Cultural Districts

Basing the creative economy on a community's history and culture makes it unique. In addition, the community will have more buy in and participate in the changes. Often, disruptive leaders come from the fringes of our communities, seeing the uniqueness when others only want the status quo or are embroiled in just trying to make their business work. Often, local governments do not see the potential of thinking out of the box and need a push to go in a different direction. In larger communities, often there are multiple cultures living in their own ethnic areas. The need to create cultural districts to support the development of the unique creative economies of each district is a catalyst to igniting the creative economy. Capitalizing on cultural mapping, the history of a region, and getting support from local, state, and national governments can mean success or failure. This chapter explores cultural districts.