Download the full Report in PDF Format

Extract from the report:

A Synopsis of the dayCommunity building and exploring creative economies that express who we are while preserving our unique natural resources here in North Florida was the focus of a day long conference held May 10, 2002, at the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art in Gainesville, Florida.

The Artists Alliance of North Florida introduced “Florida’s Eden,” a project which proposes that thirty counties of North Florida form a region and look within for what makes us unique, how we may identify and portray ourselves and create a niche economy for our own prosperity and preservation.

AAONF Executive Director, Annie Pais welcomed a small cross-section of forty participants from across the region who came together to explore the idea that our identity is found in our heritage, in our diverse natural resources and the culture which reflects it. This Eden we revere is who we are and is reflected and portrayed through the work of our naturalists and culturalists. We can choose, as a region to focus on this identity and build a creative economy all our own.

To illustrate and explain this concept, the AAONF brought in a national pioneer and leading consultant, Rebecca Anderson, Executive Director, HandMade in America. Ms. Anderson spoke firsthand about “Success Stories in Building Creative Economies,” an idea she introduced in 1993 which has now become a national movement. We learned that the time is ripe for this idea.

We viewed a slide presentation by Ms. Anderson who explained in great detail how HandMade in America decided to look within to find their region’s identity and convened Western North Carolina around the common focus that their craft industry was central to the heritage of the area and also central to its prosperity. She illustrated the profound effect and astonishing changes that occurred and evolved when a region chose to come together to decide its future by honoring itself. The overwhelming successes and continued growth of HandMade sparked our imaginations and stirred our creative juices.

Following Becky Anderson’s presentation, Annie Pais introduced Jeff Ripple, photographer, writer and renowned contemporary naturalist who “took us home” with his sensual slide presentation, “Experiencing Eden” and treated us to a visual reminder of who we are and what we have in this wondrous North Florida region.

While everyone was filled to overflowing, we took a break for a special North Florida lunch. On the menu: Minorcan Chicken Pilau, greens and beans, cole slaw, sweet potato biscuits with home made marmalade, and peach-blackberry cobbler for desert. The conversation was animated and deafening!!! Ideas were generated, networking began and sharing was everywhere.

After lunch we settled down to question/answer time with Becky Anderson. Then we collectively contributed to a map of this thirty county region making a resource map of Florida’s Eden. What are our natural and cultural resources? What do we look like in terms of out strengths and assets? We did this with the help of Don Daley, a member of AAONF’s Board of Directors and friend of Becky Anderson’s, who shared with us the beginnings of the practical structure used by HandMade in America.

In closing, participants were asked to give written feedback in specific areas: What are the assets of this region’s identity? What are the strengths for taking a regional focus? What are your concerns? What advice do you have for how to proceed? What are the next steps?