On February 24, the Tamarack Foundation released an extensive study that shows Tamarack contributed $18.6 million to the West Virginia economy, $5.9 million in income and supported 236 jobs during the fiscal year July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008. The study, prepared by the Marshall University Center for Business and Economic Research, also concludes that Tamarack supports tourism and promotes a positive image of the state.
“It is vital that our state’s government and business leaders know how much artisans contribute to our economic development as West Virginia moves toward establishing a creative workforce where entrepreneurs in every field, including the arts, are as important as traditional businesses to West Virginia’s economic success,” said Sally Barton, executive director of the Tamarack Foundation.
“The Foundation undertook the study to establish the economic impact Tamarack has and to identify how that translates into income and jobs throughout the state, not just in Beckley,” she continued. “We found that every one of West Virginia’s 55 counties receives benefit from the production of handcrafted products and art and performance art supported by Tamarack.”
Since Tamarack opened in 1996, the retail Caperton Center has
- Generated gross sales revenue in excess of $89 million,
- Collected state sales tax revenue exceeding $4.5 million,
- Provided a marketplace for more than 3,000 West Virginia artisans, and
- Attracted more than 5.6 million visitors.
As the money earned at Tamarack’s Caperton Center is spent and respent within the state, additional output, income and jobs grow by a multiple of the original spending.
Dr. Cal Kent, Marshall University’s Vice President for Business and Economic Research and a principal author of the report, said, “The new economy is based on creative people from all types of enterprises. As the most recent research shows, this generation of highly skilled and tech-savvy individuals is flocking to those places which offer arts.” Further, Kent said areas of the country that are showing the fastest growth are those with strong arts industries. This report confirms that Tamarack is enhancing arts and arts communities in West Virginia.
“It is important not to overlook the positive image that Tamarack creates for those visiting the state,” said Jennifer Price, one of the Marshall University researchers. “The Caperton Center enhances perceptions of the state’s hospitality and its creative community.”
The research found that Tamarack is unique among the fifty states. While other states have artist centers and programs, Tamarack provides the most comprehensive and extensive program, primarily under the auspices of the Tamarack Foundation. Activities such as professional skills training, business advice, scholarships and networking opportunities are offered to artisans around the state.
“Our study confirms what national studies show: the arts and related cottage industries are important to a growing community and have a continuing positive effect on the communities and the states in which they operate,” Barton said. “This study will help us make our case for continuing support of this industry.”
You can find the complete study, the executive summary and the news release at www.tamarackwv.com/foundation.
The Tamarack Foundation elected two members to its board of directors earlier this year. Lois Crichton of Charleston and Elaine Bliss of Beckley join nine other board members from around the state. Bliss also will serve as the new chair of the Tamarack Artisan Advisory Board.
Other members of the Tamarack Foundation board include M. Ann Bradley (chair) of Charleston, Keith Lahti (vice chair) of Floe, David L. Dickirson (treasurer) of Ripley, Mike Massinople (secretary) of Charleston, Martha DiTrapano of Charleston, Kay Goodwin of Charleston, Melinda Walls of Morgantown, Patrick Gregg of Morgantown, and Cela Burge of Cape Charles, Va.
Artisans invited to learn more about business basics and jurying processes
The Tamarack Foundation is sponsoring two “On the Road” seminars for West Virginia artists and artisans. The free seminars will be April 1 and 2 at Shepherd University and April 14 and 15 at West Virginia University.
“With support from the Benedum Foundation, we are able to reach artists and artisans in their own communities to provide them with an overview of the Foundation and the services it offers. On the second day, a screening program will help them prepare for jurying sessions with Tamarack and other organizations,” said Sally Barton, executive director of the Tamarack Foundation. “These “On the Road” seminars are great opportunities for the foundation staff to get acquainted with state artisans and the work that they are doing. It gives us a good perspective about what’s happening in the arts community around the state and what artisans need to keep their businesses growing.”
On April 2 and April 15, Ron DeWitt, artisan services director for the Tamarack Foundation Artisan Resource Center will lead the screening program. Artists and artisans are invited to set up displays of their products for review by a juried artisan panel. The panel will review the products and provide critiques that will help the participants ready their work for jurying.
“Our screening process is important for artists and artisans who have never been involved with a jurying program,” Barton said. “The panel is able to offer suggestions about everything from product presentation to labeling that will help the artisans present a professional and world-class product.”
For more information about the program or to register, contact Ron DeWitt at 88 TAMARACK, ext. 149 or rdewitt@tamarackwv.com.
Arts Day at the Capitol, Charleston
ARC on the Road, Shepherdstown
ARC on the Road, Morgantown
Tamarack Jury Session, Tamarack Conference Center, Beckley
Best of West Virginia Juried Exhibition Opens, Tamarack, Beckley
ARC on the Road, Charleston
ARC on the Road, Huntington
Tamarack Foundation Gala, Tamarack Conference Center, Beckley
ARC on the Road, Monroe County
ARC on the Road, Lewisburg
Tamarack Jury Session
A photograph of a mobile by Jean-Pierre Hsu of Berkeley Springs accompanied a February/March 2009 Craft Report magazine article about the four West Virginia artists and artisans who received Tamarack Foundation Fellowship Awards last September. The article also mentioned Stan and Sue Jennings of Thornton and Mark Schwenk of Berkeley Springs.
Theresa Currence of Rupert was selected by West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller to paint a glass ornament for the 2008 White House holiday tree.
Hall Hitzig, The Crazy Baker of Renick, shipped 320 brownies to New York in February for the Rachael Ray show’s “Snack of the Day”. Hitzig says the publicity was great for the pastry shop that for three days had ten times the number of hits on its Web site than it normally gets.
Responding to a request by the Artisan Advisory Board to find a way to help connect West Virginia artisans, the Tamarack Foundation has set up the Tamarack Artisan’s Blog.
A blog, you say? What is it, you ask? How do I use it, you wonder?
A blog is an interactive online connection that allows its members to share news, ask questions, offer ideas and keep in touch about subjects relevant to the group.
It’s a quick and easy way to get in touch with fellow artists and artisans when you have something to say or ask.
You can use it easily and simply by going to http://tamarackfoundation.wordpress.com/. WordPress is free for you and me, so there are no charges and you do not have to be a WordPress user to participate in the Tamarack Artisan's Blog. If you want to initiate a comment, then you’ll need to request a blogger account and we’ll okay your access through the Tamarack Foundation. After that, you’re on your way. Contact the Artisan Resource Center if you need help getting started.
We hope this will become as popular as the office water cooler and be busier than the telephone party lines of yesterday.
You can use the blog to connect with our artisan community to look for materials or ask for help. You’ll see request for help when we need volunteers for Foundation projects such as the annual fundraising gala or perhaps when we are aware of a mentoring opportunity.
We know our savvy artisans will log on as soon as they finish reading the newsletter. And we hope those of you who are new to online communications will follow the steps we’ve outlined and try it soon. With artists, artisans and friends around the state, we hope this blog will be one way to keep us in touch and talking with each other even if we’re not just in the next office or down the block.
Arts and Culture Industries have role to play in state economic development
Note: The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices reports that, no matter what state you’re in, arts and culture industries are good for economic development. This study supports the Foundation’s economic impact study, reported on in this newsletter.
Fostering the arts and culture industry has played a vital role in state economic development, according to a new report from the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center). Arts and culture-related industries, collectively known as “creative industries,” provide direct economic benefits to states and communities by creating jobs, attracting new investments, generating tax revenues and stimulating tourism and consumer purchases.
The report, Using Arts and Culture to Stimulate State Economic Development provides examples from states across the country to help governors incorporate the arts and culture into their long-term economic development strategies. It also offers a number of actions states can take to realize the full potential of the creative industries, including:
- Performing a recurring audit of state arts assets;
- Incorporating creative industries into statewide planning;
- Developing strategies to provide support for the arts and culture sector;
- Ensuring creative industries are included in community development plans; and
- Assessing the impact the arts and culture sector can have in enhancing state tourism.
“Leveraging a state’s creative industries can be a valuable asset and play a meaningful role in state long-run economic strategies,” said John Thomasian, director of the NGA Center. “As cited in this report, many states have found ways to harness the economic benefits the arts and culture sector can have on a region.”
National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia said, “With two million artists and thousands of arts organizations in the U.S. able to provide arts and education programs and assist with community development and tourism activities, it makes good economic sense to incorporate the arts into statewide planning.”
The report is the sixth in a series of publications that document how the arts can help states develop additional economic opportunities. The series is produced by the NGA Center with funding support from the National Endowment for the Arts and research assistance from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.
To learn more about how states are using creative industries to bolster their local economies, please visit www.nga.org/center.
Sue Jennings finds life out of the coal mines
Editor’s note: Sue Jennings was invited to share her story in this first issue of the Tamarack Foundation newsletter because she told it so well at the Foundation’s news conferences announcing the results of the economic impact study. At the foundation, we know that there are many more stories as compelling and interesting as Sue’s. We hope that you’ll share your story as another way for us to get to know our arts community.
From the coalmine to the workbench, my husband Stan and I are no strangers to hard work. And thanks to that work ethic, we are not strangers to success either.
Twenty years ago, we were unemployed coal miners who decided to take a woodworking hobby and see if we could make some money while we looked for real work. Today, we employ several local people and are looking to expand our business, adding furniture making and craft classes to the spoon and kitchen products that made our business, Allegheny Treenware, a successful entrepreneurial venture. When I spoke at the February 24 news conference to announce the foundation’s economic impact study, I told the audiences that Tamarack had helped our business in three ways: marketing, business development and confidence.
We employ ten people and our works are in shops and galleries from coast to coast. I can’t begin to count the contacts that we’ve made thanks to the marketing we get from selling at Tamarack.
In 2003, the foundation took a busload of people to the Philadelphia Buyers Market of American Crafts, and it planted a seed. The next year, I put a booth together worthy of the show and was able make a good impression. That show alone brought us 60 new accounts..
Another year, we attended the International Gift show in New York. We came away from that show with product ideas, a big national account and the confidence that we could take our business anywhere we wanted to take it because our West Virginia products and skills were as good, or better as anyone else’s in the country.
Today, our Allegheny Treenware line is featured at The Greenbrier Resort and at The Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs, Co. We sell our products in wholesale markets and retail catalogs across the country.
Now, with the help of a Tamarack Foundation Fellowship Award, we’re expanding our business and finding new ways to share our work with visitors to our Thornton, W. Va., showroom and workshop.
Visitors to our shop are invited to watch us make a wooden spoon that they will then take home with them. Now that we’ve received this fellowship award it will help open a new avenue for our business. We plan to use the award to develop classes for teaching visiting students how to work with wood using traditional tools and methods..
This is part of the evolutionary process of our business. We began by selling our spoons at shows, moved into the wholesale business and, now, see these classes as another dimension of our future.
With the Fellowship award, we have purchased tools we needed to begin building a new line of furniture allowing for another creative adventure in our lives.
We are committed to growing the business and plan to build a new structure to house our antique farm equipment collection and to serve as a classroom and demonstration center and a second building as a permanent showroom. Our goal is to make Allegheny Treenware a destination for artisans, students, community organizations and travelers who want to learn how to make fine wooden kitchenware and to expand our product line to include rustic furniture.
Want to know more about the Jennings and Allegheny Treenware? Find them at www.spooners.com.
Elaine Bliss of Beckley was named chair of the Tamarack Artisan Advisory Board at its February meeting. Other artisans who are serving on the board are:
- Lynn Shaffer of Yawkey – At Large #1 (Bath and Body, Candles and Note Cards)
- Cathy Smith of Daniels – At Large #2 (Baskets, Dried Flowers and Seasonal)
- Mark Schwenk of Berkeley Springs – At Large #3 (Souvenir, Leather, Toys and Metal)
- James Biggs of Princeton – Fine Art
- Amber Hinkle of Lewisburg – Food and Agriculture
- Ron Hinkle of Buckhannon – Glass
- Martina Husson of Charleston – Jewelry
- Jake Krack of Orma – Performing and Literary Arts
- Nancy O’Farrell of Lerona – Pottery
- Elaine Bliss of Beckley – Textiles
- Sue Jennings of Thornton – Wood
The Tamarack Foundation worked with representatives of New York Life in its investigation regarding medical insurance options for Tamarack artisans and employees. We are pleased to report that the company developed an insurance plan, Limited Benefit Medical Insurance, for your consideration.
The Foundation has no financial interest or affiliation with the companies offering these medical plans and does not endorse or recommend the products.
Complete details on these guaranteed issue limited benefit medical plans are available through a link on Tamarack’s website. Visit www.tamarackwv.com and click on Artisan Services and follow the link through Artisan Opportunities: Curious about Health Insurance? click here