One group of communities in Northeast Missouri, connected to each other by 50 miles of scenic highway, is building on the region’s rich cultural heritage to draw visitors and permanent residents. The Provenance Project was created to link the communities of Hannibal, Clarksville and Louisiana together with Scenic Byway 79 (also called Missouri’s Great River Road). The project’s name suggests that the organization intends to make Northeast Missouri the provenance of many artists and their work.

The project is essentially a national, small-business recruitment program based on the tenet that art and art-related activities can be economic catalysts to the revitalization of downtown areas. The program combines the efforts of local artists, arts councils, development authorities, Main Street programs and tourism organizations into a single project for the national recruitment of cultural businesses.

“The purpose is to … aid in the recruitment and relocation of artists and art-related business to the three-county area as a means of spurring tourism and economic growth,” says Glory Franklin of The Provenance Project. “It’s designed to create quality jobs, mitigate economic distress, revitalize central business districts and generate additional capital investment using cultural enterprise as an economic catalyst.”

Several local businesses, universities, foundations, arts guilds and councils have also combined resources to help get the project off the ground.

The Provenance Project has received marketing grants totaling nearly $30,000 from the Business Expansion and Attraction Group of the Missouri Department of Economic Development; and financial and administrative support from the Northeast Missouri Development Authority. It has also received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Missouri Arts Council and the Missouri Division of Tourism.

Like the other communities that are part of The Provenance Project, Hannibal, Mo., is promoting its heritage and the availability of historic and architecturally interesting properties for possible use by craftspeople.

Pewtersmith Pat Hooper of ASL Pewter in Clarksville, Mo. The town features a historic downtown area facing the Mississippi River.

What’s in it for artists?

Depending on where they choose to locate, qualified artists can take advantage of incentives such as low interest rehabilitation loans, historic tax credits, Neighborhood Assistance Program credits, tax abatement and Enterprise Zone benefits.

In addition to direct funding from arts organizations, 10 area banks have committed over $5 million in low interest loans for Provenance Project participants. There is a specific loan program designed to encourage the rehabilitation of historic and other older buildings along the corridor. The Provenance Project’s Web site, www.provenanceproject.org, provides information on how to apply, as well as specifics on the many other incentive programs. The Web site also offers history on the project, maps of the area, and events listings

Organizers say the area not only provides a central location, convenient to many Midwestern art and craft shows, but it also offers a low cost of living and a relaxed lifestyle.

A promotional map showing the communities involved in The Provenance Project.

To date, the program has had 800 total recruitment leads, 14 projects underway and nine relocations. The three-city area boasts two blacksmiths, a potter, a pen and ink artist, watercolorists, a glass blower, two stained glass artists, a candle maker and cabinetmakers. It has recruited artists from around the country and received inquiries from the United States, Puerto Rico and Japan. In addition, the Provenance Project has generated almost $12 million in new capital investment.