Earlier in the summer we had a garage sale. Technically it was a yard sale, since we converted our garage into an art studio, but in Maine all the listings for yard sales, stoop sales, tag sales, moving sales etc. are listed under “garage sales,” so be it. We posted on craigslist: “Artist + graphic designer + 3 kids unload lots of cool stuff. Furniture (including mid-century). Lighting. Collectibles. Huge music collection (CDs). Books. Toys.” We drew a very nice crowd and sold a buch of stuff. But the important point was the quality of the customers.

There are two kinds of people who go to garage sales (or flea markets, resale shops, etc.), people looking to get ordinary things really cheap and people looking to get good deals on very particular things. We wrote our ad to appeal to the second sort, and for the most part, that’s who we got. This little insight has important implications for the creative economy—both in terms of supply and demand. Simply put, the creative economy needs the creative consumer.

Obviously, all of our creative ventures require audiences that can appreciate them. In Nicole Mones foodie/romance novel The Last Chinese Chef, cooking is presented as a social art, with the chef only being able to find expression through the refined palate of the diner. The Slow Food people also talk about the participation of the eater, but this is equally true of audiences in music, art, film and theatre, or in the members of a crafter’s Etsy circle.

The other side of the coin is that we have to present wonderful, unique things at prices that our audience is willing to spend. Travel the world and you will find many cities that are filled with bulk commodities and luxury brands with very little in the individually crafted middle. It is more difficult to market these kinds of artisanal things, because they are neither wholly familiar nor global brands, but they are things that if you find them here (and like them) you’ll want to buy because you can’t readily get them elsewhere.

And that’s what turns a city from a commodity dispenser into a place: a sense of immediacy that you need experience and enjoy—and buy—what you find because it’s rare or one-of-a-kind or just plain better here. And when we talk about Portland as a great food town or great music town we also mean that we have great appreciators of food and music that allow and encourage these and many other arts to find expression through them.

Last night I attended the Portland Phoenix’s Best of Portland Awards at Port City Music Hall. The show began at 7:00, but when I arrived at 6:00 it was already filled with some of Portland’s most creative people. Granted there was a VIP special hour before hand, hmmm why wasn’t I invited? (hint, hint, wink, wink) Fortunately a dear friend held a seat for me, and to my delight food was being handed to me left and right from the wonderful staff of Black Tie Catering. Not to mention that as I looked to my right there was a gorgeous fondue table, which was completely swarmed by eager eaters, ooh if only I had a longer reach!

After Marie Moreshead finished her set (one of the night’s three musical performances), the award announcements began They even started with my favorite category, Arts & Entertainment! Boy, I tell you, the crowd was a super zealous one. As each nominee was announced, enthusiastic cheers made winners out of even those who did not receive an award. I was so excited that I tweeted almost every category and winner, my finger actually kind of hurts today!

The Great Lost Bear won for best burger, and when two loyal customers discovered that the owners were not in attendance they graciously accepted the award for them. “Evan Horton and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to accept the award for the Great Lost Bear. We were honored and promptly delivered it of course,” said Robert Barnes of  revDRTV. Now that’s dedication! I am so proud of the city I live in, I wish I could tweet it all!

There’s been a shift in the theatrical landscape of Portland. Last fall, Mad Horse Theatre Company moved from the Studio Theatre at Portland Stage to the new Lucid Stage off Forest Avenue, and last week, the new Dramatic Repertory Company began the run of their first production at the space that Mad Horse exited. Celebrating their 25th anniversary season in Portland, Mad Horse’s latest offering is a staging of Sam Shepard’s darkly autobiographical play, “The Late Henry Moss,” picked as a “must see” by the Portland Phoenix. One source who saw an early performance said the cast was great and “didn’t miss a beat.” Performances are March 10 -27, Thursday-Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees at Lucid Stage, 79 Baxter blvd in Portland. There are two performances left of the Dramatic Repertory Company production of Blue/Orange, a “darkly funny” play by Joe Penhall. The DRC was founded by Keith and Vanessa Beyland, “so that we could do some shows that no one else seemed to be doing north of Boston.” Blue/Orange fits the bill: “Bold, Sharp and Timely! This play and this production pose a wealth of provocative questions” says the Portland Phoenix; “Powerful! The play’s relevance is unmistakable Gives audiences much to think about,” according to the Portland Press Herald. Performances are March 2-12, at the Studio Theatre at Portland Stage, 25A Forest Avenue. Dark, funny, thoughtful. Theatre in Portland.

Our latest audio slideshow by radio producer and documentarian Willa Kammerer and photographer Tonee Harbert tells the story of two native Mainers who had started successful careers in Los Angeles but longed to return before their clocks struck 30. Wade Brainerd convinced Activision, the company he is a technical director for, to let him set up a satellite office in Portland. His partner Jennie Hahn realized that Portland would be a perfect base of operations for the kind of community-based theater work that she does. And they wanted to start a family. Fast-forward the tape and we see Wade and Jennie working in and around Portland, living near Willard Beach in South Portland and raising their first child, Simon. Check out Wade’s website and Jennie’s organization, Open Waters Theatre Arts. You can also find their video on our YouTube channel. As their story shows, you can have it all, and do it all—in Portland.

photo by Tonee Harbert