We must leverage Creative Industries for Economic Prosperity

Nevada decision makers must learn how to fuel the renewable energy of creative industries for our economic development. Southern Nevada's creative workforce make education and enterprise possible in our community, along with a sense of wellbeing and belonging in our own skin. The Arts are not a cause, they are an industry, a tool for society, and the expression of our humanity. Their skills and ideas will empower our transformation in the 21st century if we recognize their excellence with a strategy for their advancement and integration; including funding for interdisciplinary creative research, certifications for Arts in Healthcare, creative business accelerators, valuing preservation, and an elevated local cultural tourism strategy beyond Strip hotels which embraces the unmatched diversity of Nevada from the age of dinosaurs, to the petroglyphs of the Nuwu, to our Sphere and Cirque, the decision makers who claim to know Nevada have yet to prove they understand what makes both "Us, and Them" rich.