Rep. Todd Novak honored with Creative Community Champion Award

 Create Wisconsin:
Rep. Todd Novak honored with Creative Community Champion Award
presented at meeting with creative economy leaders
 August 9, 2024, in Hollandale, WI

On  Friday, August 9, Create Wisconsin announced that State  Representative Todd Novak  (R-Dodgeville) has been recognized with the Creative Community Champion Award, presented by Create Wisconsin in partnership with the League of Wisconsin Municipalities. This annual award honors elected officials and civic leaders who are focused on the arts and creativity as integral to economic, educational, and community vitality,  as champions for Wisconsin’s success now and into the future.  Rep. Novak has sponsored legislation to expand arts and creative economy development throughout Wisconsin, particularly in small towns and rural areas.

The presentation took place on August 9, during a Creative Economy Discussion at Nick Engelbert’s Grandview, a folk art museum and arts academy in Hollandale, WI.    This gathering was an opportunity to share info about the arts and creativity locally, talk about the community's encouragement of its creative economy, and thank Rep. Novak as a champion for increased investment in Wisconsin’s creative people, organizations, businesses and communities.  Grandview and Create Wisconsin, Wisconsin’s community cultural development organization, co-hosted the meeting.

In addition to representatives from Grandview and Create Wisconsin, leaders from other arts and civic organizations in the area and statewide - including Folklore Village and Merrimac and Main in Dodgeville, Driver Opera House in Darlington, Lafayette County Economic Development Corporation, Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point, and Wisconsin Partners - participated.

“We greatly appreciate Representative Novak’s advocacy and support for the arts in the 51st Assembly District and statewide.  His leadership has put Wisconsin’s arts and cultural assets front and center, as the state and its communities seek to incubate, attract and retain talent, particularly young people,” says Anne Katz,  Director of Create Wisconsin.  “This is especially important in Wisconsin’s small towns and rural areas, to help us compete with other Midwestern states which are pro-actively investing in this essential 21st century development.”

Create Wisconsin, the state’s community cultural development organization, promotes the arts and creativity as essential to Wisconsin’s economic, educational, and civic success, and brings people together to learn, network, and work for access to the arts and creative opportunities for everyone,  everywhere in the state.  More at www.createwisconsin.org.  

The League of Wisconsin Municipalities is the statewide organization that helps Wisconsin cities and villages share ideas and learn from one another, trains and provides information to the people elected and appointed to govern those cities and villages, and advocates on their behalf with the Wisconsin Legislature, Governor and state agencies. More at www.lwm-info.org. 

Contact Create Wisconsin (info@createwisconsin.org and 608 255 8316) for more information.

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