Using the arts to stimulate the Highland Lakes economy

Newer promotions such as the Highland Lakes Fine Art & Wine Festival, which first took place last spring in downtown Marble Falls; the recent Chamber Music Festival; or the yearlong Sculpture on Main exhibit have helped develop the region’s identity as an arts destination. 

Artist Dan Pogue said these special events bring large numbers of newcomers to the area. Pogue has been one of the lead organizers of the Sculpture on Main promotion, now in its second year, which features as many as 40 works of art displayed on Main Street.

A new collection is being installed later this month.  

“I know that it is pulling people in. I’ve helped with some bus tours, some out of Austin,” Pogue said. “People who live here bring their friends or people from out of town. I do know it’s working, and I think we’ve got a perfect place for it here.”

Janey Rives, artist and owner of  jSPACE gallery, located at 301 Main St., said positioning the region as an arts destination benefits everyone.  

“We’re pulling on our assets, and creating a small town that has a little bit more appeal,” she said, noting the majority of her clientele are from out of town.  

“I sell 80 percent of my artwork to people who come in from other areas, and I have repeat customers now.  People are coming here and they love what they see.  If we can keep our restaurants going and have a cluster of a few more art destinations, we’ll have even more people coming.”  

An individual who travels specifically to visit arts or cultural events is defined by the Travel Industry Association of America as a cultural tourist.  According to the TIA, the number of travelers who rank arts and cultural activities as one of the top five reasons for traveling is growing rapidly.   

Research conducted in 2002 by the TIA revealed that roughly 118.1 million American adults said that they visited at least one of 15 arts, humanities, historic or heritage activities during their travels that year. Thirty percent or 35.3 million adults said that a specific arts, cultural or heritage event or activity influenced their choice of destination. 

“Cultural tourists tend to stay longer than other types of tourists,” said Gaye Greever McElwain, director of marketing and communications for the Texas Commission for the Arts.  “The demographic is more towards the affluent end. They typically spend more money, and that’s not just the money spent at the destination itself. It’s at hotels and restaurants and gas stations.” 

The arts can prove to be a lucrative draw even in rural communities, she added.

“And the economic impact snowballs. Particularly in mid-size rural communities, it brings the community together by working toward a shared common goal. It’s a local businesses-preservation technique,” she said.

For this reason, positioning any small town as an arts destination makes good financial sense. Christian Fletcher, executive director of the Marble Falls/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce, said that select events sponsored by his organization are either now focusing specifically on art or are expanding to include more artists and arts enthusiasts.  

“I think that the growth in the arts scene kind of grows part and parcel with other developments in our community; with cuisine and real estate and development,” Fletcher said. “The Fine Art and Wine Festival in April is our big new thing.  And on our Main Street Market Days, we’re trying to get more handcrafted items.” Fletcher noted that in addition to a growing number of arts events, recently there are more artists setting up shop in Marble Falls. 

“I think the amount of what would normally be retail that has become gallery space is a very new development,” he said. “There seems to be a little renaissance going on.”   

Visual art is only one aspect of cultural tourism. The performing arts are also credited with attracting tourists to the region. Barbara Bend, executive director of Harmony School of Creative Arts in Marble Falls, said she feels the city has great potential as an arts destination. 

“With the way it is growing and how art is such a big part of people’s lives, people come here and expect certain things. Particularly downtown, it just seems to go hand-in-hand,” she said.

Bend estimated that students in her organization performed for roughly 5,000 people last year.  

“Our audiences are local by and large, but grandparents come and aunts and uncles come,” she added.  

One unique element about the arts is the collaborative nature of the industry.  Instead of competing for customers such as traditional entrepreneurs, Rives said that galleries and other arts establishments often work together to bring consumers to the area. 

“The more galleries, the more art that is clustered together, the more people you bring in,” she said. “There’s something for everyone out here. We are trying to band up. We all need to work together to create this kind of environment. We all have the same goal, and it’s growing. It’s getting there.”

Rives said one example of working together are local “art crawls” put together by local gallery and showroom owners. 

“Once every three months we stay open late,” the artist said. “People can browse, come into our galleries and enjoy refreshment and entertainment.”

While the arts and culture may be symbiotic elements of a thriving downtown area, it remains to be seen whether or not today’s economy may put the brakes on the success of this year’s arts promotions. 

 “We are a little concerned about the Fine Art and Wine Festival because it features such high-end material,” Fletcher said. “It takes a certain kind of consumer to make an event like that successful.”

McElwain noted that the silver lining may be that local cultural tourists investigate museums, festivals and performances in their own neighborhoods as opposed to traveling to far away destinations.  

“When the economy is like this people tend to take advantage of stuff that maybe they haven’t been so plugged into,” she said. “People begin discovering things in their own communities that they never knew about before.”