Industry Expert Interview: Mitchell Landrieu, Louisiana’s Lieutenant Governor, on
the state’s Cultural Economy
Where is this person in the distribution channel? Mr. Landrieu is actually in both parts
of the distribution channel. In the “upstream”, or those activities related to the production
of a product or service, which may include raw materials, product development,
manufacturing, and warehousing of the distribution channel is the Louisiana Cultural
Economic Initiative, which specifically focuses on the business culture. The Louisiana
Cultural Economic Initiative, in partnership with the Department of Culture, Recreation,
and Tourism and the Office of Cultural Development, supports the development in
creative industries as a viable sector of Louisiana’s economy. It is also designed to
develop events that will attract the industries serving arts and culture to Louisiana.
In the “downstream” activity, or activities associated with selling the product or
service such as customer acquisition, sales transactions, and logistics, Mr. Landrieu has
partnered with the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism in creating a Strategic
Philosophy that highlights the following:
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Public benefit
Leadership in culture and the arts
Advocacy
Leverage
Value-added
Entrepreneurial, and;
Unity
How does this person describe the industry in terms of how it is to deal in?
Mr. Landrieu feels that the arts are a viable and important part of the State’s
economy and infrastructure, so much so that he created the World Cultural Economic
Forum to focus on the “Business of Culture”.
From http://www.crt.state.la.us/CULTURALECONOMY/: “Every dollar in
support of the Arts leverages $7 in earned and contributed revenue. Louisiana’s
cultural enterprises provide nearly 144,000 jobs for Louisiana citizens, accounting for
7.6% of total employment. Arts has a total economic impact of $934 million in
Louisiana”
What does this person see as trends for the future of the industry?
Lt. Governor Landrieu didn’t discuss trends per se: Instead he focused on what he
felt was the overall vision for Arts & Culture in Louisiana, which he felt would only
increase and strengthen with the combination of legislative and citizen support for the
various state initiatives.
He specifically focused on the tax incentives Louisiana provides to Hollywood
productions, an aggressive tax incentive that has catapulted the state into the number
three spot for productions, behind New York and Canada, respectively.
From http://lafilm.org/media/index.cfm?id=1231: “Louisiana film industry has
record year in 2008, with a production record of more than 80 film and television
projects…”
The aggressive tax incentives have brought in over $200 million in revenue for
the State, which of course contributes greatly to the Louisiana economy and helps to
bolster the bottom line. All of this, of course, is directly related to the emphasis on “the
business of culture”.
What recommendations does he or she have for someone starting a business in that
industry?
Mr. Landrieu didn’t really provide me with any recommendations, as individual
enterprises were not the subject of our interview. However, I will take his enthusiasm
over how much cultural economic growth Louisiana has seen as an indicator that now is
an excellent time to get into the ground floor of any arts and culture related business, and
that the field is so varied that anyone with a viable, solid business concept should be able
to properly execute it, as long as the necessary steps have been taken. Not only that, there
is an excellent support system in place that provides access to needed research and
resources that would make the ground for establishing an arts and culture based business
quite fertile.
*Due to time constraints and a lack of availability of Lt. Governor Landrieu, I am
providing a transcript of an interview I did with him in October the week before the
Second Annual World Cultural Economic Forum, part of the Louisiana Cultural
Economic Initiative.
Kameko Thomas: How did Louisiana end up being the site for the World Cultural
Economic Forum?
Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu: Actually it’s an idea that I created. I traveled to a place
called Davos, Switzerland, where they have a thing called the World Economic Forum,
and I looked at that and saw international business leaders and I thought that there was no
reason why Louisiana cannot do this. I didn’t want to duplicate what they did, but I had
started an initiative called the “Cultural Economy Initiative”, which is designed to really
think about the business side and the number of jobs attached to culture, and so I created
an international event and I called it the World Cultural Economic Forum.
I began to invite to international leaders here. As you know, we’re the sponsors of
the JazzFest, and I used that as an opportunity for them to come into the State and talk
about it [culture] and encouraged them to come back in October. This is the second year,
and we’ve been very successful.
We’re going to have 60 countries represented [at the Forum]. We’re going to have
the Ambassador from China, the Ambassador from Iraq, and Louisiana will become the
international meeting place for world leaders who want to talk about the economic impact
of culture. This is a Louisiana made, Louisiana born product.
KT: That’s wonderful to hear. I am what I guess you could call me a re-transplant. I
moved to Seattle and I was there for five years and I just moved back, and to see all the
growth that’s in the State and in the city is amazing. I did here that you were a Theatre
Major, and that probably has a lot to do with what’s going on right now, and the Arts are
so important, so thank you.
Lt. Gov. Landrieu: You’re welcome…one of the things I keep telling people is that
Louisiana has a lot of natural material. We have a lot of raw material, intellectual capital
and raw talent, and the idea is to try to take that basic infrastructure and grow it by adding
value to it.
The way you add value to it is you create things out of it. And creative talent is
one of those things that you can create…the cultural economy is an outgrowth of that
very simple idea. So when you have someone that makes a piece of artwork, or makes a
movie, weaves a basket, or makes food, you know you can make a lot out of it. Instead of
extrapolating the talents that have been created here where other states and economies
can benefit from them, create the environment that will keep those people and those
talents here. That’s called “adding value”.
The Cultural Economy Initiative is designed to think about the business side.
What does that take? It takes standing up small businesses, it takes good tax incentive
programs, it takes good education in schools, you know, directly targeted. It takes
building the infrastructure, like in the film industry to make that work, and really treating
culture like a business.
When you do that, not surprisingly, you create jobs out of that. They’re clean jobs.
They’re high-paying jobs, and not only that; it makes Louisiana more like itself, which is
a beautiful thing.
KT: Well, thank you so much, thank you for your time.
Lt. Gov. Landrieu: Thank you, it was a pleasure talking with you.
References:
Allen, K. R. (2009). Launching new ventures. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism.
Statistics on Louisiana Cultural Economy. Retrieved December 26, 2008 from
http://www.crt.state.la.us/CULTURALECONOMY/
Louisiana Film and Television, Statistics on State Film and Television Projects.
Retrieved December 26, 2008 from http://lafilm.org/media/index.cfm?id=1231.