The following speech was given by Rick Rogers, Executive Director of Curated Storefront and recipient of the H. Peter Burg Economic Development Leadership Award issued by the Greater Akron Chamber, on March 12th, 2025.

Thank you to the leadership of the Greater Akron Chamber and past H. Peter Burg Economic Development Leadership Award winners for this great honor. 

I wouldn’t have made it this far if it wasn’t for the hard work and support from my teammates at Tribute, B.W. Rogers Company, and Curated Storefront. So, thanks go out to the many who have worked for us and notably those who are with us tonight. Susie Hopper and Nancy Baxter from tribute; Andy Dalzell, Greg Brun, Sam Dimeo, and Madeline Stull from B.W. Rogers Company. In addition, Sandy Auburn, McKenzie Beynon, Courtney Cable, Taylor Clapp, Julian Curet, Janet Renner, and Shirley Smith from Curated Storefront.

And finally, thanks go to my wonderful partner of 42 years, Alita, whose patience, confidence in me, and support is indispensable. At least half of this award belongs to her. 

After selling B.W. Rogers Company in 2014, supporting Akron seemed a logical place to focus our resources. It’s the city that brought us our success. 

In 1870, an artist and Prussian immigrant named Albert Ruger rendered the city of Akron from above. With a touch of fantasy, Ruger’s sprawling panorama fashions a young city with a population of just 10,000 people as a well-established commercial center. Factories, businesses, houses, and even a music school line the city’s criss-crossed streets which roughly define the current downtown, and canals and railroads link Akron to the rest of the world. Ferdinand Shumacher’s early Quaker Oats operations can be seen adjacent to the Ohio canal and the fledgling B.F. Goodrich company had just opened for business. Ruger’s lithograph captures the city as it was and simultaneously imagines it as something it has yet to become. 

When I founded Curated Storefront in 2017, it was with the hope of tapping into a similarly visionary ethos. By engaging artists from both near and far, Curated Storefront set out to reveal all that Akron has to offer and to simultaneously transform the downtown as a site of cultural and economic potential. Over the past 7 years, visual and performing artists have done exactly that. 

The rubber industry was the economic lifeblood of our community, employing thousands and putting Akron on the global stage. My grandfather came to Akron from Los Angeles in 1922 to take a job at Goodrich. By 1960 Akron’s population had crested at over 290,000.   

That number currently stands just below 190,000.

The question now is how to redefine our economy, how to rebuild our workforce, and most importantly, how to inspire people to believe in Akron again.

When people think about economic development, they often think about factories, offices, and tech hubs. But we cannot overlook the impact that arts and culture have on revitalizing a city. Cities with a thriving arts scene and strong creative class experience higher tourism, increased local business revenue, and improved property values. More than that, they create spaces where people want to live, work, and invest.

Downtown Akron is poised for growth. Residency and visitation rates are growing downtown. The street infrastructure has been vastly improved. Housing is some of the most affordable in the nation and new real estate development is on the horizon.

We have a new and energized team at City Hall. Downtown Akron Partnership programs, the new Lock 3 Park, and Akron’s Bicentennial program will bring artists, residents and tourists downtown to see what Akron has to offer. Art has helped us reclaim vacant storefronts, turning them into commercially viable spaces. This is not just about aesthetics—it is about economic vitality.

Here is the evidence: Miami’s Wynwood Art District, Denver’s RINO district, and Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine. These once blighted places are now vital. The change was catalyzed by the arts, and this dynamic has played out in many cities across the world. 

Here’s a quote from this letter I received from Eileen Burg a couple weeks ago:

“The Chamber got it right in 2025…this is a perfect year for the arts and business communities to come together. Arts are needed more than ever as it is the arts that bring us meaning in our lives.”

Investing in the arts should be a cornerstone of our downtown redevelopment strategy. That means expanding public-private partnerships to fund creative projects and supporting local artists through grants and commissions. We must also promote mixed-use development that merges arts with commerce, live-work spaces for artists, all incorporating great design.

Tonight, as I receive this incredible honor, I ask you to think about the legacy we will leave for Akron. Will we let the challenges of the past define us, or will we embrace this moment as an opportunity to reinvent our city once more?

I choose reinvention. I choose growth. I choose Akron.