To ensure that the arts and creativity were a key issue in the 2015 mayoral race in Nashville, TN, the Metro Nashville Arts Commission (public sector) and the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville (private sector) spearheaded creation of a coalition of artists and creative businesses called "the Creative Edge" recognizing that, simply put, creative people are Nashville's competitive edge.

Led by a steering committee of 15 artists and arts supporters, the Creative Edge coalition grew to include of over 150 artists, artist cooperatives, and creative businesses. The Creative Edge platform identified four areas for the next Mayor of Nashville to focus on for investment and public policy to support the creative community and hosted a mayoral forum (attended by all of the mayoral candidates) to seek commitments on these issues.

Thanks in part to this effort, Nashville elected the most arts-friendly Mayor and City Council in recent memory.  Further, the Mayor has already made good on one of the four commitments which was appointing a position in the Mayor's Office to coordinate policy and services to members of the creative industries.

We are certainly looking at how we support artists in them creating their own voice for why the arts matter and not necessarily crafting a message that is something that they can parrot but encouraging them to create their own message and, and telling us how they can steward that message out into the ears that will make an impact.

Max Slavkin, Co-Founder & CEO of Creative Action Network, tells the story of the organization’s founding inspired by the impact of the Shephard Fairy HOPE poster on President Barack Obama’s political campaign.