VAIL VALLEY, Colorado — The Colorado Council of the Arts recently formed a group of individuals who represent creative enterprises and creative occupations throughout the state. Among those invited to participate were Beth Slifer, CEO and creative director of Slifer Designs, and Yvonne Jacobs, president of Slifer Designs.

Currently, the creative industry is Colorado's fifth largest economic sector. Slifer and Jacobs, along with representatives from the Aspen Art Museum, are the only mountain resort representatives on the panel. Most other members on the 50-person panel are from the Denver metropolitan area's design, literary and publishing, film and media, heritage, and performing and visual arts industries.

The panel is co-hosted by Lt. Governor Barbara O'Brien and the Office of Economic Development Director Don Marostica.

“It is an honor to be included with this group of veteran creative industry leaders and have the chance to collaborate with them in working toward such an important goal,” said Jacobs. “Fostering new creative talent goes hand-in-hand with growing the overall creative sector.”

Currently the Colorado creative sector represents over 122,000 jobs in almost 8,000 enterprises. There are another 64,000 creative occupations that work in businesses not labeled as a “creative enterprise,” such as designers in manufacturing companies.

Other states have recently made the creative sector a priority; Oklahoma recently coined itself the “State of Creativity,” and Massachusetts and Hawaii have both established a “creative industries” division in their state's Office of Economic Development.

For more information, visit www.thecivicnetwork.org/creativeeconomy.