Thinking “Bigger” About Smaller Places: Rural and Urban America, Collective Impact, and the Power of A New Rural Narrative: Comprehensive Rural Wealth Presented to the Strengthen Creative Placemaking and Creative Economy in Communities West Memphis, Arkansas May 16, 2019 Charles W. Fluharty Founder & President Emeritus Rural Policy Research Institute

RUPRI’s Rural Arts and Cultural Policy Commitment Why RUPRI engaged Where it led us Where we’re headed Charles W. Fluharty Founder & President Emeritus Rural Policy Research Institute

RUPRI’s Focus on Comprehensive Rural Wealth

• Regional Networks • Rural Creative Placemaking Summit • Digital Learning Commons

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/world/asia/chinas-great-uprooting-moving-250-million-into-cities.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

“All great truths begin as blasphemies.” --George Bernard Shaw

Promoting Growth in All Regions

Contributions to aggregate growth depend on few hub regions… …the fat tail is equally important - if not more - to aggregate growth…

So, What is Rural, Anyway?

In fact… Over half of all rural people live in metropolitan counties! Most metropolitan areas contain rural territory and rural people. In fact… Over half of all rural people live in metropolitan counties!

The Framework for Regional Rural Innovation New Narratives & Networks Quality of Place Collaborative Leadership Knowledge Networks & Workforce E-ship & Innovation Critical Internal Considerations Wealth Creation, Intergenerational Wealth Retention, and Appropriate Wealth Distribution Youth Engagement, Retention, and Leadership Development Social Inclusion and Social Equity Considerations Specific Attention to Social Mobility and Inequality

Three Questions: Innovating What? Diversifying How? Transitioning Where?

Innovating What? How “We” Consider “Us” How We “See” Our Region How We “Consider” Our Options How We Support The “Connectors”

Diversifying How? In Our Vision of the Future In Our Sense of Possibility In Our Actions and Alignments In Our New Collaborations

Transitioning Where?

Five Conditions for Collective Impact Success Common Agenda Shared vision for change Mutually Reinforcing Activities Differentiated, but still coordinated Backbone Organization Serves entire initiative, coordinating participating organizations, firms and agencies

Five Conditions for Collective Impact Success (cont’d) Continuous Communication Consistent, open, unmediated Rigorous and Shared Measurement Collecting predictive indicators, regional data: then measuring ongoing results consistently

NEWS: 2017-18 Delta Creative Placemaking Initiative Grants Awarded - October 11, 2017  The Delta Regional Authority, in partnership with leading national arts and government organizations, is pleased to announce $309,000 in seed investments for 16 community projects across eight states through the Delta Creative Placemaking Initiative (DCPI)

Time to leave GDP behind Gross domestic product is a misleading measure of national success. Countries should act now to embrace new metrics, urge Robert Costanza and colleagues 1 6 JA N UA RY 2 0 1 4 | VO L 5 0 5 | N AT U R E | 2 8 3

GDP measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile. - Robert F. Kennedy

Problems with GDP G = Gross: It ignores the consumption of capital and natural resources 01 D = Domestic: It measures production in the nation, state, or region without regard to ownership or distribution 02 P = Product: It includes only those outputs valued in formal markets; ignores informal and voluntary activities, and externalities 03

Recent focus on wealth

Especially Rural Wealth

Are We Valuing What We Measure, or Measuring What We Value? Why this matters and what we can do about it

Eight Forms of Comprehensive Rural Wealth/Distribution Physical Financial Natural Human Intellectual Social Cultural Political

Characteristics of Comprehensive Wealth Flows versus stocks (wellbeing versus wealth) Individual wellbeing is fundamentally a flow measure GDP is our most common measure of income flow But well being is dependent on wealth Wealth is a stock—the net accumulation of assets and liabilities

Characteristics of Comprehensive Wealth Comprehensive wealth and multiple forms of capital 1. Financial capital Cash, deposits, stocks, bonds, futures contracts Claims on assets held by others 2. Built capital Buildings, machines, roads, bridges, parks, dams, transmission lines

Characteristics of Comprehensive Wealth Comprehensive wealth and multiple forms of capital 3. Natural capital Air, water, soil, forests, animals, minerals, etc. 4. Human capital Education, health, skills, experience, etc. 5. Social capital Social organization, networks, trust, markets, etc.

Characteristics of Comprehensive Wealth Comprehensive wealth and multiple forms of capital 6. Intellectual capital Knowledge, books, patents, music, etc. 7. Political capital Political networks, and trust and access in these networks, etc. 8. Cultural capital Art, architecture, music, literature, sense of history and place, etc.

Policy Implications A superior basis for assessing economic performance Considers benefits and costs of non-market effects Considers the returns to investment in the environment, education, health, intellectual property and social capital Clarifies the concept of sustainability Sustainability is growth in comprehensive wealth Recognizes the complementarity among types of capital Environment and health, natural capital and intellectual capital, for example

RUPRI’s Rural Cultural Wealth Lab Established March 2017 w/ funding from the NEA Initial focus was on a literature review to determine research needs and priorities: Significant metro bias Importance of natural amenities Influence of natural and cultural heritage assets Arts and culture create a sense of place and social cohesion Clusters of artists leads to creative milieu that attracts creative manufacturing firms Importance of informal social networks Effect of rural arts and culture on the vitality of quality of life not well understood

RUPRI’s Rural Cultural Wealth Lab: A Wealth-based Conceptualization of Arts and Culture The Rural Cultural Wealth Lab is focused on better understanding: The nexus of arts and culture, innovation, entrepreneurship, and rural sustainability and prosperity; and, how the unique assets of rural communities contribute to the wellbeing of rural people, and the sustainability of rural communities. How to measure wealth: Individual wellbeing is fundamentally a flow measure; GDP is our most common measure of economic flow, but wellbeing is dependent on our stock of assets (wealth); Our true wealth goes far beyond financial assets

RUPRI’s Rural Cultural Wealth Lab: A Wealth-based Conceptualization of Arts and Culture What is comprehensive wealth? Financial capital Built capital Natural capital Human capital Intellectual capital Social capital Political capital Cultural capital

It is not happiness that makes us grateful It is not happiness that makes us grateful. It is gratefulness that makes us happy. - The Buddha