<p>Portland has a vibrant arts and cultural community, and Portland is seeing tremendous growth in creative enterprises such as architecture, advertising and marketing, specialty products manufacturing, engineering, and design. Portland is also fortunate to have several institutions of higher education that serve as engines for this creative economy, including the Maine College of Art and the University of Southern Maine. But as Portland grows and storefronts fill in, rents have risen and artists have struggled to remain in Portland. A recent study by the Muskie School of Public Affairs confirmed that erosionﾝ was Portlands greatest challenge to maintaining its creative economy.</p>
<p>In an effort to address these concerns, many local groups began meeting during the past several years to develop new ideas and new solutions. In some cases, there was overlap among the groups; but in many cases, there was none. As a result, when Portland Mayor James Cohen was inaugurated in December of 2005, he announced that one of his goals was to help bring these disparate groups together to develop a single set of goals for maintaining and growing Portlands creative economy. He also pledged to hold a summit in the Spring of 2006 to develop a blueprint for moving forward. During the following five months, many subgroups met to plan the summit. This advance work allowed the summit to focus on actions rather than words, which met the Mayors goal of emerging from the summit with a list of specific action steps that could be implemented.</p>