February 22, 2008
For Immediate Release
Contact: Rebecca Lawrence, rebecca.lawrence@dcr.nh.gov
or Julie Mento, julie.mento@dcr.nh.gov

 

State Arts Council to Honor Filmmaker Ken Burns with Special Award

Concord, NH— Given the value of the creative economy workforce to New Hampshire’s overall economy, the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts has established a Creative Enterprise Award to recognize outstanding businesses that make up that economic sector.

The State Arts Council’s first Creative Enterprise Award will go to Ken Burns for Florentine Films, located in Walpole. It will be presented at the Governors Arts Awards event scheduled for April 24th at the Colonial Theatre in Keene.

About the award, State Arts Council Director Rebecca Lawrence said, “We have always recognized the value of the nonprofit sector as part of the creative economy and will continue to support that sector, but it is equally important that we recognize the value of for-profit creative businesses that contribute to the excellence and availability of the arts in New Hampshire. This award is one way to that. Another way that we are supporting creative businesses includes our recently established Artist Entrepreneurial Workshop and Grants Program.”

The Creative Enterprise Award will be an original artwork designed by Beth Krommes of Peterborough.

About New Hampshire’s Creative Economy:
According to The Creative Economy: A New Definition, a recently published report by the New England Foundation for the Arts, New Hampshire’s cultural enterprise employment represents 3.5% of the total workforce in the state. Within that count, there are 8,921 working artists, with the largest percentage working as graphic designers.

About the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts:
The State Arts Council is a division of the Department of Cultural Resources. Its mission is to promote the arts to protect and enrich New Hampshire’s unique quality of life. It is funded by state appropriations and a partnership grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.