Ask a room full of Meadville folks who among them is a “creative,” and a few painters and a guitar player will raise their hands. Everyone else keeps their hands in their laps.

We think a lot more of those hands belong in the air!

This year, Pennsylvania Creative Industries (PCI) launched the state’s first Creative Districts program. It gives towns official recognition for the art, culture, and creative business already happening on their streets. Here at the Meadville Community Revitalization Corporation, we’re exploring what it would take for downtown Meadville to earn that designation. The first question we had to answer turned out to be the most fun one: who, exactly, counts as a creative?

The answer is a lot bigger than most people expect.

What the state says

PCI describes a Creative District as “a walkable, geographically defined area… characterized by a high concentration of cultural facilities, creative businesses and entrepreneurs, artists, and culture bearers.”

In its planning guide, PCI describes creative workers as people whose “creative skills, practices, and leadership generate cultural, social, and economic value.” That definition is wide on purpose. To help communities count their creatives, the PCI published a list of the industries and jobs that qualify. Reading it feels a bit like flipping through the Meadville business directory.

According to PCI’s guidelines, you might be a creative if…

• You paint, sculpt, illustrate, or throw pots. (Yes, the obvious ones count. You’re our headliners.)
• You act, dance, sing, direct, or play in a band, whether that’s at the Academy Theatre or in your garage.
• You bake pies, make chocolate, pull candy, or churn ice cream. Specialty food makers are on the state’s list.
• You build cabinets or furniture by hand.
• You design jewelry, sew clothing, or run a gift shop stocked with local goods.
• You write code, build websites, or design apps.
• You take photos, shoot video, report the news, or work in marketing and PR.
• You’re an architect, a landscape architect, a graphic designer, or an interior designer.
• You teach art or music, work at the library, or care for a museum or archive collection.
• You keep a tradition alive: a family recipe, a quilting pattern, a language, a song your grandmother taught you. The state calls you a culture bearer, and you count too.

PCI even admits that “many creative practitioners and businesses/organizations do not fit neatly into a single category,” and it asks towns to document the one-of-a-kind work that doesn’t fit a box. So if you restore vintage signs, or you tie fishing flies at the kitchen table and sell them at the Market House, we see you.

Meadville has always made things

None of this is new for us. The Hookless Fastener Company (later Talon) came to town in 1913 and went on to lead the zipper industry, eventually earning Meadville its name as Tool City. Our Market House, built in 1870, is one of Pennsylvania’s oldest continuously operating market houses. The Academy Theatre has welcomed performers on Chestnut Street since 1885. Makers, tinkerers, and performers have been shaping this downtown for more than a century.

The Creative District conversation gives us a new way to tell that story and to bring today’s makers together for an opportunity to generate real dollars and cents for our community.

Why the count matters

To earn designation, a community has to map its creative assets: the people, businesses, venues, and organizations that give a place its character. A thorough count shows the state that Meadville’s creative community is concentrated downtown and ready for investment.

Designated districts can receive up to $50,000 a year in PCI grants for five years, plus statewide marketing and planning help. That money can support public art, programming, community events, and growing creative businesses. According to PCI, Pennsylvania’s creative economy contributes more than $30 billion to the state and supports nearly 190,000 jobs. We’d love to see more of that on our sidewalks.

We’ve already seen what one arts investment can do here. The Arc Community Greenspace downtown got its start with a grant from the Creative Communities Initiative. It went on to win a 2023 Great Places in Pennsylvania award from the American Planning Association’s Pennsylvania chapter and a 2026 Townie Award for Public Space Improvement from the PA Downtown Center. Imagine how much impact future projects like this could have in a designated arts district with similar support and resources.

Raise your hand

If you saw yourself anywhere on that list, you’re part of Meadville’s creative economy, even if you’ve never once called yourself an artist. The baker, the web developer, the cabinetmaker, and the kid practicing violin after school all belong in the picture we’re putting together.

We’re at the very start of this work, and we want you with us. Sign up for the MCRC newsletter to follow along as we explore Creative District designation, and to hear how you can help put Meadville’s creatives on the map.

Let’s make it Meadville. #MakeItMeadville

Learn more about the program: PA Creative Districts