For nearly 100 years, the Old Daily Record Building served as one of Jacksonville’s storytelling hubs, housing the journalists who documented the city’s rise, struggles, and transformation. Today, that same building stands ready for its next chapter, not as a newsroom, but as the headquarters of a modern creative economy.

Bespoke House Artisan Community is proposing an 8,000-square-foot expansion inside this historic space to support more than 200 working creatives across film, fashion, design, media, fine art, music, marketing, and entrepreneurship. The goal is simple but powerful: turn Jacksonville’s creative talent into a sustainable economic sector instead of a side hustle culture.

The initial funding target to secure the opportunity is $45,000.
Projected annual operations sit around $200,000, largely sustained through memberships, programming, events, and creative services.

What that investment unlocks is far larger than a building.
It creates infrastructure.
And infrastructure is what turns talent into economic output.

The creative economy is already a trillion-dollar industry

According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts, the arts and creative industries contribute over $1 trillion annually to the U.S. economy, representing roughly 4.4% of GDP.

• National Endowment for the Arts: https://www.arts.gov/impact/creative-economy
• U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (Arts & Culture): https://www.bea.gov/data/special-topics/arts-and-culture

Even more telling, Americans for the Arts reports that nonprofit arts organizations generate $166 billion in economic activity each year and support millions of jobs nationwide.

Source: https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-the-numbers

Creative hubs consistently act as business incubators, tourism drivers, workforce developers, and neighborhood revitalization engines. Cities that invest in cultural infrastructure do not just get murals and concerts. They get:

• Higher small business formation
• Increased local spending
• Stronger tourism appeal
• Young professional retention
• Rising property values
• Safer, more active downtown districts

What $45,000 actually unlocks

The initial $45K does not “fund an arts project.” It unlocks access to a facility that can house:

• 200+ creative professionals
• Live/work studios
• Coworking space
• Galleries and public exhibitions
• Livestream production
• Recording and media studios
• Education and financial literacy programs
• Immersive cultural events

Once operational, Bespoke House’s membership model creates self-sustaining revenue:

• Artisan professionals at $100/month
• Patrons supporting at $20/month
• Additional coworking memberships
• Private studios
• Event rentals
• Sponsorships
• Media partnerships

Just 200 artisan members alone generate $240,000 annually before any additional revenue streams.

This means the project quickly shifts from fundraising dependent to economically productive. That is how incubators work. That is how innovation hubs work. That is how creative districts work.

The local opportunity Jacksonville is sitting on

Jacksonville already has the talent. What it lacks is centralized creative infrastructure. This gap is where communities lose momentum, lose artists, and lose opportunity.

Local government conversations about arts, culture, and economic development repeatedly run into the same friction points: underutilized creative labor, lack of production spaces, missing funding pipelines, and missed tourism opportunities.

In short, the city has the artists but not the system. Bespoke House fills that gap.

The community ROI

When 200 creatives have professional infrastructure, income increases across the board. That means more taxable income, more small businesses launched, more marketing spend locally, more event traffic downtown, and more service providers hired.

Americans for the Arts highlights how arts and culture spending multiplies through local economies. Many communities use this research to justify arts infrastructure as a legitimate economic development tool.

Source: https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-the-numbers/economic-impact-of-arts-and-culture

Using conservative projections, a $200,000 annual operation can stimulate $1M+ in local economic activity over time once the ecosystem is fully active and consistently producing events, content, commissions, services, and visitor traffic.

Why media infrastructure changes everything

Most creative spaces stop at studios and desks. Bespoke House goes further by integrating livestream broadcasting, digital publications, content production, sponsorship storytelling, and immersive cultural experiences.

This turns Jacksonville’s creative output into a constant stream of digital exposure. Every artist feature becomes city marketing. Every livestream becomes tourism promotion. Every event becomes economic activity.

Cities now compete on culture, not skylines. And culture is content.

From downtown to the Westside: a scalable economic engine

The Old Daily Record Building expansion serves as proof of concept. Once the downtown hub is operating sustainably, the long-term vision is to scale into a larger campus model that includes studios, education, production facilities, live/work spaces, events, and workforce development.

Not charity. Infrastructure.

The real bottom line

The starving artist myth is not romantic. It is economically inefficient. Cities that treat creativity as a hobby lose massive unrealized value. Cities that treat it as infrastructure build thriving cultural economies.

For an initial $45,000 opportunity cost and a sustainable $200,000 annual operation, Jacksonville can:

• Support 200+ working creatives
• Stimulate large local economic activity through events and commerce
• Revitalize historic downtown space
• Grow tourism
• Launch small businesses
• Broadcast Jacksonville culture nationwide

That is not arts funding. That is smart development.

Support the expansion

Learn more and contribute to unlocking this historic opportunity: https://www.gofundme.com/f/bespokenfor

Bespoke House is not asking Jacksonville to believe in art. It is offering a proven economic strategy where creativity becomes commerce, culture becomes infrastructure, and a historic building becomes a modern growth engine.

Be more. Bespoken For.