Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan | The Future of Arts, Culture and the Economy

The Boulder Arts Blueprint outlines shared goals to support artists, creative businesses, vibrant neighborhoods and cultural life. The vision included in this plan summarizes the community’s possibilities and potential for arts, culture and creative endeavors:

• Creative expression is at the core of Boulder.
• Creativity energizes and renews Boulder’s spirit. It is central to the city’s sense of self, to its quality of life, to its global reputation.
• Here, the arts are supported and seen. Here, culture threads the fabric of everyday life. Here, talent is nourished, cultural heritage honored and risk-taking embraced.

Boulder’s creative sector is a defining strength of the community and a key driver of its economic vitality. Boulder County has the nation’s third-highest concentration of artists, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The community is ranked as one of the top 10 most arts-vibrant medium-sized communities in the United States. The Boulder Creative Industries Report found that the concentration of creative employment in Boulder is three times the national average. The community’s commitment to Arts and Culture has resulted in valuable economic activity – Americans for the Arts estimated that the nonprofit arts and culture industry generated $115.1 million in economic activity in 2022, $53.5 million in spending by arts and culture organizations and an additional $61.6 million in event-related expenditures by their audiences. And the opportunity for arts and culture in and for the community is growing. The arrival of the Sundance Film Festival will further Boulder’s future as a creative and economically vital place in the west. The comprehensive plan builds on this opportunity and provides policy that can support a robust creative and cultural economy.

The comprehensive plan also supports place-based changes that can help this economic sector flourish:

• Community and Regional Hubs bring together housing, retail, offices, and cultural spaces in walkable, transit-connected areas. These hubs create lively destinations where residents and visitors alike support local businesses, enjoy cultural experiences and activate public spaces, fostering a vibrant atmosphere and a strong local economy.
• Innovation and Production Hubs integrate light industrial, maker spaces, and housing to foster entrepreneurship and creative industries while making an effort to retain affordable spaces that encourage experimentation, creative risk-taking and innovation.