Why is an electrical engineer and urban planner convinced that art and culture are the key to the future of his city? For Paul Young, Memphis’ first-year mayor, the answer is simple.
“I believe arts and culture are components of the formula for economic progress in our city,” Young told Forbes. com. “When we think about how towns across the country are growing, we talk about being special, and I think our arts and culture are what sets us apart from other towns. »
Sure, but how exactly can arts and culture be a game changer for a major American city’s economy?
“Companies are looking to move to cities where they have talent, and typically, that talent is young–right out of college up to about 40,” Young explains. “The people in that demographic group are looking for cities that are cool. That’s where they want to be. Arts and culture is the cool, it’s the thing that makes them attracted to these cities, so if you want to attract talent, you have to invest in arts and culture because it is the thing that talent is going to be attracted to.”
There it is.
The most sought-after employees, marketers and skills in the United States and around the world demand high-level arts and culture in the places they call home. Any city that attracts the largest national or global corporations to do business will want to be equally attractive to that company’s existing and long-term employees.
Tax breaks, available land, and transportation/distribution routes are routinely touted by cities recruiting corporations–particularly in the South–but the talent those companies need to excel could care less about the cheap land deals and government handouts their employers received in the deal.
They to do things. Concerts, festivals, museums, restaurants, parks, dynamism.
Arts and culture.
“As cities compete in this next bust of economic expansion over the next 30 to 50 years, I firmly believe it will be a quality of life issue,” Young said. “In a world where you can live anywhere and still earn the same amount of cash as you do elsewhere because of all the virtual lifestyles, I think cities are going to have to define themselves, and art and culture will be (Memphis’s) way of defining who we are.
Moreover, according to Young, it is in the interest of the municipal government – and its duty – to lead the in art and culture.
“The government is involved in economic development, we are involved in economic expansion and having enough resources to carry out that on a daily basis: filling potholes, collecting garbage,” he explains. “If we need to increase our tax base, we have to worry about what will attract more people to our city, and we have to leverage our herbal assets. We have an herbal force in arts and culture, it’s what we’ve been doing herbally for a hundred years.
The House of Blue. BB King. Howling wolf. Aretha Franklin. Otis Redding. Stax Records. Records of the sun. Elvis. Johnny Cash. Beale Street. Music of the soul. Justin Timberlake. Three 6 Mafia.
Just to start.
When you’re “walking in Memphis”–as Marc Cohn sang–music follows wherever you go, often live music. Music fills the air like pollen. Memphians breathe it.
Music as life and music as a business.
“It’s a recruitment tool,” Young says of his city’s music history and the vibe it carries on today. “There is a cool factor that’s necessary in order for your city to be able to grow and Memphis undoubtedly has that, so what I’m trying to do is make that the brand for who we are.”
As profound as the city’s musical history is, and as much as it remains a part of the city today at places like the Memphis Rock n Soul Museum, the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame and Museum, Graceland, Young doesn’t intend to drive his city forward looking in the rearview mirror.
“There is also this new generation of artists who are doing incredible things and it is vital that local government recognizes that this is part of the formula to maintain a strong tax base,” he said. “A lot of artists think they have to go to Atlanta, New York or Los Angeles to be successful, Nashville is now on that list, those are the cities where (artists) feel that if you need to be successful, you have to do it. be in those places. (Music) is an industry that brings Memphis lopass to the whole world. If we need this lopass to continue to grow and more people to come here, we have to build an ecosystem. We not only export our talents, but also where we export our talents, where we build a city where they can flourish and live.
Young’s leadership is in the process of creating an arts and cultural workplace within city government to do just that, creating an ecosystem of not only creatives, but also an ecosystem for creatives, offering what is needed to make their visions a reality.
Creative only in the field of music, but also in film, dance, fashion, theater and visual arts.
“The visual arts create the aesthetic, they give a feel to a community, character, being able to have places that don’t feel like anywhere USA,” Young said. “One thing about Memphis, you know you’re here, you’re not in Nashville, you’re not in Dallas, you’re not in Atlanta. You’re in Memphis. It’s important for us to (embrace) that to define our identity.”
Memphis has two notable fine arts museums. A fashion week. A theater district in Overton Square.
The Memphian hotel is a funky, arts forward property with a chic rooftop bar and lounge located steps from the Overton neighborhood’s numerous bars, restaurants, and performance venues.
Memphis has a strong mural and street art scene. The three-mile stretch from The Memphian to downtown along Union Avenue may rival the country’s wall corridors.
The Memphis Symphony Orchestra is celebrating its 70th anniversary.
As an arts and culture mecca, Memphis has some other assets that the city had avoided in the past and that Young plans to highlight.
In 2022, Memphis surpassed Detroit to become the largest majority-Black city in the country. At his inauguration, Young, who is African-American, said he sought to show the world that a black city can be safe, immensely rich and creative.
“For too long, this designation has been considered a source of negativity; I need it to be a source of pride,” he said. “I understand that to some people it might seem alienating, but if you pay attention to the history, if you look at what I say, it is not alienating, in fact, it is very inclusive to say that we have strength as an organization. A people of which we will all be champions.
It’s a lesson learned from Nashville, a city that has experienced astonishing economic expansion and prosperity over the past 20 years.
“They said they wanted to be the hub of country music and let that be part of what defines who they are, and it worked,” Young said. “I’m telling people we’re going to be the hub of African American culture, that’s going to define who we are. It’s going define our city.”
As with art and culture, Young recognizes an economic opportunity in showcasing the demographics of his city.
“There are corporations that say they value diversity. When we talk about economic development, I say we have more Black and female tech skills consistent with capital than any city in the country and I say that because if you’re a big tech corporation and you need varied skills, that It’s the city,” he said.
It is also the town where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. King was shot to death on the balcony of the downtown Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968, while in Memphis supporting striking sanitation workers.
“I think it’s vital that we tell the world the story of civil rights, and I think we do it better than any other city in the world,” Young said.
As we conclude a tour of the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel by searching at the foot of MLK’s room from which he shot, it’s hard to argue with Young’s point of view.
“We can tell that story and communicate how we leverage that story to create another story,” he added.
One focused on resilience and prosperity, as well as arts and culture.
“What are the great things that come from African American culture, it’s the culture itself, it’s the music, it’s the art,” Young said. “Those are the things that have to define who we are as opposed to some of the negative attributes that people put on cities with high African American population.”
Like crime.
Memphis has a crime problem. Every Memphisian you communicate with admits it. Young admits it. He campaigned to correct this situation. Last March, he introduced a coalition of Black mayors who back crime. He considers art and culture to be tools to achieve this.
“Public protection is a vital issue on our network and the way to make it safer is to get more people out and more people in,” Young said. “While the natural reaction if something negative happens downtown is to avoid driving there, what we want to do is double down and make sure we attract more people because this is what maximizes protection. “
Vibrant nightlife as part of art and culture, and public safety. Reduce crime by inviting more people; More clubs, bars and restaurants, more options, more economic development.
That begins downtown.
“Downtown is our living room. It’s the screen for our entire region, not just Memphis, but the entire metropolitan domain. (Downtowns) are where your network is defined,” Young said. “It is the only network that is everyone’s network. ” I repeat, this is the only district that is everyone’s district. The downtown domain is the only network that belongs to the entire city because there are many regional assets. When you watch the Memphis Grizzlies games and they are on national television, fly over the downtown skyline. For someone who lives in a faraway state or some other country, this is possibly the only thing you know about Memphis, so it’s vital that you be strong.
Downtown Memphis has been stronger.
A new conference was inaugurated in 2021. A world-class riverfront park opened in 2023. The first RiverBeat Music Fest will take place along the banks of the Mississippi in May 2024.
In 2025, the National Civil Rights Museum’s Legacy Building–housed where the shot that fell King was fired–will reopen following a massive renovation alongside a new park. The Brooks Museum of Art is relocating into a new building on the bluff downtown in early 2026, rechristening as the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
“(The downtown) is an infrastructure component of our entire region that will attract economic progress,” Young said. “We have 5,000 new jobs just coming within 80 miles of downtown Memphis, in rural West Tennessee, that are tied to the economic, expansion and progression of downtown Memphis. “
Young is referring to Ford’s BlueOval City in Stanton, its largest, most advanced auto production complex in the company’s 119-year history. The kind of project that would be music to any mayor’s ears.
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