The Creative Industries and the Road to Economic Development, Diversification, and Equity

By Rose Eason, Executive Director, gallupARTS

The “Gallup Brick Road” (the theme of this year’s Economic Development Week) is paved with…talent, innovation, and resourcefulness (and maybe one or two Gallup bricks!). Truly, this town has been built by entrepreneurs—artists among the foremost—and Gallup’s creative industries continue to forge the path to an equitable economy and inclusive prosperity. 

This spring, the State’s Economic Development Department is undertaking a study of New Mexico’s creative industries to inform a strategic plan for the Creative Industries Division established in 2023. The first stop for researchers and economic developers to learn more about the dynamics of the sector and the best ways to support its advancement: Gallup, of course! 

In our area, one in four people make at least part of their living through the arts. For our region, the creative industries are already the main economic driver and there is immense potential for even more growth. As has been said, we make a living by what we get and we make a life by what we give. For our community, the arts are a way of life in the fullest sense of the term. 

On January 22, gallupARTS hosted representatives from Creative Startups in conversation with 17 local artists, creative entrepreneurs, and community stakeholders to discuss how to “level-up” Gallup’s creative economy for the benefit of all. Key takeaways included: 

• the need for systematized arts entrepreneurship training and advisement opportunities; 
• the concept of apprenticeship-based workforce development within the creative industries; and, 
• a re-commitment to collaborative and collective efforts to grow the regional creative economy “pie.” 

In-roads (keeping with the Week’s metaphor) are already underway on these initiatives, as Gallup was a firstround awardee, among 18 communities across the state, of a Creative Industries Division grant to bolster the city’s services to creative entrepreneurs in 2024. With grant funding, UNM-Gallup hosted a two-day “Business of Art Bootcamp” in April attended by over 100 students and community members and offering everything from hands-on “soft skills” workshops to panel discussions full of local success stories and practical advice. Grant funding is also enabling the Octavia Fellin Public Library in renovating its makerspace to make more room for more shared equipment and supplies—everything from pottery kilns, to 3D printers, to engraving machines, to mat-cutters, to graphic design software. 

And that’s just the beginning! Continued strategic investment in and support of Gallup and New Mexico’s creative industries will be transformative—it will (to use only “road” terminology) drive small business expansion, curb brain drain, and cement a high quality of life. 

Come celebrate the world of possibilities and help us advocate for arts, culture, and the creative industries as our city and state’s home-grown avenue for economic development and diversification at this month’s ArtsCrawl! Join us at the Coal Avenue Commons (Gallup’s newest brick road—happy oneyear birthday to our event street!) for a postcard printing, writing and sending workshop and for the opening of “Faces of Tradition” at ART123 Gallery, a solo show by Tasha N. honoring Native artists and addressing issues of economic justice in the Native arts market.