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About

Mission | Values | Who is Found on CreativeGround?

CreativeGround is a project of the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA.) It is the dynamic regional directory that celebrates the vital work of New England's creative people and places. CreativeGround is a community-generated and free tool that supports a region-wide creative network.

CreativeGround –– “Connect with Creative New England”

Mission

NEFA’s Creative Economy program’s vision for our region is a sustainable, inclusive, and connected New England creative economy that is valued by all New England communities. This means that creative people and places are recognized, supported, well-informed, and connected to each other and the broader ecosystem.  

CreativeGround is our primary tool to strengthen the creative community by providing :

  • visibility

  • connection

  • information

Knowledge sharing activates our creative community with more resources.

Values

CreativeGround’s values are an extension of NEFA’s values and serve as practical guidance for the team executing CreativeGround’s mission. 

Visibility

We believe resources flow to what is known. CreativeGround gives the region's creative people and places a public platform to share what they do and with whom in their own words. We categorize this information to make it more transparent to people both in and outside of the creative sector. 

Connection

CreativeGround supports the creative core – and anyone invested in its health – to:

  • connect with each other

  • share expertise

  •  collaborate on a project

  • exchange resources

  • map local cultural assets 

  • discover new neighbors

Permaculture

Everyone in the network is a resource to everyone else. CreativeGround provides support and tools so that everyone can strengthen the capacity of the New England Creative Economy Network. Users can access information and resources without relying on NEFA as an authority.

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility 

The CreativeGround team proactively seeks out opportunities to support EDIA within the field. We work toward a more just sector by: 

  • spotlighting a diverse group of creatives

  • supporting partners’ work serving historically excluded communities

  • maintaining accessible site functionality

We are aware that we use the colonial names for what is all Indigenous Land – the past, present, and future are all very “alive” in New England. We also acknowledge that an online platform automatically excludes those without reliable internet and technical skill. We mitigate this by providing technical assistance and in-person network-building. Our approach to EDIA is notably one of intersectionality.

Please read our Data Statement, Accessibility Statement, and Land Acknowledgement for further details of how we practically live out these values.

Who is Found on CreativeGround?

Overlapping yellow, teal, orange, grey circles surrounded by a word cloud of profile types in CreativeGround

New England Creative Economy Network (the Network)

The Network comprises the:

  • Creative Core
    • Creative entities that produce creative work (especially Artists/Creatives)
    • Creative entities that distribute creative work
    • Creative entities that support creative work
    • Creative entities that train in creative work
  • Creative-Related entities that are not creative in business mission but also distribute or otherwise support creative work (like Senior Centers, School Committees, and Foundations)
  • Community Leaders who connect creatives and share resources
  • Data Partners who license CreativeGround data to use as their own local directory or for research projects

To learn more about how each of these overlapping groups use and benefit from CreativeGround, please see the Dig In As... pages