By Carol Ann Conover
The Warren Washington Industrial Development Agency has approved a study to inventory and quantify the economic impact of the creative economy across Warren and Washington counties, a sector that includes more than 85 identified arts, culture and creative economy organizations and that local leaders say has long operated without the data to demonstrate its full value.
The WWIDA board approved up to $200,000 for the project, to be conducted by an outside consulting firm selected through a formal request for proposals process. Proposals are due May 14, with a consultant expected to be recommended to the full WWIDA board by mid-June. Chuck Barton, WWIDA chief executive officer, said the study will inventory the region’s creative assets and produce an economic impact analysis to inform future planning and strengthen grant applications.
“We’re looking for a group to bubble up who will take the results of the study and run with it,” Barton said.
The initiative grew out of a coalition called MOSAIC, formed through conversations among Glens Falls arts organizations and the Warren County Economic Development Corp. The WWIDA joined those discussions and agreed to fund the study, seeing alignment with its broader mission of promoting economic development and job creation across both counties.
The study’s scope will extend well beyond Glens Falls. Barton said the consultant will be expected to capture the full inventory across Warren and Washington counties, including festivals, historical societies, libraries, museums, theaters and small-scale artist enterprises, many of which operate year-round despite the region’s seasonal tourism patterns. Barton expects the actual inventory to significantly exceed the initial 85-venue scan.
“We’re looking for this to be very broadly defined,” he said. “All inclusive and all-encompassing.”
Phil Casabona, executive director of the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council, is among those named to the advisory committee. LARAC’s June Arts Festival is widely recognized as the largest single economic driver in the city of Glens Falls, drawing regional visitors each summer and generating spending across local hospitality, retail and service businesses.
Casabona said the WWIDA’s financial commitment gives the MOSAIC coalition a foundation it had lacked. “Chuck Barton, Juan Gonzales, and the Warren Washington County IDA’s instant interest and backing of MOSAIC, in my opinion, has not only helped us orient some goals that will become the foundation of MOSAIC, but their financial commitment to this study will have a great and broader impact regionally,” he said. “This study and subsequent actions will bolster the reach of our arts organizations, the organizations in both counties, and will be the driver for proper and guided growth across multiple platforms.”
Casabona added that he believes the work will carry long-term significance for younger residents. “I also firmly believe that over the coming years this study will help our governance actively create more opportunities for our younger populations to sustain living and working here in this wonderful region,” he said.
Erin Harrington, executive director of the Hubbard Hall Center for the Arts and Education in Cambridge, is also serving on the advisory committee. Hubbard Hall operates out of a historic opera house, offering theater, dance, visual arts and an artist residency program with partners including the Drama League of New York City. Harrington said the study carries particular weight for rural organizations operating with limited data and limited resources.
“We’re really excited for some of the potential ways to really grow the arts and culture organizations within the two counties through this effort, as we are such a big part of the economy for both counties,” Harrington said. “Hubbard Hall is a major driver for the community of Cambridge. And this is just going to make not only us, but all of our community stronger.”
The WWIDA pointed to Ulster County as a comparable model. That county, home to Woodstock, Kingston, New Paltz and the Catskill Mountains, conducted a similar analysis and found its arts and culture sector generates $814 million annually in direct, indirect and induced economic activity, a figure the WWIDA hopes to replicate for the two-county region, which has a combined population of approximately 120,000.
The timing of the initiative coincides with a period of significant financial pressure on the nonprofit arts sector. Federal funding for cultural institutions has faced reductions and uncertainty, with consequences felt at the local level.
Among the most direct impacts has been the curtailment of programs administered through the Institute of Museum and Library Services. IMLS supports rural library services nationally, including books-by-mail programs that serve homebound patrons and veterans in communities with limited in-person library access. Reductions to that funding have forced local institutions to redirect dollars from other budget lines to cover the gap.
Those redirected funds often come at the expense of arts and cultural programming that libraries host for the broader community. The ripple effect is visible in organizations like the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls, which presents folk arts programming and free public concerts at Crandall and at the Historic Salem Courthouse in Salem, drawing on dedicated budget lines that pay performing artists directly. When federal support for library operations contracts, institutions must make difficult choices about which programs to sustain. For the artists who rely on those engagements, and for the community members who attend at no cost, the impact is immediate and local, even when its origin is a policy decision made in Washington.
At the state level, arts organizations have reported that funding from the New York State Council on the Arts has become slower to arrive and in some cases reduced. The lag between application, award notification and disbursement can stretch to nine months or longer, a timeline that strains small organizations with limited cash reserves. Those pressures have pushed some local arts groups to rethink their financial models and explore strategies for attracting private investment alongside traditional grant support.
Barton said a credible economic impact study would help on that front as well, giving organizations stronger evidence to support applications at every level of funding.
“Having this information about economic impact helps boost the merits behind applications for grants,” he said.
Barton was also direct about what he hopes does not happen once the study is complete. “We don’t want this to sit on a shelf and collect dust,” he said. “We want meaningful action items that are actionable, with the right leadership to drive this.”
The WWIDA expects to announce the selected consultant following its June 15 board meeting. The study duration will be determined by the selected firm, with WWIDA anticipating a timeline of six to 12 months to account for the region’s seasonal creative calendar.
For more information about the WWIDA and its programs, visit warren-washingtonida.com.