Study: Creative economy plays key role on North Shore

BEVERLY — From Cape Ann artists to Peabody advertisers, large newspaper publishers to one-man Web page design firms, the creative economy on the North Shore represents 10 percent to 12 percent of the region's private sector employment, a study released yesterday finds.

Creative economy companies focus on industries that are tied to innovation and individual creativity, skill and talent, where ideas, products and services can lead to wealth and job creation.

This economy employs a larger percentage of workers than biotech (2 percent) and manufacturing (7 percent) in the metropolitan Boston economy, the study says.

While economic development officials have been touting the creative economy as a driver of job growth for years, this study represents the first time the size and scope of the creative economy on the North Shore has been fully measured.

"I'm really pleased with the results," said Patricia Zaido, executive director of the Salem Partnership, a group that focuses on economic development and one of the study's sponsors.

"It validates what Christine (Sullivan) and I have believed for the last five years and which all of our work has indicated," Zaido said of the work that she and Sullivan, the executive director of the Enterprise Center at Salem State College, have done touting the creative economy on the North Shore.

"We saw there were a lot of people working on the creative economy on the North Shore," Sullivan said.

The North Shore no longer has shoe making and Parker Brothers, the game maker, to rely on for jobs, Sullivan said, but it does have its history, culture, museums, performing arts, schools, colleges and nonprofit organizations to draw on, things that can help foster creative economy companies and organizations.

Sullivan said the question has been how the creative economy could be fostered, but first economic development leaders needed hard numbers.

That's where the "North Shore Creative Economy Market Analysis and Action Plan" comes in. It was released yesterday morning at the Cummings Center in Beverly. The full report can be found at www.enterprisectr.org.

In the report, researchers found the creative economy:

r Involves 2,233 businesses and organizations in the region.

r Employs 17,000 to 20,000 people.

r Represents 10 percent to 12 percent of all private sector jobs.

r Contributes more than $3 billion in annual sales from involved enterprises.

The region includes 28 cities and towns, including Amesbury, Salisbury and Newburyport to the north, Boxford and Middleton to the west, Rockport and Gloucester to the east, and Lynn, Swampscott and Nahant to the south.

The report found creative economy companies and organizations clustered among 10 cities and towns that represent 73 percent of all enterprises. Beverly has the most with 268 — more than 12 percent of them — followed by Newburyport, Salem, Gloucester, Peabody, Marblehead, Danvers, Lynn, Rockport and Amesbury.

The report identifies five "creative clusters" representing more than half of all creative economy enterprises:

r Design, including computer systems and software.

r Business and management consulting.

r Engineering/research and development.

r Artists.

r Advertising.

The Enterprise Center at Salem State College, The Salem Partnership and the Creative Economy Association of the North Shore sponsored the study, funded through a $45,000 state grant that was awarded last summer, said Sullivan, who runs the small business incubator at Salem State. ConsultEcon Inc., in association with Karl F. Seidman Consulting Services, prepared it.

The 87-page report follows on the heels of a study commissioned by North of Boston Media Group, the parent company of Gloucester Daily Times, to define the creative economy North of Boston with a task force, an effort that led to the formation of the Creative Economy Association, Sullivan said.

The report also surveyed 200 creative economy enterprises and found half their customers are from outside the North Shore, and a quarter of their customers are outside the Bay State.

"Every dollar they earn is a new dollar to the North Shore," Sullivan said of a creative company's exports. "It can be someone in their home designing Web sites for someone in China."

Creative economy business do not typically grow their work force like other businesses and tend to be flexible with their staffing, with about 65 percent of them using contract or consultant resources, the study says.

There is no one size of a typical creative economy business, and they can be single-owner establishments, large companies and nonprofits, with activities that range from computer programming to performing arts, the study says.

The report suggests the region needs to brand and promote its creative economy initiatives with an action plan that suggests local governments, those interested in economic development and others work together and take a regional approach.

The report also suggests finding ways to bring creative economy companies together and to help foster collaboration by creating a new center with incubator space to foster companies working together.

Part of the recommendations include working with the North Shore Workforce Investment Board and area colleges to help with the training needs of the creative economy worker.

Ethan Forman may be contacted at eforman@gloucestertimes.com.

Creative companies

A study released yesterday finds the creative economy alive and well on the North Shore. The report finds 2,233 creative economy establishments on the North Shore, Here is where some are:

Town Number of establishments Percent of total

Beverly 268 12

Newburyport 219 9.8

Gloucester 195 8.7

Salem 192 8.6

Marblehead 172 7.7

Peabody 159 7.1

Danvers 144 6.4

Rockport 94 4.2

Ipswich 74 3.3

Topsfield 59 2.6

Manchester 57 2.6

Swampscott 45 2

Essex 25 1.1

Source: Karl F. Seidman Consulting Services and ConsultEcon Inc.

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