In 2016, Bravo Greater Des Moines commissioned the Central Iowa Regional Cultural Assessment to identify art and culture priorities that best support the Capital Crossroads vision plan catalyst priorities. The assessment identified “Strengthening the Creative Economy by developing the talent and skill sets of creative entrepreneurs and artists” as one of four cultural priorities.
 

In 2018, Bravo Greater Des Moines and the Des Moines Arts Festival pooled resources and connections to understand further opportunities in strengthening the creative economy in the local artist ecosystem. The organizations hired artist and arts and business strategist Chris Dahlquist to conduct a feasibility study that would lead to an action plan for professional development and capacity-building programs for regional artists of all disciplines. The study engaged local artists through workshops, round table discussions, one-on-one interviews, and an Artist Needs Assessment Survey.

The study results outlined three key strategies:
1. Strengthen cross-discipline artist networking: creative opportunities for artists of diverse backgrounds, disciplines and career stages to collaborate with and learn from one another.

2. Facilitate communication: establish a virtual resource center to provide information regarding opportunities, available resources/programming, and information on best practices.

3. Provide life-long learning opportunities. Coordinate relevant capacity-building programming for artists, ensuring a variety of access points for artists at all stages of artistic development.
 

The Des Moines Arts Festival evaluated this data and soon realized that a new entity that would focus primarily on these priorities was required. As a result, ARTSwork was born. Since its establishment in 2023, ARTSwork has introduced several initiatives, including the Iowa Artist Directory, Creatives’ Breakfast Club, MicroGrant Dinner, and ArtistConnect.