Published as an Arizona Republic "My Turn", November 7,2009.

Myra Millinger, President & CEO, Metro Phoenix Partnership for Arts and Culture
Steve Betts, President, SunCor Development Co., Chair of Metro Phoenix DNA Initiative

The recent release of the The Arizona We Want” report by the Center for the Future of Arizona adds to a growing body of research that supports our state’s urgent need for economic diversification, job creation and expanded social/cultural offerings.

One of the strategies that is vital to be competitive in the global war for talent and industry is to nurture, grow and support the creative economy.  The most prosperous regions over the long term are those with an extensive pool of creative talent in the arts, sciences, engineering and business. Investing in a strong creative cluster has proven to be transformational in competing cities such as Austin, Denver, Seattle, Portland and San Diego. These regions understand the need for this investment and have acted on it.

In a Forbes survey of approximately 1,000 corporate executives, a strong and vibrant creative community was among the top five determinants of location decisions for 74 percent of respondents – only 24 percent ranked metro Phoenix as having that cultural vibrancy. This is of concern to every sector here competing for talent and industry. Add to this the recent unflattering images of Arizona transmitted virally across the globe, the misperceptions of who we are, and a lack of awareness of what makes us unique  - and our world positioning will continue to falter.

For the past several years the Metro Phoenix Partnership for Arts and Culture (MPAC) has been working with leaders across multiple sectors to understand and then communicate this region’s authentic voice – its unique DNA to the world. This effort, under the umbrella of the Metro Phoenix DNA Initiative, has identified a compelling focus and distinctive themes that define this region’s strengths as the “Opportunity Oasis” – a place where meritocracy reigns and where open space thinking, urban pioneering, and a lush desert oasis present to the world a profile that is at once distinctive and of enormous appeal.

Branding a region is not branding a car – regions are complex, multi-dimensional and with multiple stakeholders. Therefore the Metro Phoenix DNA Initiative is developing a series of communications strategies and programs that will serve as “proof points” of the Opportunity Oasis. They include:

• Meetmetrophoenix.com – a web-based tool to reach young knowledge workers, top level professionals, and industry leaders locally, nationally and internationally to help them better understand what it is like to live, work and play here –  an on the ground “browser” to the diversity of opportunity and engagement available at multiple levels.
• PHX – a magazine targeted at national and international business leaders with stories about the unique people who have chosen to make this metro area home, the unexpected variety of cultural amenities, the significant impact of design on the urban landscape; and the number of young entrepreneurial businesses that exemplify our urban pioneering and open space thinking.
• A You-Tube competition for young people living in the metro region that will depict “My PHX” with an authentic voice that will be shared around the globe.

The Metro Phoenix DNA Initiative is one effort among many in progress to address both the opportunities and challenges expressed in the The Arizona We Want report. Working alone we will have some impact - but working with one voice of commitment and leadership we can be transformational.