From scarcity to abundance

This year continues to bring disruption and change. I find myself speaking daily with arts professionals balancing hardship against hope. The threats we face are real: shrinking funding, shifting priorities, uneven recovery. Yet new stories of determined creativity are emerging as more communities reject scarcity and rediscover the power of place.

It’s important to mention that recovery has been uneven. Some places, by embracing local strengths, have seen real progress, while many still wrestle with rebuilding in a tough landscape. These successes show what’s possible when leadership is grounded in place, even as others continue to face headwinds. In both scenarios, abundance is possible, even if only a reframing.

Abundance is found in our communities, from major centres to makeshift stages. “Place” is where art ignites transformation and renews us. We need to unleash it.

 As my dear friend and APAP collaborator Kim Tignor reminds me, “advocacy needs to look different and focus on relevance, helping people find meaning where they are, not everywhere at once.”

 Her words serve as a compass for this moment. Artists, organisations and funders must embrace a world in motion, where grassroots ideas rise, legacy institutions adapt, and “place” becomes the engine propelling creative risk-taking and coalition-building.

Place makes all the difference

What separates thriving arts communities from those merely surviving isn’t just funding or programming. It’s recognising that arts organisations function as place-based anchors generating agglomeration effects – when cultural activity in one place attracts more, creating districts that become destinations.

In the US, consider downtown Phoenix, Arizona, where concentrated arts investment yielded a 105% increase in tax receipts,¹ while the city overall declined. Detroit’s Arts Alleys initiative^² transforms vacant spaces into vibrant community hubs. Local arts scenes boost property values and revitalise neighbourhoods. In Florida’s cultural coast, performing arts generate $132.5 million annually, supporting 2,121 jobs.

This narrative echoes globally. In Toronto, creative industries have grown faster than the regional economy for decades, rising 2.5 per cent annually between 1991 and 2021. Melbourne’s Creative Spaces programme^³ revitalised the Central Business District after pandemic closures, through artist-led placemaking.

The mosaic model

Every community carries its own cultural DNA, a distinctive blend of history, geography and artistic traditions. The mosaic model is about leveraging those distinctive assets to build shared prosperity, strengthen belonging and position creativity as a driver of resilience and renewal.

Spain’s Festival de Jerez draws tens of thousands, generating millions – not by importing generic entertainment, but celebrating the flamenco tradition unique to that place. South Korea’s Hallyu wave drives billions in exports because it authentically represents Korean creativity rather than mimicking Western formats.

Place-based arts create economic value from authentic cultural expression. Cultural tourism represents an $820 billion global market, with travellers increasingly seeking experiences they can’t get elsewhere.

Beyond the scarcity script

Yes, the scarcity script still infiltrates our conversations. Yet more leaders are refusing to let fear have the final word. Momentum is shifting across global stages. Local venues turn agility into strength, forging deep community and international partnerships. British Columbia’s cultural sector generated $10.5 billion GDP in 2023 – a 5.1 per cent increase.

Data and story go hand in hand – one fuels conviction, the other stirs hearts. When the arts become a part of a community’s DNA, property values rise, crime drops, graduation rates improve, and quality of life grows measurably. In Hillsborough County, non-profit arts generated $387.5 million while supporting 6,764 jobs. These aren’t anomalies; they’re the new canon. Culture future-proofs communities, promoting public health and building resilience, inspiring business, developing creative citizens for rapid change. Australia’s cultural sector contributed $63.7 billion to the economy in 2022–23, while the Netherlands’ performing arts sector generated €508 million after pandemic recovery.

Global connections, local impact

Impact extends beyond economics. The arts stitch societies together during times of stress. They scaffold collective renewal. Arts-rich US communities have measurably lower crime rates and greater social capital. Across Europe, creative activities represent 24.18 per cent of cultural employment, recording 15 per cent growth in 2022.

Investing in place – treating arts, education and community as civic infrastructure – fuels ambitious national movements. The StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network⁴ operates in over 70 US communities, helping four million young people gain economic mobility pathways by 2030. StriveTogether demonstrates that place-based civic infrastructure investment – from arts to early childhood and workforce development – shifts outcomes at scale.

What feels different now is a new audacity in a field that once tiptoed but now leads boldly, with arts organisations standing tall and inviting civic partners, philanthropists and businesses to become co-investors in our abundance, rather than mere supporters.

The abundance we’ve always known

Performing arts have always been essential community infrastructure. We’ve simply been too humble and too committed to scarcity thinking to claim our inherent power. Every theatre, festival and community arts centre is what economists call a “positive externality” – an investment that creates value far beyond what investors capture.

 When we frame cultural funding as economic development, position artists as community builders and demonstrate measurable returns from arts activity, we’re not making arguments, we’re stating facts.

The geography of possibility isn’t limited by budgets, politics or demographics. It’s defined by our willingness to recognise and articulate the truth we’ve always known – communities with robust cultural life attract investment, retain talent and build social cohesion that transforms places into powerhouses.

The abundance was always there. The opportunity is ours to claim – through the power of place.