the old model, design was not considered added value: function was the key. Now, Rogers said, design quality is one aspect of this new economic model that has particular relevance in an area where second homes feature, not only for the creation of beautiful furniture and objects for those homes, but also in the building itself. Retaining natural beauty is now increasingly an economic consideration and also reflects broader concerns about the environment, such as sustainable forestry or reducing the carbon footprint of human activity.

Understanding this new model involves a shift in focus not only for economists but also for a region’s leaders, Rogers said. Instead of thinking traditionally and looking for an investor to build a factory and create jobs that pull out with an economic downturn, this new economy has its roots in the region and is therefore potentially more secure.

“Our audience is local leaders, elected officials and rural movers and shakers,” she said. “The summit is educational. We are pulling the information and people into one place so they can find out about it” and learn how they can harness and encourage it.

Speakers at the summit, who include a winemaker, a music industry executive and a film maker “are illustrative of what’s going on,” Rogers explained.

The essence of this summit is a focus on community, Rogers said. “It’s about economic development, strategic planning and catalyzing ideas,” and it will also have an impact on education.

For more information or to register for the summit, call 828-262-6662 or click to www.ardisummit.com.

Want To Go?

Date: Monday, August 11
Time: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 a.m.
Location: Broyhill Inn and Conference Center
Cost: $65