Memphis is known worldwide for its music and soul, and now the city’s economic development agency wants to treat that culture like the business asset it is. At EDGE’s Fourth Annual Small Business Expo, held June 25 at the Renasant Convention Center, the agency spotlighted local artists, musicians, and performers as entrepreneurs in their own right.
The expo is part of “Entrepreneurship City: Where Grit Meets Growth,” an initiative from EDGE and the City of Memphis. This year’s event introduced a Culture Corner, sponsored by TVA, highlighting the role artists and creative enterprises play in the local economy. Alongside traditional business displays, the expo featured painters at work, performers showing their talent, and vendors with booths.
EDGE President and CEO Dr. Joann Massey says the goal is to recognize creatives as part of the same small business ecosystem that drives most of the city’s job growth. “The Small Business Expo showcases what’s possible when we invest in local talent, whether that’s a neighborhood restaurant, a technology startup, a retail business, or a creative entrepreneur,” she said. Massey pointed to Memphis’s deep creative lineage, calling it “Culture City” and citing everyone from Stax to modern artists like GloRilla as proof the city’s culture has always doubled as an economic engine.
The numbers back the approach. Since 2014, businesses supported through EDGE’s Small Business Loan Program have invested roughly $9 million into their communities and created nearly 600 jobs. With small businesses making up more than 99 percent of all businesses and generating about 80 percent of new jobs, EDGE makes the case that creative work deserves the same support as any other small business.
Organizers hope the culture-forward approach becomes a regular feature, helping Memphis’s creative economy keep growing as both an art form and an industry.
