CHAPEL HILL - Early in a gathering Friday of some 60 local artists, nonprofit directors, government officials and business people for what was called "A Creative Conversation on Cultural Arts and Economic Development," Chapel Hill Public Arts Administrator Jeffrey York reeled off a list of local arts attractions: the Ackland Art Museum, Memorial Hall, Kidzu Children's Museum, 2nd Friday ArtWalk, the music scene and literary tradition.

Then he recited another list.

"At the same time, you hear about how we're 'missing our mojo,'" he said. "We're not maximizing our capabilities. There's a lack of cohesion between arts organizations. Artists are leaving the area for more affordable locations. There's not much commercial diversity downtown. There's little synergy between nonprofits, business, the university and town government."

The meeting, held at the Robert and Pearl Seymour Center, was designed to address those challenges. The gathering was a brainstorming session intended to generate ideas and energy for making the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area a more vibrant cultural arts destination.

That matters not only because the arts feed a need in people for creativity, beauty and reflection, but because the arts, to be blunt, make money. Underlying the day's discussions was the simple equation voiced by Jim Norton, executive director of the Downtown Partnership.

"The arts equal economic development," he said. By way of example, Norton noted that in his former home of Tulsa, Okla., a study found that a single three-week run of "The Phantom of the Opera" generated $40 million in economic activity.

Chapel Hill town manager Roger Stancil said a vibrant artistic environment is a stronger basis for economic health than incentives designed to lure particular companies or businesses to town.

"Cultural arts are the make-a-difference aspect of economic development," he said. "If cultural arts are integrated into your community, your economic development is going to be way ahead of a communty where it is not."

As York noted, the community already has a lot going for it; at the top of the big sheet of paper summarizing the main points raised during the day's discussions, co-facilitator Richard St. John scrawled, "Lots Going On."

"The biggest thing that strikes me, as an outsider, is that there is a lot going on here," said St. John, executive director for the nonprofit Autumn House Press in Pittsburgh. "You have a lot of things already happening. Looking the ideas we've talked about today, the biggest single thing I see mentioned over and over is the importance of getting the word out and making people aware of everything going on."

That's more than just a matter of putting up flyers and posting notices. Much of the discussion, both among the whole group and in smaller breakout sessions, dealt with finding new ways to reconfigure existing events, to highlight activities that few people know about, to combine separate groups or artists into a whole greater -- or at least more visible -- than the sum of its parts.

"One idea, for example, is to take a collection of smaller events and turn them into one big event," said Carter Hubbard of the Public Arts Commission. "Teaming up is important, building collaborations. ... We all know there's a lot going on, but much of it is either held in ownership by an individual or small group, and so it's not as inclusive as it could be."

Among the ideas raised Friday: a dedicated arts bus route with stops at, for example, the Ackland, the Botanical Garden and Memorial Hall; staging performances or temporary displays in unusual locations; using under-utilized storefronts and open spaces for arts events; establishing a central clearinghouse for arts information; getting university artists off-campus and into the community; and branding the community as an arts hub.

The challenges are many, attendees agreed. Perhaps the biggest two: follow-through and money.

"Things do not advance themselves," St. John said. "Someone advances them. In order for this to happen, it's going to take someone -- or a collection of people -- who wake up every day and think, 'OK, this is what I'm going to do today to further this idea.'"And, of course, any such initiative will require dollars.

"I attended a meeting just like this one 18 years ago," said local artist Nerys Levy. "It didn't get very far, but it did move us a little. We need money. I'm not saying there aren't new ideas here today. There are. But what we need is money."

Jonathan Howes, former Chapel Hill mayor, said he was confident that money can be had.

"None of this is cost-free," he said. "We haven't talked much about where to to get funding. But my own sense is that there's a lot of money in this community if you present good things for people to spend it on."