When we talk about Whidbey’s creative economy, we often talk about the people who live here and build something.

 But there’s another piece of a creative economy that may be just as important:

 Can you create something compelling enough that talented people choose to come here—and then choose to come back?

 Every year, Island Shakespeare Festival brings professional actors, directors, designers and theater artists to Whidbey to create work alongside local talent.

 They live here. They eat here. They shop here. They become part of the community. Some return year after year. And sometimes, the work they create here begins to belong to Whidbey itself.

 Today I have three people who can tell that story from very different perspectives.

 Olena Hodges is the Executive Artistic Director of Island Shakespeare Festival. She grew up on Whidbey, left the island for professional theatrical training, and ultimately came home to help build professional theater in the community where she first discovered it.

Davion Brown is an internationally nomadic freelance artist originally from Australia. This is his third season with Island Shakespeare Festival. This summer he played Robin Hood—and now he’s moved from interpreting someone else’s story to writing one of his own. He’s the playwright behind ISF’s current project, Marcellus Andronicus: The Curse of House Andronici. an-dro-NEE-sigh

 And Brandon Gregory is originally from Atlanta and now lives in Baltimore. He returned to Whidbey for his second season with ISF and is directing the current project.

 So today, I don’t just want to talk about putting on Shakespeare.

 I want to talk about something bigger.

 Why do professional actors come to a little island in Washington to make theater?

 What makes them come back?

 What happens when an arts organization moves beyond presenting existing work and starts creating new work here?

 And what would it take for Whidbey to become not simply a place that appreciates artists—but a place where artists come specifically to create?

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