ABOUT ACE!
IN THE BEGINNING
The Upstate Alliance for the Creative Economy (ACE!) originated from long-term discussions with a broad spectrum of stakeholders representing Capital Region arts organizations, private corporations, philanthropists, economic development, chambers of commerce, non-profit organizations, financial organizations, media, and educational institutions. The stakeholders recognize creative enterprises are of vital economic importance in terms of employment, community empowerment, economic competitiveness, enhanced quality of life, and skill building – all leading to the community’s increased well-being.
ACE! TODAY
ACE! Is an advocate and storyteller for the outsized leveraging power of the Creative Economy. It accomplishes this mission through 3 core approaches
AMPLIFY
Tell the Stories of the Creative Economy = Raise Awareness of Real Impacts to a Larger Audience
COLLABORATE
Make Connections Across Institutions = Create Inter-organizational Community / Resilience
EDUCATE
Work on connecting academic institutional resources with arts and cultural ones
Our 2024 Mission Focus is focused on the following key areas: Building Strength and Resiliency in Our Regional Arts and Cultural Asset Leadership, STEAM Advocation and Institutional Best Practice Sharing.
COREY ALDRICH
Executive Director
Corey took over the position of Executive Director in June of 2022 from the previous Director and Founder Maureen Sager.
Corey has been in the freelance creative world for over 10 years. As a consultant, he is deeply involved in the creative economy working with arts based and cultural institutions and individual artists and makers. His experience is significantly in brand development via experiential design, marketing and public relations.
Corey’s industry experience includes design, media, visual arts and makers, performing arts, and cultural, heritage and preservation organizations. Coming from a diversified corporate background in real estate marketing and sales, Corey decided to move in the direction of freelance consulting in 2010 and continues to strive to find new ways to promote arts and cultural as an important resource across the Capital Region. Corey currently lives and works out of Troy, NY. For more information please see Corey’s Linked In profile.