Montana World Trade Center Receives Grant for Creative Enterprise Project

The Economic Development Administration announced Friday that it has awarded $78,000 to the Montana World Trade Center http://www.mwtc.org , a department of the University of Montana, for the development of a comprehensive regional marketing strategy for Montana Creative Enterprises under their Planning Assistance Program.

Geoff Sutton, Project Manager for the Montana World Trade Center, will work collaboratively with the Montana Arts Council, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Colleges of Technology, Artisans, Tribes and others on this project.

Although Montana has a wealth of talented Artists and Artisans, the rural nature of many counties in our state makes it difficult to create a local market for artisan’s products. It also makes it difficult for these artists to identify or enter into metropolitan markets in the state. This planning grant will help locate resources and markets for product placement locally, nationally and internationally.

The focus of the project will be the development of a regional identity for Montana artists and artisans and as well as exploring ways to create a stable year-round marketplace using a variety of strategies. One strategy to be analyzed will be the use of State Parks as retail outlets for Montana crafted products. Not only will this provide Montana artists and artisans with market access to over 1.6 million visitors to our state parks annually, but it will enhance the visitors’ park experience as well.

The Montana Creative Enterprises program will also seek new options for crafting programs on Montana’s Indian reservations, incorporating cultural components and branding elements of the Native American artwork created by Montana tribal members. Other possibilities to be explored are the creation of a traveling trunk show of Montana crafted products to take advantage of already established regional markets.

According to Geoff Sutton, “Creative Enterprise elements can be found in all of Montana’s 56 counties. We will be focusing on rural economic development with this program. Montana’s artists and artisans are a great source of wealth and talent which can be used to create jobs and provide supplemental income for rural Montanans.”