Recovering Western NC’s Creative Economy
Arts & culture play a key role in rebuilding the region
December 3, 2024 | Asheville N.C. – Arts & culture are often mistakenly seen as a “nice to have” extra instead of a vital part of the region’s ecosystem. And, it’s attitudes like this that will be detrimental to western North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene.
Helene Hits Arts & Culture Hard
Western North Carolina is forever changed in the wake of Helene’s devastation. The impact to infrastructure and the economy has been staggering, with artists and creative businesses hit especially hard. Many arts businesses, organizations, and individual artists had property damage from flood waters, landslides, wind, and falling trees– 250+ artist studios, galleries, and venues were lost in the Asheville area alone.
Even those spared from direct damage were cut off from work opportunities due to washed-out roads or being unable to open due to extended outages of electricity, water, sewer, and communications.
The timing of business interruption compounded the loss. Buncombe County receives nearly 30% of annual visitor spending in fall and early winter, totaling more than $2 billion during the prior fall season. Current data shows that tourism was down by 70% this year according to Explore Asheville. The NC Department of Commerce showed Buncombe County also had the highest unemployment rate of any county in NC (8.8%), and jobs in the 5 county Asheville Metro area declined by over 8,000 in October. Finally, a recent report by the NC Secretary of State office found charitable giving is down 53% from last year in NC– the lowest in a decade.
Early assessments by ArtsAVL showed many artists from across the region were suffering from complete income losses and needed immediate funding for things like groceries (54%) and bills (78%). This led ArtsAVL to launch the Emergency Relief Grant offering $500 stipends to impacted artists throughout the 26 county region. Since the grant opened on October 14, ArtsAVL has received over 2,300 applications from artists in need– craft (31%), visual (26%), performing [mostly musicians](25%), interdisciplinary (11%), media (5%), and literary (3%) artists. A staggering 21% of these applicants reported that they had lost their jobs as result of the storm forcing a growing number to have to make the difficult decision to leave the area.
A survey of over 200 Buncombe County arts businesses (for profit and nonprofit) showed a strong desire to reopen, but without support many will be forced to close. Delays in small business support are also forcing many organizations to make the difficult decision to lay off workers.
WNC’s Substantial Creative Economy
Creative industries in this region were responsible for nearly $1.2 billion in sales, and over 17,500 creative jobs in 2022– and this total doesn’t even include extended proprietors or “gig” workers. Additionally, the area is one of 62 federally designated national heritage areas because of its rich craft and music traditions.
Buncombe County, in particular, is a leading arts destination. According to a recent study by Americans for the Arts, Buncombe County, NC was home to 483 establishments in the arts and culture sector during 2022, and ranked #1 out of all 100 North Carolina counties for arts and culture establishments per capita. By this same measure, Buncombe County ranked 47th out of all 3,144 U.S. counties.
Arts & Culture’s Key Role
Even in the face of these devastating challenges, arts and cultural organizations have shown up for the local community. Artists have turned rubble into public art, distribution centers into concert halls and concert halls into distribution centers, captured the beauty in our devastation, and given us the words to express our grief.
ArtsAVL– Buncombe County’s designated arts council and arts advocate for western North Carolina– immediately sprung into action, providing needed support services, emergency relief funding, and becoming the lead partner for arts recovery in western North Carolina. In the last few months, ArtsAVL has awarded nearly $1 million in relief funding, and traveled to Chicago, Raleigh, Wilmington, and Washington advocating for arts relief aid for the region.
“Arts and culture are what make Western North Carolina a desirable place to live, work, and play,” said ArtsAVL executive director Katie Cornell. “These jobs and businesses are vital to economic recovery, resident retention, and the return of tourism. If we don’t act now, we are in danger of losing this substantial economic driver, and an important part of our cultural heritage.”
Hurricane Helene has changed western North Carolina’s creative community forever, but it remains to be seen whether this will be a story of triumph or missed opportunities. Keep western North Carolina creative by joining ArtsAVL in ensuring that this important part of the local ecosystem is at the forefront of recovery efforts.
There is no recovery in Western North Carolina without arts and culture.