On Thursday, I’ll be presenting at Ignite Baltimore. If you’ve never been to an Ignite, it’s a series of short presentations meant to inspire and engage the local community.
My presentation is titled Craft as Economic Catalyst, and I’ll be talking about all the ways that craft can help revitalize an economy.
But I also want to talk about how the local community and government can better support craft businesses. In order for craft business to have the economic impact I believe they can have, they need to have the support of the local community.
Obviously, one great way for your local community to support craft is to buy. But I think they can do much more than that. I would love to see local communities provide financial support in the form of grants and micro-loans, and to help businesses move beyond the home by setting up incubators. And I’m sure there’s some local legislation that could benefit small businesses as well.
But I also wanted to throw the question out to you guys:
What could your local community do to help your business grow?
I think my local community could do a lot, as at the moment they do nothing at all. One thing I think they could do is let small businesses like crafters use the empty shops that were vacated when a lot of businesses closed last year. Even if it was on a short term basis, having a shop open with things to buy is better than empty ones and it would help small businesses see if opening a store on a longer term basis would work for them.
My town just allowed a group of us to use a large empty shop for a pop up during community day. The local paper organized the shop and it was wonderful for the town as well to not have empty windows on main street!
I would be interested in seeing local (or national) government understand that small businesses aren’t just those that needs tens of thousands of dollars for new machinery or payroll tax assistance. What tax assistance or incentives could be aimed at helping the new wave of microbusinesses?
I would like to see unused warehouses or industrial districts being subsidized work/gallery spaces so more artists could afford public spaces that they could open for retail, and showing and revitalize areas by turning them into arts districts….every town, no matter how small could have one!
I’d like it if my town didn’t take half my earnings a year in taxes. You try to do the right thing, make sure you are operating legally, but doing so crushes the tiny, itty bitty business that is just trying to get on its feet. How about a year of grace for the one-person start-up? Or how about grace until you turn a profit?
I am interested in the use of vacant spaces and empty storefronts. I have been so focused on creating a web business I am forgetting about what is around me. So in addition to getting my web presence polished I think I’ll spend one day a week looking at the ideas Danielle, Sierra, and Kerin, suggested. Thanks for waking me up!
I recently joined the Arts & Culture Committee at my Community Centre and we started talking about organizing suppers like the ones organized by FEAST, they organize “recurring public dinner designed to use community-driven financial support to democratically fund new and emerging art makers.” Dinner participants pay a fee for their dinner, artists etc make a presentation on their project, and at the end of the night, diners vote on their favourite project. The artist or group with the most votes get the money that diners from the community paid. This affords great community involvement and an engaging way to give grants by members of the community to the community. I can see this idea expanding to craft makers too. http://feastinbklyn.org/. Here in Canada we’re experiencing great cut backs to the arts, so any alternative funding ideas that don’t depend on government are great.
good idea…
Local communities need to be aware of local businesses that are e-commerce only. They tend to focus their efforts on brick and mortar, which is understandable. However, we could support each other- like my other post about starting a sewing or knitting circle at a local coffee shop. Both would benefit- the crafters from the exposure and socialization, and the coffee shop from the extra business!
Another issue is that our local downtown association is bad about answering phone calls and emails in a timely manner (if at all). This makes it difficult to join the group and reluctant to become a dues paying member.
I love the ideas above about letting crafters use empty storefronts and tax moratoriums for small scale sellers until things can get rolling. I could easily see a co-op set up where people could take turns manning the shop.
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