The CREATE Act ( Comprehensive Resources for Entrepreneurs in the Arts to Transform the Economy (CREATE) Act  

Be An #ArtsHero stands in full solidarity with the CREATE Act (S.650), which was re-introduced by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) . 

Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) reintroduced the Comprehensive Resources for Entrepreneurs in the Arts to Transform the Economy (CREATE) Act  in both the U.S. Senate and House. The CREATE Act aims to more thoroughly serve the people, places, and programs that make our nation’s creative economy prosper in all its cultural, social, and commercial forms. This sweeping legislation expands on the research of numerous economic studies, such as Americans for the Arts’ Arts and Economic Prosperity, our Creative Industries maps, and the CREATE Act issue brief in the Congressional Arts Handbook.

You can read the full act here.

The CREATE Act aims to support the people who comprise the creative economy, namely artists and creative entrepreneurs, by:

  • Expanding programs at the Small Business Administration (SBA) to increase microloans, business loans, and technical assistance for artists, and

  • Ensuring access to FEMA's disaster relief assistance for artists impacted by natural disasters.

The CREATE Act supports creative community development, improving the places each of us calls home through provisions including:

  • Requiring the Economic Development Administration (EDA) ensure that traditional economic development tools, such as incubators and grant programs, support the creative economy throughout the country;

  • Expanding the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Administration to include arts-focused economic development;

  • Adding a new priority to the Housing & Community Development Act to include arts-based community development and creative placemaking; and

  • Creating an Artist Corps to increase national service through the arts, as called for in the Serve America Act.

The CREATE Act seeks to amend and enhance federal regulations surrounding the creative economy by:

  • Improving the visa processing time for foreign guest artists and U.S. nonprofit arts organizations; and

  • Developing a model to promote the creative arts in local economic initiatives, such as cultural district planning.