Detroit’s creative sector is nothing to scoff at. With over 33,000 people working as advertisers, architects, writers, designers, and graphic artists, this aspect of Detroit’s work force is growing and staying on par with the rest of the country. In fact, according to a report by AngelouEconomics, creative industries pay more in Detroit than the national average. It’s just one of the many statistics that make Detroit’s creative class stand out.

In a recent article in Crain’s, writers Amy Whitesall and Maureen McDonald explore Detroit’s creative sector from the larger picture to the personal, and they expand on some of the details that make the “D” a creative hub:

In just three months last summer, almost 100,000 new travelers from Ohio and Indiana came to Detroit. An independent research company was able to trace those visits directly to D Brand materials. Those visitors pumped $70 million into the local economy. In 2006, the number of large conventions in the region grew by 50 percent, and the amount of business generated by those conventions grew 40 percent.

In a related article, Crain’s writer Kevin Hill urges readers to explore and expand the new website for creatives, DetroitMakeItHere.com:

Please kick the tires: register, create a profile, interact with your colleagues and other users, and post your own writings, photos and videos.

The site contains a free, searchable database of more than 1,600 creative companies in the region and exclusive Web-only stories, multimedia, how-to resources and more. You'll see it change a bit over the coming months, as we respond to your suggestions.

Blog Michigan Future, which covers “The Ongoing Story of Michigan’s Transformation,” had a post recently announcing Detroit Renaissance’s launch of the Creative Economy Initiative. They cite our own Doug Rothwell, who had this to say:

"We all know that we have a breadth of creative assets here in our region and this effort will not only build on these assets but allow us let the rest of the world know this is a great place to locate a creative business, source creative work or reside if you're a creative worker."