Eureka Springs and Fayetteville are both wooing new business with economic incentives. Eureka Springs offers a 2% tax rebate on any production filmed within the city limits and shares a list of vendors who offer discounts. The City of Fayetteville made a direct contribution of $500,000 to the producers of the HBO series “True Detective Season 3,” shot in Northwest Arkansas in 2018. The Northwest Arkansas Film & Entertainment Commission, FILMNWA, was founded by the major Northwest Arkansas cities through their advertising and promotion commissions. It is a collaboration with the Arkansas Film Commission and the Arkansas Production Alliance, and their board is intentional about having representation from the academic, film, music, arts and entertainment industries. Representatives from these organizations worked with Christopher Crane, Arkansas’s film commissioner, to establish FILMNWA with the hope that it would be a model for other regions across the state. FILMNWA Board President Sandy Royce Martin and Visit Bentonville President Kalene Griffith spearheaded this regional effort as the Bentonville Film Festival was being launched. Martin explained, “We promote Northwest Arkansas as a film location and film/digital production/music hub through national publications and digital media such as MovieMaker magazine. Since we have started the commission, the region has become very production-friendly, and it has helped to build up our filming and production infrastructure. Several major studios, both video and audio, have opened and/or relocated here, more gear suppliers and our crew availability has expanded greatly.” FILMNWA board member and University of Arkansas faculty member Jacob Hertzog is working hard to develop the music
industry in the state. “We are creating a certificate program in Music Industry at the U of A that specifically addresses both wide-scale music business training for musicians and those interested in the business side of music and aims to assist in the development of our music economy. This includes courses in music business, music law, songwriting, live production and artist development. Our new student-run record label, Hill Records, is just getting off the ground. We have received submissions from artists across Arkansas and beyond, and we intend to begin releasing music later this year. The project is a hands-on music industry experience for students that includes academic classes and mentorship opportunities. Hill Records will ultimately release and promote Arkansas’s musicians in all genres while training students in an immersive music business environment.” Hertzog added, “There is extraordinary opportunity in Arkansas to leverage the potential of our higher education system to advance the creative economy.” Other initiatives that have a music component include Best Buy Teen Tech Center, a partnership between the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub and Best Buy, to be housed in the Innovation Hub’s North Little Rock location. This tech center will include a podcast and music recording studio. According to Errin Stanger, director of the Innovation Hub, “This will be a place where Arkansas teens can develop critical skills through hands-on activities that explore their interests in technology, art and entrepreneurial subjects. We are ecstatic that we have the opportunity to provide tools and resources focused on music!” Greg Nabholz is CEO and principal broker of Nabholz Properties Inc, a commercial real estate and economic development consulting firm based in Conway. He is also a board member of the Arkansas Cinema Society.
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