NEFA's Creative Economy team and partners are passionate about data, because we're passionate about our region's arts and culture. We hope CreativeGround makes our excitement contagious!
CreativeGround is a unique combination of searchable directory and research database. The user-generated and maintained profiles on CreativeGround provide a real-time picture of the broad spectrum of creative people and places at work in the six New England states and the important connections between them.
NEFA learns from the data that users add to profiles in the directory, using it to improve how it's coded for research. NEFA or our partners analyze the database and its contents when commissioning studies that quantify the impact of the regional creative economy. This analysis informs state and regional decisions about how to support and strengthen those doing creative work.
We also prioritize data transparency. While data about some entities are added to the database from public records, we share these public data through the directory, so that it can be updated directly by users, serving our vision for a self-sustainable Network. Feedback from users who search the site and get listed also gets integrated back into the search categories and the profile form.
NEFA maintains the infrastructure so that creatives and community leaders are free to create, post, learn, connect, and build their own capacity to strengthen the region’s creative community. Because of our responsibility in managing data, we also utilize proprietary agreements with our Partners to appropriately manage their access to and usage of the data we provide to them.