Buddy Palmer at Create Birmingham is an Alabama Bright Light By Karim Shamsi-Basha When economic development combines with the arts, the results can be staggering. Create Birmingham is one of those results. The agency is the only one of its kind in the South. Its mission is to be the economic development agency focused on supporting the arts including visual, performing, architecture, film, culinary and many more genres of the creative world. In other words, Create Birmingham is “the engine that fuels Birmingham’s renaissance,” Buddy Palmer said. He has been the president and CEO at Create Birmingham for 13 years.