Matthew Fisher speaks to City Council on Philadelphia’s Creative Industries

• By Michelle Ghadfa
• May 6, 2008

Matthew Fisher, President of Night Kitchen Interactive, joins other business leaders to testify before City Council in a public hearing on the impact of creative industries on Philadelphia’s economic growth. Event was held on May 7 at 1 p.m. in Philadelphia City Hall.  You can read his testimony here.

Philadelphia City Council presentation 05/07/08

Introduction

I’d like to thank City Council and Kelly Lee of Innovation Philadelphia for inviting me here today. Kelly asked me to speak briefly about my experience as a creative entrepreneur in Philadelphia.

I am president of Night Kitchen Interactive, a design company providing interactive exhibits and online learning to museums, arts and cultural organizations and global corporations.

We started in 1997 with no capital to speak of, an office in my Old City loft apartment and no paid employees.

Today my partner and I have an office at 2^nd & Pine and 12 fantastic employees, half of whom are under the age of 35. We have a great roster of clients including The Smithsonian Institution, The National Constitution Center and The Pew Charitable Trusts, and over the years we have had the great privilege of working with many of the major cultural institutions in this city.

I am a long-standing member of the board of the Philadelphia Area New Media Association, or PANMA, a volunteer professional organization, and I am also on the advisory board for the Rosenbach Museum and Library.

As a member of Innovation Philadelphia’s Economic Roadmap process since 2003, I contributed, along with Peggy Amsterdam and others, to a vision for how this city could support and cultivate its creative community.

I love this city

I grew up in Powelton Village in West Philadelphia and I’ve lived in Center City, Old City and now I have a house in Northern Liberties.

When I left a very different Philadelphia for school in the 1980s I had no intention of coming back.

I lived in New York and Atlanta for several years, both of which had a vibrancy and energy that Philly seemed to lack.

But when I returned in ’94, I found Philly was a city transformed. It has continued to improve ever since. I stayed in Philadelphia in many ways because to me it combined the energy and rich culture of NYC with the livability and affordability of Atlanta.

And I found something in Philly I didn’t experience in other cities: Our residents share an immense pride in, and dedication to, our city.

I applaud the city for how far it has come and for the direction it is headed. The new mayor recognizes Philly’s arts and culture as a significant asset, and this City Council has made good progress toward reducing the wage tax and – hopefully – will do so with the Business Privilege Tax as well.

I also applaud Innovation Philadelphia for their Creative Industries Investment Fund and their global creative summit.

When we started Night Kitchen Interactive in 1997, there were far fewer resources.

We struggled to get up to speed with next to no business training and no financial support. From a business standpoint we did most everything wrong. But we grew, thanks to a booming Internet economy and lots of hard work from a talented team. Eventually, we settled into our niche working with museums and arts & cultural organizations. Today, Night Kitchen Interactive is thriving. We have doubled in size in just the last few years.

Philly is a great city for our business

We have more museums than almost any other city. That means excellent, world-class clients at our doorstep.

An affordable cost of living in Philly means affordable salaries ($50,000 salary here provides our employees with $10,000 more disposable income than the same salary in NY or DC)

And Philly’s a “small town”: Everybody knows everybody, and that means great networking, resources and support.

As great as Philly is, things could be even better

I’m not here to harp on the high wage taxes and the dreaded BPT, or our out-dated public transit system. Everyone here knows how important it is that these issues are addressed – particularly the BPT.

I will say that specific industries representing growth opportunities and invaluable assets to the city, and of course I am talking about the creative industry here, should be targeted for tax reductions, low-interest loans, and investment.

That said, I’d like to focus on the positives and suggest what we could do to build on them:

Philly is a world-class cultural destination with an incredibly rich depth and diversity of cultural organizations and creative businesses. This is, in my opinion, our strongest asset. In Travel + Leisure Magazine’s recent survey of "America’s favorite Cities 2007", 60,000 people ranked Philadelphia in the top two for “Monuments and History” and the top four for “Museums/Galleries”. So let’s do a better job of branding ourselves. We have a good start: We have branded The Avenue of the Arts. Why stop there? I think we should brand Philadelphia as The City of the Arts.

Similarly, we should promote the best of our non-profit organizations and creative businesses within the region. We tend to overlook our own strengths. For example, it wasn’t until I started to speak regularly at international museum conferences that the National Constitution Center contacted us – despite the fact that they are just a few blocks away. Better promotion would highlight that we have some of the best in the business right here at home.

Philly has great young talent streaming in from all over the world to attend our universities. But 4 years later they stream right out again. I personally have found it very challenging to identify top candidates to work in our unique field. I think many of our young and talented don’t realize how good they could have it right here, and head out to NY and SF to seek their fortunes. This is largely an issue of perception and lack of information. It is again a matter of branding. This pool of young talent needs to know what opportunities our creative businesses can offer them, the value of a Philadelphia salary, and the benefits of our rich cultural assets.

What is our greatest asset, in my opinion?

What creative small-business owners and employees have to offer is much more than can be measured by income generated, jobs created or our tax base. While these contributions are considerable, there is much more: Creative professionals tend to be creative people in all aspects of life.

We are creative citizens

And as creative citizens we are dedicated to the growth and prosperity of this city’s creative community in many ways:

As creative citizens, we not only produce creative goods, but we are the consumers as well. We are the film and theatergoers, the music lovers, the museum visitors.

We not only support the community with our dollars, we do so through our involvement. For example, through PANMA, our board holds many free educational and networking events throughout the year, bringing emerging and experienced members of the new media community together. And through my advisory position for the Rosenbach I support one of my favorite cultural treasures in the city (Please check out the Maurice Sendak exhibit that opened yesterday).

I do not consider myself to be exceptional in my dedication to the creative community. Most creatives show similar dedication to their pursuits, and many far outshine my own:

Take Geoff DiMasi, for example, who in addition to having his own design business P’unk Avenue (for Passyunk), has converted a south Philadelphia storefront into a meeting place for art openings, for the Junto, a so-called “club of mutual improvement”, and for community meetings with the goal of “generally embracing our neighborhood and city”. Or how about Alex Hillman, a young man who spearheaded Independent’s Hall, a co-working environment for independent design and technology professionals in Old City that has gained national attention.

In closing, I’d summarize by saying that in participating as producers, consumers and community members, we as creative citizens build a thriving creative industry in Philadelphia from both the inside and without. This, in turn, benefits all of our city’s citizens.

Again, I would like to thank City Council for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today.

Matthew Fisher
President
Night Kitchen Interactive

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