Entrepreneurial activist: ‘Stop building urban sprawl’ in B.R.

Casey Phillips, founder of The Force Agency and co-curator of the BR Walls Project, is sick of hearing about Baton Rouge’s “brain drain.” If you’re worried about educated young people leaving town, do something about it, he suggests. “Stop building urban sprawl,” says Phillips, the featured speaker today at the monthly meeting of Creative Louisiana. “Make your place cool. Relax. Let people have a party, and not shut it down. Let the weird happen.” BR Walls is an effort to turn some of downtown’s “dull beige and gray walls into modern works of art.” While the project has had business support from the beginning, it has been largely driven by small individual donations. Phillips says BR Walls is applying for grants and is hoping the corporate community will step up in a big way. At some point, he hopes, the fledgling nonprofit can hire an executive director. The arts are a moneymaker for big cities and small towns alike, and murals are a proven tourist magnet, he says. Moreover, a city with a thriving arts scene has a better shot at attracting and retaining mobile professionals, and Phillips says the public needs to emphasize that message to its politicians. “Creating a city where bright young talent wants to live ultimately benefits the bottom line,” he says. —David Jacobs