Report Title:

Creative Center Incubator; Innovation; Digital Media

 

Description:

Making an appropriation of $500,000 to equip, train and hire faculty for a Creative Center Incubator.

 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

3067

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT


 

 

MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO ESTABLISH A CREATIVE CENTER INCUBATOR.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  Digital media is transforming how artisans, businesses and entrepreneurs develop markets and distribute their products.  From cultural artists to culinary artists, fashion designers to filmmakers, digital literacy is changing the way they develop, produce, market, and distribute their products.  Hawaii's cultural community is comprised of many talented artists, dancers, musicians, filmmakers, and storytellers whose collective work through new forms of distribution could have a positive impact on the world at large.  Cities like London, England, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and San Francisco, California, have several sector-specific creative incubator centers where individuals can learn to use new technology to help build their capacity in arts-related fields.

     According to "the creative industries report", published by Americans for the arts, more than 548,000 businesses nationwide are related to the arts and employ 2.99 million people.  In 2005, 28,884 people in Hawaii were employed in creative industries.

     Creative centers help to empower creativity and business development in their communities.  Hawaii has no public centers for creative capacity building outside of the university environment.  Students who are graduating from University of Hawaii's academy of creative media and Kapiolani Community College new media arts program are launching companies and also finding jobs in related fields of animation, game design, etc.  A creative center will employ these graduates, along with industry experts, to share the knowledge they have gained in the arts and digital media fields with other artisans in the community.  In so doing, they will transfer their skill-sets to new communities of individuals who are outside of the university environment, but who have the same capacity to develop creative product.

     A center that provides access to the tools necessary to develop skills in the arts and digital media fields will help to nurture new businesses and partnerships, increasing our economic development in these areas.

     The concept of a creative center incubator is not new, and has been supported by the community, the administration, and legislators in the past, yet has not come to fruition as hoped.  The creative center incubator will combine arts and digital media mentoring and training, enhancing the services and skills developed.  The high technology development corporation, Manoa innovation center, is one successful example of an incubator facility that helps to nurture and launch technology-related businesses.  Hawaii is ready for an arts incubator, which has become a successful component of economic growth in the creative sectors in other jurisdictions.  Incubators for the arts, combined with expertise in various disciplines, are plentiful and successful in many markets outside of Hawaii.  Centers for digital media, arts, dance, performance, fashion, and filmmaking incubators-from the Four Corners Grass-roots Filmmaking Centre and the Rich Mix Center in London to the Creative Hub project in Toronto-have proven the incubator model works, thriving in areas that have a platform to grow a critical mass of creative businesses through shared facilities that nurture the innovative spirit.

     The creative center incubator will offer a comprehensive set of tools to allow artists, cultural practitioners, filmmakers, and performers a place to learn, experience, connect, and create.  It will provide professional services at reduced costs in areas such as market analysis and business development, staff recruitment and training, networking, marketing, and communication strategies for start-up creative companies or individuals to help develop and sustain their careers.

     The establishment of a creative center incubator will provide a much needed facility and business mentoring opportunity for our creative industry sectors in Hawaii.  Once successful, centers would be launched in several areas on Oahu and neighbor islands, using existing facilities that can be retrofit with work spaces to support the development of digital media and the arts.

     The first creative center incubator, located on Oahu, will provide a full range of creative and business support services to allow residents and students to create original products in art, digital media, music idea incubation, creative publishing, and literary arts.  The center will also provide services and skill development through a web-portal to allow communities and individuals outside of the physical bricks-and-mortar space to access the services and mentors via a virtual environment.  A creative center incubator will empower Hawaii residents to learn skills needed to launch their own intellectual property products/businesses for nominal costs.

     The creative center will retrofit an existing facility in Honolulu, and launch a companion web-portal for statewide access to online mentoring.  The creative center will provide:

     (1)  A digital media lab with up to ten workstations for editing, animation/game and creative project development;

     (2)  A production area for rehearsals of plays, halau, music, or presentations;

     (3)  A multipurpose room for screenings, lectures, community meetings, and group teaching; and

     (4)  A retail area for arts, music, and filmmakers' products.

          The United States Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, has funded a planning grant ($120,000) to explore this pilot program focusing on the arts and digital media.

     The creative center incubator will employ local professionals in the arts, entertainment, and cultural arts fields and will provide long-term employment for students and graduates of programs such as the University of Hawaii's academy of creative media and the Kapiolani Community College new media arts program, and will expand to include neighbor island professionals and visiting industry experts.  The long-term vision is that the center will become a gathering place for Hawaii's creative residents and will provide them an affordable way to turn their ideas, concepts, and inventions into new products and services.

     SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $500,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009 to carry out the purposes of this Act, including the equipping, training, marketing, and hiring of instructors and consultants offering a comprehensive set of tools to allow artists, cultural practitioners, digital media artists, filmmakers and other creative endeavors to work separately or collaboratively on the creation of products and services in a collaborative environment.

     SECTION 3.  The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of business, economic development, and tourism for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2008.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

BY REQUEST