Creative economies can not only enhance life and revitalize communities, but also foster new industries and employment.

A new study from the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, "Artists' Centers: Evolution and Impact on Artists, Neighborhoods, and Economies," shows that Minnesota's strong creative economy owes much of its success to the unusual number and quality of dedicated gathering spaces for artists in Minnesota. The study profiles 22 arts centers and individual artists.

The focus is exemplary arts-based programs that have had a significant and sustained positive impact on their communities. For the purposes of this inquiry significant and sustained positive impactﾝ is defined as change leading to the long-term advancement of human dignity, health and/or productivity. Long-term in this context is defined as a minimum of ten years.

Towards Knowledge Societies focuses in particular on the foundations on which knowledge societies that will optimize sustainable human development are constructed.

This report summarizes findings from a McKnight Foundations study which examined the impact of the arts on the community and economic health of eight rural Minnesota towns.

The importance of the cultural planning approach and the development of an organised cultural cluster operating and renewing itself in a virtuous synergy with the other functions of the city, are analysed as key actions in putting culture at the centre of a sustainable urban development.

An example of a 2005 op-ed by Ken Kahn, Executive Director of Greater Hartford Arts Council, in the Hartford Courant making a broad case for community investment in the arts.

Chicago's Millennium Park is a case study in how to create demand for downtown services and real estate.

The author focuses on how urban policies and the clustering of creative industries has influenced urban outcomes. The set of creative industries include those with output protectable under some form of intellectual property law. More specifically, this sub-sector encompasses software, multimedia, video games, industrial design, fashion, publishing, and research and development

New England Foundation for the Arts presents highlights from New England's Creative Economy: the Non-profit Sector, 2002 via their website. This cultural economic impact study examines the economic status of non-profit cultural organizations in 2002 for New England as well as for individual states in the region.