Creativity Key to Economic Growth

We just received our June 2007 issue to Ode Magazine, www.odemagazine.com.

It contained a small article about the research conducted by US economist, Richard Florida, on the "creative class". His findings were very interesting.

He states that "creativity is key to economic growth". He developed a creativity index to rank various US cities and "found that cities with happening nightlife, diversity, lots of young people, thriving gay culture and lively musical scenes scored the highest". These are the "places that attract hip innovators".

Dahlonega for a small town is showing signs of improvement in these areas as well. Crimson Moon and other establishments are featuring some great nightlife as evidenced by the vitality downtown. Greater diversity is also becoming more evident. Artists are moving to the area.

We have witnessed some very positive changes since we moved here about five years ago. I predict the creative side of Dahlonega to grow even more and bring economic growth.