What motivates artist-entrepreneurs to relocate and invest

in rural upstate New

York communities?

Susan Monagan and Barbara Tefft

Researchers

Susan Monagan

Manager of Audience Development & Special Projects in Department of Theatre Arts at Ithaca College

Conducted open-ended interviews with six subjects for Cornell MPS thesis in Community and Rural Development, 2005, “The Artists as Active Agent: Six Portraits.”

Conducted 33 in-depth, open-ended interviews on campus-community arts-based connections for the upstate creative economy research team at Cornell University.

Barbara Tefft

Conducted interviews at Cornell Vet College on scientific and academic topics toward creation of recruitment, publication and presentation materials

Barbara and her husband have been artist-entrepreneurs, owning a wholesale/retail craft production business, allowing contact with other artist-entrepreneurs, such as the proposed subjects of this study

Conducted interviews with medical clinicians and researchers while pursuing an MFA in Medical Illustration at RIT

Why this study…

To uncover the artist-entrepreneur’s motivation for relocation and investment, and examine the factors involved in that decision-making process.

To connect this research with previous research that investigates the connection between arts-based activities and regional economic health.

To share our results with those around the state who seek to develop the potential of upstate New York’s “creative economy.”

Operational Definitions

Rural

Artist / arts-entrepreneur

Upstate New York

Creative economy

Literature Review

“The relocation of visual artists is driven to some extent by a strong attachment to natural landscapes…”

Mitchell, Bunting, Piccioni, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

“Rural communities…have an opportunity to embrace the principles of sustainable development, to create a new future at the leading edge of global change - but they need help…”

Maureen Rogers, Australia

“Artists, like firms, have locational preferences and gravitate toward certain regional economies.”

Ann Markusen, University of Minnesota

Method

In spring of 2008, the researchers:

Created interview questions

Recruited four artist-entrepreneurs

Recorded hour-long interviews in person or by phone

Each researcher transcribed own interviews

Provided transcripts to interviewees for response Independently examined the data, looking for broad,

common themes, highlighting areas of salient text

Collaborated on establishing themes

Clustered quotes under themes

Counted matches of highlighted text areas

Subjects

Limited to four subjects because of time constraint Used personal and professional networks to recruit Strangers, friends and acquaintances Did not guarantee anonymity, allowed “off-record”

comments Prior to interviews, intentions to publicize results

were disclosed

Who was studied

Bill TroxellStrong Stone Pottery & Gallery 3 2 1 Oxford, Chenango County

Patti Lockwood-Blais Earlville Opera House Earlville, Madison County

Billie BaumanEarthworks Gallery Penn Yan, Yates County

Suzanne FarleyArtizanns Naples, Ontario County

Patti Lockwood-Blais

DirectorEarlville Opera HouseEarlville, New York

Earlville Opera House

Earlville is a small town five miles from Hamilton, NY, home of Colgate University

Bill Troxell

Co-owner, with wife Dianne of Strong Stone Pottery and Gallery 3 2 1Oxford, New York

Strong Stone Pottery

Bill & Dianne TroxellArtistic functional and custom potteryOxford, New York

Gallery 3 2 1Bill & Dianne Troxell

Oxford is a small town in very rural Chenango County, an area known for its scenic rolling hills, remaining dairy farms and an emerging agricultural renaissance.

Artizanns

Susanne FarleyNaples, New York

“Affordable gifts with a personal touch - conceived in the heart and crafted by hand.”

Naples is located at the southern end of Canandaigua Lake in the dramatic Bristol Hills region. Naples is known for its annual fall Grape Festival and craft show.

Artizanns

Earth Works

Penn Yan, NYEstablished in the fall of 2004 by Billie Bauman, the Earth Works Art Gallery is a place for celebrating the arts; a way of bringing all cultures and people together, to offer the opportunity to awaken, to know and resonate with your inner source

There are actually two galleries, one in Penn Yan, NY and one in Geneva, NY. She hopes to open a third gallery in Ireland in 2009.

Penn Yan is located in rural Yates County at the northern end of Keuka Lake. The lake is entirely ringed by seasonal cottages. The area is known for its vineyards, wineries and Amish farms. Keuka College is on the lake shore five miles south of the village.

Themes

Watercolor by Jim Perkins, Earthworks Art Gallery & Studio

Themes

Choosing Rural

I really needed to be here family wise and I needed to have a space where I could develop the pottery studio first and… then develop the rest of the place.

Bill Troxell

I felt pretty isolated. … so I pulled into myself and tended not to express the kind of opinions that I might have expressed in Ithaca readily and easily.

Patti Lockwood-Blais

I can’t tell you how many people took bets. I didn’t know this, they told me later, of course, that we’d be closed in six months.

Billie Bauman

… but I chose it (Naples) because I know the people here support the arts a lot. Suzanne Farley

“We are one” - Billie

So Earthworks’ name is, basically, “the earth works.” All part of the earth works and all cultures, everything really fits we just need to understand it better we need to have more knowledge and more exposure to it… The purpose is to share the cultures the traditions from other countries, other groups of people and to understand those by studying their arts. Billie Bauman

We have a rural audience that we are trying to introduce to contemporary art and some of the work is challenging. Normally, we get pretty positive responses, but we do still have people coming in saying "I don't understand this. What is this.” Patti Lockwood-Blais

… it's made here and… the money stays in this flow, stays here and doesn't leave... And we represent people from all over the United States but we have a lot of local and New York State people… all of these people make something. Bill Troxell

A Beautiful Place

…being a resort is what makes it helpful and being a seasonal resort is what makes it most difficult. Billie Bauman

I think because this region is so absolutely breathtaking that a lot of our fine artists came here many years ago… they came here [and] were engrossed with the beauty of these hills. … That’s why we are such a rich art cultural community because there’s the inspiration of our environment. Suzanne Farley

We are kind of a destination for family tourism, family vacations - "Oh what a cute town we gotta see this place!" and all that sort of stuff. Then they're like "What are you doin' here?! Wow, how do you survive?! Where do people come from? How do you do this where you are? This is as good as anyplace we've ever seen.” Bill Troxell

The off months, meaning from mid-January all the way through April? Those are the slowest months. I’m open every day, year round, so that’s the biggest challenge I have. Suzanne Farley

The “limits” of local

…you can’t rely just on a small community to totally support what I’m doing, the value of work that I’m doing. But though they are supportive, I could never pay the bills with what this small rural community could support. Suzanne Farley

…we've made it work. We've had to go outside of here to do that.Bill Troxell

That year that we had 25% of our people coming in from tourism there were some cult bands… that people knew about these artists… across the whole state. … I had people coming from PA and OH and Canada for those shows because they found out about it by the artists link. Patti Lockwood-Blais

…people actually call us from Buffalo or New York City and ask what’s going on... What I’m finding is once city people find out about us they make trips to us because the prices can be so much less. Because of our location. Billie Bauman

“Fairy Godmother”

"Fairy Godmother" I'd like that job, but this is the closest thing I think you can do that's in the real world like that. You kind of make things happen that I think are enriching people's lives and their souls on some level… Patti Lockwood-Blais

…it’s a joy to watch the artists it’s a joy to be around their work and primarily it’s a joy to see a customer walk out with a piece that they’re thrilled about… Suzanne Farley

…almost an arrogance, an ego that just said it won't fail.Bill Troxell

You know, I’m a high risk taker. I think to do anything like this, you have to be like 8 or above out of ten, and I’m a 12.Billie Bauman

Why it matters

Involved, engaged leaders

Contribute to economic vitality

Ways to attract, celebrate and connect

Lower bars to participation

Access to the wider world, ideas

Further values of tolerance and inclusion

Further study

Further defining obstacles and what has helped alleviate their effects

i.e., problem solving

Effects of public policy: what could help, what really hurts ie: taxes, FLCC entrepreneur program

More specific questions, probing More interviewees More thorough case study

i.e., how the interviewees’ experience fits within the context of a county or region’s changing economic and demographic profile.

Strengths and Limitations

Interviews were not uniform, neither in context or delivery (some face to face, some via phone, some with friends, some with strangers, nature of question asking changed depending on constraints of situation). May have changed intimacy and candidness of responses?

Changed definitions because of challenges with finding participants.

Looking at these results may have changed script (comparing, first pass)?

Acknowledged biases - we are advocates, we support this work NOT disinterested observers.

Cross researcher themes still emerged uniformly through transcription process.

The Kaleidoscope: The Qualitative Paradigm

The researchers understand reality to be constructed – negotiated by the participants within a specific time and place.

Method of in-depth interview is qualitative and appropriate for gathering the data needed to answer the research question.

Cresswell (1994) "A qualitative study is defined as an inquiry process of understanding a social or human problem, based on building a complex, holistic picture, formed with words, reporting detailed views of informants, and conducted in a natural setting.”

Living the Dream

Patti

Billie Bill

Suzanne