Within dominant academic and policy literatures, the ‘creative economy’ is discursively produced as specific types of occupations and industries generating wealth, jobs, and innovative ideas, albeit linked to sustainable development goals. Despite attention to the creative economy’s ‘triple bottom line’, these narratives are inextricably linked to growth metrics (industries, occupations, employment, outputs) that privilege specific economic actors, activities and values. Further, these frameworks have an inherent urban bias with its focus on agglomeration. As such, dominant creative economy literature obfuscates the broader range of creative and cultural practices taking place in non-profits, community-based organizations, micro-enterprises and by individual creative producers working in non-urban places. This invisibility of creative practices aligns with Gibson-Graham’s argument (2006b)that the economy consists of a multitude of practices – both capitalist and noncapitalist – however the latter are often rendered invisible in dominant economic narratives, which constructs ‘Capitalism’ as a totalizing, homogenizing force. Although capitalism is still class-based, Gibson-Graham suggest that it is not grounded in a particular identity but rather produced through classed processes anytime surplus labor and value are appropriated by those not responsible for their production. This expands Gibson-Graham’s purview of capitalistic processes to include individuals, practices and sites outside of the traditional ‘working class’ and formal establishments producing goods and services. They argue that by conceiving capitalism as a collection of plural economic practices as opposed to an established, dominating context, we can make visible noncapitalist practices that already exist alongside exploitative and extractive ones. In so doing, we can identify sites and strategies to be strengthened in order to transition to a postcapitalist future. To explore this potential, this paper applies Gibson-Graham’s diverse economies framework to produce an alternative mapping of a rich, rural creative landscape in Northern Wisconsin that is not measurable using dominant metrics. Drawing on interview data with rural creative producers and organizations, the paper then explores the diversity of economic practices involved in producing the regional creative economy and their underlying values and goals. The paper concludes with a discussion of alternative policies aimed at strengthening the region’s diverse creative economies. 

Nicole Foster is an Assistant Professor of Sustainable Community Development and Interim Director of the Center for Rural Communities at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, USA. Previously, she was Creative Economy Research Fellow with the Southwest Creative Technology Network at the University of the West of England in Bristol, UK. Her research examines the role art, culture, and technology play in building resilient communities and regions.