The arts generated $19.7 billion in Colorado last year, according to the State's Office of Economic Development and International Trade, That’s 3.7% of Colorado’s economy, and more than 121,000 jobs. And that impact is growing, with employment in the arts and culture industry increasing 3.6% in Colorado since 2022, compared to a 0.3% increase nationwide. The North Fork Valley is no exception to this state trend, and the local Creative Coalition has received a grant of $75,000 over three years to continue its success in growing the arts economy.
Jess Dervin-Ackerman has been working part-time for the past two years as executive director for the North Fork Valley Creative Coalition. The new grant will make it possible for her to work full-time. In this interview, she talks about the significance of the funding, the arts as an economic driver in a rural area, and about expanding the definition of “creative.”
“We were eligible to apply to the Office of Just Transition Funding because we live in Delta County, which is facing impacts from a decline of the extractive industries here,” said Dervin-Ackerman. “We’ve lost almost 900 jobs in the last 10 years in Delta County and in the North Fork Valley specifically, with multiple coal mines closing. And what is the future of this valley? You know, that is, I think, the question that people have been asking and that's what we're trying to answer. And this funding is helping us to expand our programming and capacity to meet that need.
“There have been ranchers, orchardists, farmers and hippies and artists in the North Fork Valley for decades. We are a cross-cultural community that has lots of different kinds of people and people focused on very different sectors. But I think we see a lot more collaboration and pollination between those sectors.
“In the North Fork Valley, we consider creative industries at the intersection of arts and agriculture. So for us, agriculture producers are very much creatives. So when we talk about creative industries and expanding that and supporting that, what we're really talking about is supporting the folks who are already here working. Yeah. Whether that's our downtown brick-and-mortars, or it's our ranchers or farmers or people who work at home or work in a cottage industry. It's also our traditional artists, our sculptors, our painters, our writers, et cetera. But it's so much more than that.”
The coalition produces three signature events: Pickin' in the Park, Mountain Harvest Festival, and the Holiday Art Fair. They also produce bi-weekly events in Hotchkiss and Paonia throughout the year. Otherwise, they're supporting local presentations and projects in various ways. And it's paying off for the North Fork economy.
“We just finished the calculations for 2025 of what kind of economic activity our programming brought to the Valley,” Dervin-Ackerman said. “And what we found is that through our signature events and the twice monthly events, both in downtown Hodgkiss and downtown Paonia, our events brought $1.5 million into this North Fork Valley economy.
“The Paonia Holiday Art Fair has been going for 33 years. And this this last year, we added a new event the night before called Light the Night, where we put luminaria out all along Grand Avenue in downtown Paonia at all of these businesses that were open. We did a cookie-tasting contest. We did a window decoration contest. And that wasn't visitors. That was locals who were out and packing every restaurant, every bar, every store was full of our locals who were out enjoying themselves and spending money in our local economy.
“So it's not just visitors and tourists, that is an important part of our economy, but that's not the only thing that we want to see growing. Another piece we see is really skilling up our business owners here, helping folks understand how to write a business plan or how to know how to do your accounting or bookkeeping, how to do your marketing, you know, really helping folks to learn the essential business skills they need to run their business well. And then the other piece that, you know, we really want to expand is helping our local businesses and producers here export their products that are created here to larger regional markets. The farmer's markets are one way that our producers do that. They go and sell their produce or their products at Crested Butte, Telluride, Aspen. But how are we doing that with art? How are we doing that with folks who can't go vend at a farmer's market? How are we helping them to get their products to folks who live near here, who would love to buy their products?”
The next three years are hopeful for the North Fork Valley Creative Coalition, but of course, there are always challenges.
“This is a test,” Dervin-Ackerman acknowledged. “We are a test case. You know, we are a community that is in transition and We're betting on the creative industries, this intersection of arts and agriculture, which is the beauty of the North Fork Valley and why people love to live here and be part of this community. Can that be sustained? Can that be what sustains our economy here and our rural way of life as costs of living everywhere are skyrocketing?”
