Paul Barnes discusses THE ROOSEVELTS, Economic Impact of the Arts & Cultural Industries
This week on New Mexico in Focus, Gene Grant interviews Santa Fe resident Paul Barnes, producer and longtime collaborator with filmmaker Ken Burns, about the upcoming series “The Roosevelts,” which begins airing on September 14 on KNME. The 14-hour series examines the lives of Theodore, Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt and the impact they had on American history. It’s the first time all three of their stories have been interwoven into a single narrative.
NMiF Producer Megan Kamerick looks at a new study on the economic impact of the arts and cultural industries. These industries pay $1.37 billion in wages and salaries and employ 43,031 New Mexicans – roughly equal to the state’s construction industry and more than the manufacturing sector. The report’s author, Jeff Mitchell of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research, argues that arts and culture have become an essential precondition of prosperity and economic development, but the state needs to do more to grow this sector.
The Line opinion looks at a new campaign by Common Cause designed to draw attention to the role of money in politics. And it delves into ballot questions slated for Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties that would gauge how much support there is for decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana. The questions are non-binding and critics charge it’s a strategy to get more liberal voters to the polls in November. But Secretary of State Dianna Duran says she needs to study the issue to decide if those questions are allowable.
The group will also discuss the case of Mary Han and ongoing issues at the Albuquerque Police Department. Han was a prominent attorney who sued APD. She was found dead in her home in 2010 and her death was ruled a suicide, although the Attorney General found that APD botched the investigation. A judge dismissed the Han family’s case against the city of Albuquerque and they appealed. Now the city has filed a motion to force the family to pay the city’s legal fees.
And the Line will also talk about New Mexico’s anemic economy in the aftermath of Tesla’s decision to locate its gigafactory and thousands of jobs in Nevada rather than New Mexico.
Correspondent: Megan Kamerick
Guests:
Paul Barnes, Lead Producer and Supervising Film Editor, “The Roosevelts”
Loie Fecteau, Director, New Mexico Arts
Alice Loy, Global Center on Cultural Entrepreneurship and Creative Startups
Jeff Mitchell, Senior Research Scientist, Bureau of Business and Economic Research – University of New Mexico
Jim Spadaccini, CEO of Ideum
Line Panelists:
Tom Garrity, The Garrity Group
Laura Sanchez-Rivét, Sanchez Legal Solutions
Line Guests:
Janice Arnold-Jones, Former State Representative
Eric Griego, Former State Senator
Host: Gene Grant
The Producer of NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS is Megan Kamerick. Associate Producer is Kathy Wimmer. Funding for this program was provided in part by the McCune Foundation.
Episode 810 for air September 12, 2014
Additional resources:
* “Building on the Past, Facing the Future: Renewing the Creative Economy in New Mexico,” Bureau of Business and Economic Research