How is Albuquerque’s Creative Economy doing? What do artists, musicians, writers, and other creatives need the most?
That’s what we aimed to find out in a survey that ran from July to late-August.
Results will be released in 2018, with a goal of providing a report and data sets that can be used in grant applications and business plans and also reveal larger opportunities for Albuquerque’s creative ecosystem.
Free Photo Database (in beta)
After researching and creating an intensive cultural plan (you can read it by visiting our “about” page) one thing stuck out to us: there is a deep-rooted belief that Downtown is not a vibrant, cultural place for all ages and interests.
In fact we’ve seen just the opposite, that the area is filled with amazing arts and culture: craft beer and beverages, restaurants and food trucks, artists and galleries, murals, designers / brand studios, music venues and musicians, creative entrepreneurs, festivals, filmmakers, and a whole lot more.
Over the last few months we’ve taken hundreds of photos of Downtown Albuquerque and surrounding neighborhoods, largely for use on our social media channels.
Now, we are making many of those photos available for use under Creative Commons licensing – CC0 1.0 Universal. That means you can copy, modify, and distribute the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.
Post them on social media, make a filter, use them however you like! We just want to see the area’s creativity shared far and wide, and releasing these photos is our way of helping creatives, businesses, and fans of Downtown Albuquerque make that happen.
View the photos and learn more: bit.ly/downtownabqphotos
For additional training, funding, tourism, arts & culture, and community development resources, visit the organizations listed below:
NM Links is a jobs, events, and resources email newsletter sent out by Stacy Sacco, director of the University of New Mexico’s Small Business Institute and a professor at the Anderson School of Management – nmnetlinks.com
Innovation Central tracks the city’s entrepreneurial and startup resources, events, and workshops, and shares stories from around the Downtown-area – innovationcentralabq.com
New Mexico MainStreet is a grassroots economic development program that assists communities in revitalizing their traditional commercial neighborhoods. MainStreet works to help affiliated downtown organizations create an economically viable business environment while preserving local cultural and historic resources. The Program provides resources, education, training and technical services that stimulate the economic vitality of each participating community while celebrating local heritage and culture. MainStreet has been the premier organization that brings life to New Mexico’s downtowns since 1985, and currently serves 23 affiliated MainStreet projects and 6 state-authorized Arts and Cultural Districts – nmmainstreet.org
New Mexico Arts is the state arts agency and a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs. The 15-member, governor-appointed New Mexico Arts Commission serves as the advisory body. The primary function of New Mexico Arts is to provide financial support for arts services and programs to non-profit organizations statewide and to administer the 1% public art program for the state of New Mexico – nmarts.org
City of Albuquerque Public Art is administered under the direction of the Mayor of the City of Albuquerque. Art in Municipal Places Ordinance sets aside 1% of City construction funds derived from the general obligation bond program and certain revenue bonds for the purchase or commission of works of art – cabq.gov/culturalservices/public-art
New Mexico Economic Development Department is the leading center for economic information and news related to New Mexico’s economy and strives to be a central point of access for business, economic, and community development data. The Data Center provides County Data Profiles from a number of sources; Tribal Profiles; a searchable database of available commercial real estate statewide that includes demographic and other data in a GIS platform; profiles comparing New Mexico with the other 49 states; and New Mexico workforce data and economic indicators – gonm.biz
Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau strives to stimulate economic growth by marketing Albuquerque as a convention and visitor destination. The organization is a leading tourism marketing organization and enhances economic vitality and success through integrity, enthusiasm and creative involvement for the promotion of Albuquerque as a world-class destination – visitalbuquerque.org
New Mexico Tourism Department provides an array of partnership opportunities for tourism and travel-related businesses, including potential features in the New Mexico Vacation Guide, New Mexico Magazine, and New Mexico True Television – newmexico.org