The foundation is designing a business incubator to build the creative economic sector of West Virginia. The incubator will be located in Charleston’s historic West Side neighborhood.
The Tamarack Foundation for the Arts is dedicated to developing the types of businesses that are proven to help our economy and our communities.
The bedrock of our work is the understanding that creativity pays in West Virginia. Through job creation, tax dollars, tourism, and in making desirable communities where people want to live and work, creative enterprises – like the makers of Blenko glass and FiestaWare – drive additional revenue while promoting the best of our state across the nation.
In a study of creative professionals completed by the foundation in late 2015, 93% of responses to questions about the pros and cons of working in West Virginia were comprised of reasons why the state presents a challenging climate for creative entrepreneurs.
Given West Virginia’s largely untapped potential for developing this type of proven enterprise coupled with the stifling climate currently experienced by these business owners, it is essential that we both formalize and scale up our investment in creative entrepreneurs.
The Tamarack Foundation for the Arts Creative Business Incubator will be: accessible and useful to creatives from across the state; a visual representation of the high-quality art made in WV; and a space to drive and sustain growth for burgeoning creative businesses.
The foundation will join a new creative ecosystem comprised of businesses forming in and relocating to the West Side of Charleston as part of the Staats Hospital redevelopment initiative driven by the West Virginian, family-owned Crawford Holdings LLC.
The space will serve as the headquarters for the Tamarack Foundation and include:
Working in partnership with Crawford Holdings LLC and the West Virginia-based architecture firm The Mills Group, the foundation has assessed a need of $100,000 to complete the initial build out of the space.
We are seeking to raise these funds and, if possible, surpass our goal so that we may invest additional dollars into further diversifying what is offered through the Creative Business Incubator space.